by Mark Murton

Directed by: Wolf Rilla

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Veteran electro plater Mick MacAulay (Finlay Currie) has to take enforced retirement, but his bullheaded refusal to go quietly causes problems for his family.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Mick lives with his son Barney (Duncan Lamont) and his wife Molly (Naomi Chance) plus their young son ‘Barney Wee’ (David Hannaford) whom he adores. One morning Mick sees young Barney fishing something from the canal that runs along behind the house. When the boy stands up and makes his way back up the bank it’s clear he has rescued a small tabby kitten from the water.

Addressing the kitten, Mick asks, “Where did you come from?” “There was a sack of ‘em,” young Barney tells his grandfather.

“Where’s the sack? Where’s the rest?” enquires Mick. “Gone down,” young Barney informs him. “It sunk.” (Information we could have done without!)

Back home, young Barney acquires some milk from the kitchen and uses a bicycle pump to put it into a tray for the kitten. The look of the “milk” spilled on the stairway and the way it squirts into the pan makes it appear that paint was used as a milk substitute, which would explain why the kitten pulls away from the liquid after sniffing at the pan.

Finding a trail of spilt milk on the stairs Molly comes to the room young Barney shares with his grand-dad to admonish him for the mess. Worse follows when the crying of the kitten alerts her to the kitty’s presence and looking down she sees the tiny animal at Mick’s feet.

Molly seizes the kitten and storms out of the room.

Back downstairs, Molly brandishes the kitten in front of her husband, accusing Mick of encouraging young Barney to bring “all kinds of rubbish into the house.”

The couple argue and Barney senior grabs his jacket and leaves. Going into the kitchen, Molly almost trips over the kitten before reaching down and picking up the wee kitty.

Holding the kitten on her shoulder, a slight smile plays on her lips as she strokes the tiny fuzzball.

Another night Mick reads young Barney a bedtime story and the camera pans across the room, passing the kitten sitting in a cardboard box, clearly having won Molly over.

Final Mewsings: Neither kittens or old age pensioners are disposable!

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