RKO Radio Pictures
Starring: Dana Andrews, Merle Oberon, Hoagy Carmichael, Ethel Barrymore
Directed by: John Cromwell

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

Synopsis: Cathy Mallory (Merle Oberon) is a rich society girl who becomes infatuated with a blind pianist named Dan Evans (Dana Andrews).  She knows he is a great composer but his recent affliction has darkened his spirit.  She pretends to be blind to encourage him to write again, pulling off the ruse with the help of her Aunt (Ethel Barrymore) and Dan’s friend and fellow musician Chick (Hoagy Carmichael).

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Cathy meets Chick one night at the club to talk about how to get Dan to finish his musical piece.  Chick confuses the waiter when he asks for a glass of beer and a saucer of milk.  After the waiter leaves Chick pulls out a fuzzy kitten with a ribbon around its neck which he has hidden in his coat, explaining that he bought Dan a cat since Dan likes cats.

The kitten sits on the booth beside Chick throughout this scene and when the waiter comes with the saucer of milk Chick sets it down for the kitten to drink.

Later the kitten is sitting on top of the piano in Dan and Chick’s apartment when Dan finally becomes inspired to write music again.  The kitten is never called by any name in the film.

The most adorable moment for the kitten is a quick scene in which Dan and Chick are sitting in their dark apartment after getting stuck musically on Dan’s composition.  Dan is holding the kitten in his arms, petting it.  They decide to call it a night and head for the bedroom.  Dan drops the kitten into a cardboard box for the night.  We then see a close up of the box as the kitten pops up unexpectedly, looking adorable.

The kitten isn’t seen again for some time as Dan and Chick go to New York so Dan can have an operation to restore his sight and then decides to stay on there.  Cathy eventually follows them to New York.  But what happens to the cat?  Chick asks Cathy this at one point and she says the cat is fine, indicating she has been taking care of it for them.  This is confirmed when Dan’s music is to debut on a radio program and we see Cathy’s Aunt sitting in front of the radio back home with the now somewhat bigger cat sitting on her lap.

Final Mewsings: If you had your sight restored, wouldn’t you want to go home and see your cat?

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