Twentieth Century-Fox Productions
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Deborah Baxter
Directed by: Alexander Mackendrick
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: The Thornton’s decide to send their children away from the wilds of Jamaica and back to be schooled in England but when their ship is pirated the children accidentally stow away on the renagades’ ship.
Kitty Cameo: At the beginning of the film the Thornton family is trying to survive a hurricane. The daughter Emily (Deborah Baxter) runs off into the jungle chasing her cat Tabby. Tabby, soaking wet, is seen running away from her.
Emily’s father Frederick (Nigel Davenport) chases after Emily who continues to chase the cat.
Tabby eventually climbs into a tree and Emily climbs up after the animal. Frederick grabs Emily who in turn grabs Tabby by the tail.
The three end up tumbling out of the tree. Tabby is first seen hitting the ground before the father and girl, but in the next shot Tabby has somehow landed on top of them.
There is a moment when Tabby is right within the grasp of both but the cat takes off again and the father manages to get Emily back to the house.
Purr Blurs: Later during the storm the family are sheltered in the lowest level of their home. Emily sees a tabby cat outside the window and cries, “Tabby!”
When Emily opens the window, three cats scramble inside (actually the cats are “catapulted,” or rather thrown through the window). It does not appear any of them is actually Tabby and later in the film Emily remarks on how Tabby was killed during the storm.
Final Mewsings: Cats would rather face a hurricane than a girl shouting their name.
Many thanks to Ted Davis for letting us know about the cats in this movie.
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