by Mark Murton

Original Title: Une Ravissante Idiote

Also Known As: Agent 38-24-36

Directed by: Édouard Molinaro

This review contains a mild Kitty Carnage Warning!

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

Synopsis: In this London-set, French-language comedy, hopeless Soviet spy Harry Compton (Anthony Perkins) is given the task of stealing a file containing sensitive information about NATO military mobilization. Meanwhile, Harry has fallen in love with gorgeous but ingenuous dressmaker Penelope Lightfeather (Brigitte Bardot) and when he learns one of her clients is the wife of the man whose safe the file is kept in he enlists her help to complete his mission.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Harry is given his mission by Mr. Bagda (Grégoire Aslan), a Communist friend of his late father, who lives in an apartment above his restaurant. The first scene set in Bagda’s apartment starts with a close-up of Kemal, his tabby cat, snuggled up to him as Bagda reclines on his bed reading Das Capital.

After Harry’s first failed attempt to obtain the file, he sits in Bagda’s apartment with Kemal on his lap as he explains how he now has someone on the inside which will guarantee success.

Kitty Cameo: To Bagda (and no doubt most viewers of the film) it all seems a bit too convenient that Penny, as well as having communist leanings, should be so perfectly placed to help. So, posing as a policeman, he questions various neighbors and acquaintances of Penny’s who all confirm she really is as naive as suggested, with one of those questioned telling him, as she cuddles her fluffy black cat, “She loves animals, right Charlie?”

Back at Bagda’s, Kemal reacts as Harry, Penny and Bagda come up the stairs.

Spotting the cat, Penny declares, “Hi Mustafa!”, prompting Harry to inform her “His name is Kemal.” “Mustafa is funnier,” counters Penny (we assume this is somehow in reference to Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.)

Penny gathers up Kemal (whom she continues to refer to as Mustafa) and cuddles him throughout the lengthy scene in which Bagda concocts a story about the files they want her to help them find containing information which will clear Harry’s incarcerated father (who, as we learned earlier, is actually deceased).

Suddenly realising she has to go, Penny passes Kemal to Harry and the tabby promptly climbs up on his shoulders.

As Harry leaves, Bagda takes Kemal and the cat climbs up onto his shoulder.

From this vantage point the kitty seems to take great interest in a phone call Bagda makes.

Mild Kitty Carnage Warning! The call was to Balaniev (Charles Millot), Bagda’s menacing KGB contact, who is keen to obtain the file as soon as possible. Balaniev arrives at the apartment and, crossing the room, passes behind a dressing screen. After a Poor Cat Screech, Kemal is launched over the top of the screen, thankfully landing expertly on a nearby chaise lounge. When Balaniev re-emerges from behind the screen he is dabbing at cat scratches on his cheek.

Kemal is seen just once more in another scene at Bagda’s flat toward the end of the film. Penny is adjusting her dress while Kemal is stretched out nearby on the chaise longue, seemingly none the worse for wear after his earlier “catapult.”

Final Mewsings: It takes a cool cat to share the screen with a sex kitten.

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