by Ted Davis
Behind the Scenes by Linda Kay

Directed by: Bernard L. Kowalski

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

Synopsis: Tepid made-for-TV western-horror hybrid about the woefully dim Reverend John Keyes (Roy Thinnes) and his annoying wife Lorna (Lyn Loring), who are rescued from certain death in the desert and transported to the isolated town of San Melas, where acting mayor Caleb Hobbs (Ray Milland) and his entrancing daughter Deliverance (Yvette Mimieux) are very eager for the Reverend to serve the townspeople as their new preacher. But will his duties will take him down a dark occult path that he has no wish to tread?

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Deliverance’s unnamed ginger cat is a prominent character in the movie, first seen in closeup at the very start during a church burning.

A moment later the cat jumps onto Deliverance’s shoulder over a black background in a nice bit of matte separation. The cat is rarely seen apart from Deliverance.

Next, the cat rests briefly on Lorna’s bed before hopping to the floor to join Deliverance as she enters the room.

The cat actor is having fun in the corner by the door while the actors deliver their lines. Either something intriguing was placed there or the trainer was hiding somewhere back there.

Afterwards, the ginger scoots from underneath the bed, past a mysteriously smiling Deliverance.

The cat drops down out of seemingly nowhere to join Deliverance at her work table where she crafts not only candles but wax images of choice acquaintances. It’s amazing the candles ever dry properly, as the cat’s tail is constantly setting them swinging and banging into one another.

Reverend Keyes also visits Deliverance and gives a quick pat to kitty.

One night Lorna spots a group of animal-costume wearing children chanting incantations outside her window. When she goes down to investigate she accidentally steps on the cat (not hard) who lets out a poor cat screech.

Later, Deliverance holds her cat, both looking out of the shed window as Reverend Keyes and Caleb discuss what happened to Lorna the night before.

As creepy Joseph (Hank Worden) reports a new vein in the mine to the townspeople, Deliverance is at the back of shot, carrying her cat.

A closer shot shows her booping the affectionate kitty on the nose.

During Lorna’s nightmare sequence, the menacing kitty is shown in a distorted closeup shot, which causes her to sit up in bed and scream.

After Deliverance’s mild attempt at seducing Reverend Keyes, the pussy cat meets with her at the pond.

Near the end of the movie, during another burning which harkens back to the first one, the cat meows, then trots toward the camera, and is last seen, as usual, being held in Deliverance’s arms.

Behind the Scenes

The cat wrangler on the film was none other than Frank Inn, although it isn’t clear if the cats used were part of the original Orangey team. There were obviously several cat actors involved performing different specialties for the camera.

Actress Yvette Mimieux, who was a devoted animal lover and wildlife conservationist, explained in an article for the Sunday News on October 17, 1971, “There is no such thing as a trained cat. A better term is working cat. They’ll work for food — but only so much. You can’t ever push a cat.” Clearly both her and the cat actors were extremely professional and look very natural on screen together.

Final Mewsings: Proof that black cats haven’t totally cornered the market for witches’ familiars.

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