by Linda Kay
Directed by: Edward Dmytryk
This review contains Severe Kitty Carnage Warning!
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Baron Kurt Von Sepper (Richard Burton) seems to have no luck with women, or rather they have no luck with him since he has a tendency to murder each and every one he courts.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): The first woman we see Von Sepper wooing is Greta (Karin Schubert). During a celebration the pair sneak out to a gazebo and are kissing when a white cat pounces down on Greta from above (we actually only see the cat pounce and Greta acting as if the cat scratched her shoulder).
Greta cries out asking why the now snarling white kitty attacked her. “It was my mother’s cat,” Von Sepper offers. “And now it’s jealous,” Greta surmises.
After Greta’s “accidental” death during a hunt (the contents of which are some of the most distasteful examples of animal cruelty ever filmed), the mute and aging housekeeper Marka (Mag Avril) cradles the cat as she stands up from a chair before crossing the room.
Kitty Carnage Warning! Next Von Sepper courts an American vaudeville performer named Anne (Joey Heatherton) and takes her back to his castle home. As they are kissing, Anne spots the white cat under the couch, the poor kitty now sporting a bloodied right eye.
Anne tries to catch the cat who ducks under the divan, asking how the cat lost his eye. In actuality the cat actor has both eyes but some kind of blood and makeup was applied to make it look otherwise in the quick shot.
Later on Anne finds the cat, who looks progressively dirtier in each subsequent scene, resting on a chair and pets him.
While tasting wine from a large vat in the cellar, Anne spies the cat sniffing around the large wooden container. She wonders why the cat is crying and Von Sepper speculates it’s because of a mouse. The real reason is because Marka is floating inside the sanguine fermented liquid within the vat. Note the cat’s left eye is never facing the camera to avoid showing the supposedly missing eye.
Severe Kitty Carnage Warnings! While Von Sepper is away from the castle, Anne secures the front gate one dark blustery night. Returning to the castle she spots something in a nearby tree, then is shocked to realize it is the bloody body of the cat hanging from the branches. When she tells Von Sepper of her discovery he lies and blames the supposedly unstable Marka, whom he says he had sent to an asylum. He claims the disturbed woman escaped and was seen in the vicinity of the castle.
One would think that would be the end of the torture of the poor cat, but no. A flashback reveals that Von Sepper once courted an emotionally detached woman named Caroline (Agostina Belli) who seemed completely unfazed by anything happening around her. Frustrated by her lack of emotion, Von Sepper does the unthinkable when he finds her petting the cat who is once again sitting on the same chair as earlier.
Von Sepper snatches the cat up by the scruff and whistles for his hunting falcon, then flings the poor cat into the air and has the falcon rake the poor kitty with its talons. The cat screeches before falling to the floor all bloodied and running away. Thankfully the cat being attacked by the falcon is just a stuffed toy, but the cat which Richard Burton tosses into the air is real.
The cat is spared any more screen time but Von Sepper does take the time to explain to Anne that he killed the cat because he was certain the kitty’s interest in the wine vat was going to lead her to the body of Marka.
Final Mewsings: The only thing worse than Bluebeard’s treatment of women is the filmmakers’ treatment of animals in this film.
Many thanks to Ted Davis and Nick Wale for letting me know about the cat in this film.
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