Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Narrated by: Paul Girard Smith
Directed by: Harold Austin

Synopsis: This short from the MGM Oddity series shows a man and wife couple driving into Mexico where they visit a Russian village, watch tortoises fighting and encounter a rattlesnake.

Kitty Cameo: After the couple pitches their tent in the middle of nowhere and use a rope laid around their camp to keep away a rattlesnake, the scene cuts to a barnyard where a group of young hens are seen running from a coop.  A snake emerges and is then confronted by an English Shorthair cat whom the narrator calls Battling Thomas.

Thomas the cat bats at the snake several times until a sadly emaciated dog comes racing in and continues the fight with the snake until it is dead.

The whole scene is fairly harrowing and makes one worry for the cat and the dog as they appear to come dangerous close to being bitten.  Only upon closer examination it seems doubtful the snake in question is a rattler.  The snake seen exiting the chicken coop is definitely not, and although the cat and dog fight scenes are shot from a distance (and intercut with close ups of a real rattlesnake) the snake does not exhibit any of the mannerisms or have the right shaped head to be a rattler.  Which would explain why the cat and dog are able to bat it about unscathed.  If that is the case, it turns the scenario around into being cringe-worthy for the needless death of a harmless snake.

Final Mewsings: This kind of entertainment we don’t need!

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