Directed by: Robert Deubel
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Based on a short story by Mary Stolz. An elderly woman named Miss Mixter (Geraldine Page) raises an abandoned kitten and then supports him when he faces challenges as an older cat.
Featured Feline: The cat, Chino, is an orange and white tabby who is first shown riding in a basket on Miss Mixter’s bicycle.
Miss Mixter recalls the time she found Chino outside her home in the rain. At first she resists bringing the tiny kitten inside because she has recently lost her precious Siamese cat Athena. But eventually she breaks down and brings the cat into her home.
When she finds out the kitten like Corn Flakes just as Athena had, her heart starts to melt.
She agrees to let the kitten stay the night downstairs. But the kitten makes his way to her bed.
Unable to resist any longer, Miss Mixter names the kitten Chino.
Photographs show the many happy years the woman and the cat spend together.
When Chino turns fifteen years old, Miss Mixter notices he is no longer responding to her or reacting as he once did.
Concerned, she takes Chino to a veterinarian (Peter Coffield) who shockingly tells her she should consider putting Chino down because he is getting old.
When Miss Mixter refuses to hear such talk, the veterinarian tries an experiment and slaps his hands together sharply behind Chino’s back. When Chino doesn’t respond, they realize the cat has lost his hearing.
As a solution they fit Chino with a hearing aid.
The cat actors playing Chino were provided by Dawn Animal Agency, Inc.
Kitty Cameo: A tuxedo cat is seen inside a cage in the veterinarian’s office.
You can view the film on the Indiana University Media Collections Online website.
Final Mewsings: Deaf cats, like all cats, just need someone to love them.
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