Directed by: John Rawlins
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Comic book detective Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) faces off against villain Gruesome (Boris Karloff) who teams with a doctor to use a strange gas to incapacitate people so they can be robbed.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Tess Trueheart (Anne Gwynne) enters a bank, unaware that Gruesome and his henchmen Melody (Tony Barrett) and X-Ray (Skelton Knaggs) have set up a device that will release the gas. As Tess enters she approaches a counter to prepare her banking. A tabby cat is sitting on the counter and she smiles at the kitty.
The Guard (Harry Harvey) calls over the custodian and points out the cat, saying he told him to get the cat out of there. Sensing trouble, the cat jumps down from the counter.
Harry is then shown a few times chasing the cat around and under desks and tables.
When the gas takes effect and everyone freezes in place (via freeze frame) the janitor and cat likewise freeze in place. Apparently the only reason for even having the cat in the scene was to offer audiences one more interesting action to freeze. The pair are not seen again until everyone unfreezes and the film resumes (obviously they couldn’t have the actors moving around this “frozen” scene).
Final Mewsings: Cat actors really must wonder what’s going on when they’re brought to movie sets just to be chased away!
Many thanks to 33_Wonderland and Brian H. for letting us know about the cat in this film.
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