Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Keye Luke
Directed by: Willis Goldbeck

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

Synopsis: Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) tries again to convince a prison warden that a prisoner which has been sentenced to the penitentiary really belongs in an insane asylum.  In the meantime two interns (Van Johnson and Keye Luke) vie for the position of Gillespie’s assistant and an infection breaks out in the children’s ward.

Kitty Cameo: This is one of those priceless moments when a cat appears in a movie for no real conceivable reason.  When Dr. Gillespie goes to the prison to talk to the warden about the convict in question, they leave the warden’s office.  In the hallway a prisoner acting in service to the warden is pouring a tortoise-shell kitten some milk from a bottle.

The group of people move from the warden’s office across the hall and exit through another door.  Gillespie pauses for a moment to look down at the kitten, but no reference is made to the animal or the reason for it being there, apart from the warden commenting on how helpful the prisoner is and wondering why the man cut his wife’s throat (the kitten may have been simply a gimmick to make this piece of information all the more shocking in its delivery).  The cat is not seen again for the rest of the film.

Final Mewsings: There must be a better place to feed a kitten than a busy hallway.

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