Directed by: H.C. Potter
This review contains a slight Kitty Carnage Warning!
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: One of the zaniest movies ever made, comedians Ole Oleson and Chic Johnson are aspiring filmmakers in this spoof of stage shows, romantic musicals and everything under the sun.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): In one scene, the pair are taking inventory in the props department. “One canary,” says Oleson. Johnson picks up a bird cage with a white cat with markings inside.
“Hey, where’s the canary?” Oleson asks. “In the cat!” Johnson answers.
Cat Cattle Call (with Slight Kitty Carnage Warning): Late in the film the pair are doing everything they can to sabotage a stage show. When some girls take the stage with dogs, Oleson and Johnson carry a crate full of cats to one wing.
They release the cats and the dogs take chase, creating mayhem. The way the cats are dumped out of a crate at the end is a little rough, hence the slight Kitty Carnage Warning.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): A tuxedo cat runs up a ladder. In actuality, the cat was filmed jumping down off the ladder and the footage was reversed to make it seem the cat is climbing the ladder.
A dog stops at the foot of the ladder and the cat hisses at it.
Eventually the cat jumps down off the ladder and into a drum. The cat was obviously thrown, or “catapulted” into the drum. A dog then jumps in the drum but the cat was likely already removed. The drum then rolls off with both the dog and cat supposedly inside.
Finally a man carries two cats down the aisle of the theater and hands them off to Jeff Hunter (Robert Paige). Jeff then takes the cats away.
Final Mewsings: Cats don’t like to be used to cause chaos.
Many thanks to Ted Davis and Nick Wale for reminding us of the cats in this film.
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