Directed by: James Cruze

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

Synopsis: Joe Miller (Ben Lyon) is a waterfront reporter looking for his next big story and potentially finds it in Julie Kirk (Claudette Colbert), the daughter of a suspected smuggler.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): After approaching Julie with just work in mind, Joe starts to fall for her. In one scene she is talking about the ideal setting for a home and mentions a fireplace. Joe points out he doesn’t have one and she says they’ll get one. “Where would the cat sit?” she asks. “What cat?” Joe asks. “The one we’re gonna get,” Julie answers. Sure enough in a later scene Julie is sitting in her small waterfront shack of a home when she hears a cat meow. She opens a trap door and exclaims, “Well, meow yourself!” She excitedly reaches down and pulls an adorable tortoiseshell cat into the house.

“Say, I’ve got a job for you!” Julie says as she carries the cat to the table.

“How would you like to sit beside a fireplace?” Julie asks as she pours some milk for the cat. Unfortunately moments later she is interrupted by some bad news and has to rush off.

Still later Julie has a nasty fight with Joe. After she kicks him out, the cat is seen rubbing lovingly against her legs. “I guess you lost your job,” she sighs.

Finally at the end of the movie when all is well, Julie shows Joe their new home. Sitting on a chair by the fireplace is the tortoiseshell cat wearing a ribbon. “Jerry,” Joe says. “No, Jenny,” Julie corrects. “I beg your pardon,” Joe says to Jenny.

We could find no information about the cat actor playing Jenny, but a story from the June 20, 1933 San Francisco Examiner talked about how native actor Hobart Cavanaugh (who plays One Punch McCoy in the film) had to fall into a boatload of dead fish while filming in San Pedro. The cast reportedly laughed and the director ordered the actor’s clothes to be burned and departed. The article ends with the comment that upon emerging from his first successful screen role his only welcome was from a couple of hungry cats who followed him home. Obviously a little bit of imagination from the Hollywood factory publicity unit.

Final Mewsings: A couple who starts out planning to get a cat is sure of success.

Many thanks to Ted Davis for letting us know about the cat in this film.

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