by Linda Kay

Directed by: Dave Tendlar, Martin Taras

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

Synopsis: In this Famous Studios Harvey Film it’s the old plot of a kitten, this time named Kitty Kuddles (voiced by Mae Questel), who inherits a fortune from her loving owner only to have the greedy butler Snardley (Gilbert Mack) try to do the kitty in when he finds out he is next in line to inherit the fortune.

Cartoon Cat: Kitty Kuddles is introduced at the start of the short with her own title card.

A newspaper headline tells the story of how the kitten has inherited a fortune from a wealthy spinster.

The kitten’s full name is Kitty Kuddles the III and she wakes up in the morning in a huge luxurious bed. The first thing she does is ring for the butler, Snardley.

Snardley unrolls a red carpet and accompanies Kitty from the bedroom.

Kitty Kuddles has a tiny escalator which lifts her to the bathroom sink where Snardley gently dabs her little cheeks with water before drying her off.

Carried on a pillow to the dining table, Snardley lifts a cloche to reveal a bowl of milk. He uses an eye dropper to test the temperature of the milk on his wrist before she tucks in.

As Snardley fetches Kitty Kuddles’ favorite toy, a gold wind-up mouse, from a wall safe, he happens to find the deceased dowager’s will which states that if anything happens to the cat her estate will go to him. He immediately decides to do in Kitty Kuddles and starts by grabbing an axe and chopping her chair in two. But Kitty Kuddles has climbed into the bowl of milk to finish her meal and escapes the blade.

Snardley then snatches the kitten up in the bowl and takes her to an already filled bathtub and throws her in. After a few moments, the butler drains the water but Kitty Kuddles has managed to stay alive under the overturned bowl.

Next the butler rolls Kitty Kuddles up into a rug and throws it under a handy steamroller working outside. But the steamroller just spits the kitten out of the carpet like toothpaste.

Snardley is enjoying his success when he hears a meow and realizes Kitty Kuddles is sitting behind the will. Not yet realizing the man means to do her harm, she licks the servant’s face.

Snardley then drops a player piano on the kitten but she simply steps out of the doors above and walks away.

Tired, Kitty Kuddles takes a nap on her pillow. Snardley fills her mechanical mouse with gunpowder and sends it rolling toward the kitty but the mouse simply hits the pillow, turns around and rolls back to Snardley, blowing him up instead.

Fed up with these subtle methods, Snardley grabs a shotgun from the wall and shoots at Kitty Kuddles on her pillow. The kitten finally realizes she is in danger.

Kitty Kuddles hides in a large vase which is shot to pieces by Snardley but she manages to survive.

She then runs to some animal trophy heads on the wall and tries to escape but Snardley is right on her tail. Eventually they both run into another room and we hear several explosive gunshots. Then silence. Finally we hear someone dialing a phone and inside the room we are shown Kitty Kuddles talking into the receive, saying she needs to hire a new butler.

Despite the title card, this appears to have been the only appearance of Kitty Kuddles on screen.

Final Mewsings: We wonder what happened to Kitty Kuddles the I and II?

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