Directed by: Alexander Hall

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

Synopsis: Chicago mobster Big Ed Hanley (Paul Douglas) falls for a pretty girl named Ruth (Jean Peters) and convinces her to care for his son, even though he has none.

Kitty Cameo: Ed finds a kid to pose as his offspring, a boy named Harry (Peter Price) who is as tough as any adult gangster. After finding out that Ed is a crook, Ruth is only convinced to stay on until Harry can be placed in a good school. They end up taking him to a military school. The Captain (Leif Erickson) tells Harry to report to the quartermaster. As Harry starts to leave the room, a longhair tabby cat rears up and hisses at him.

“Okay, dogmeat!” Harry snarls, “What’re you so tough about?”

When the Captain returns to find Harry still in the room, he angrily orders him to the quartermaster again. “That cat over there was about to throw his hooks into me!” Harry insists. “He’s harmless,” the Captain assures him.

Unfortunately Harry turns out not to be as harmless. He runs away from the school and returns to the house, telling Ruth that he plans to work for Big Ed and the mob. She orders him to bed adding that the matter will be straightened out in the morning. Before he goes, Harry says, “Only don’t dream any dreams about sending me back to that school. There’s a little matter about the Commandant’s cat I ain’t told you about yet.”

This is almost an exact remake of the film Tall, Dark and Handsome, except in that film Harry refers to the Commandant’s dog and not his cat.

Final Mewsings: Cats are wise to be wary of smart-alecky boys.

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

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