by Ted Davis

Also Known As: The Silk Noose

Directed by: Edmond T. Greville

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

Synopsis: Crusading newspaper writer Linda Medbury (Carole Landis) wages a determined and relentless campaign to dethrone thickly accented Sugiani (Joseph Calleia), the erratically violent crime czar who runs the Soho district in London through a winning combination of “hard cash and brute force,” aided by snappily dressed patter-meister Bar Gorman (Nigel Patrick) and The Barber (Haye Petrie), his out of control enforcer. The tone of the movie shifts oddly between comedy and stark melodrama.

Kitty Cameo: In one of the darker moments, figuratively and literally, Maffy (Brenda Hogan), gopher for sports club proprietor Pudd’n Bason (John Slater), enjoys a brief moment of relaxation at the end of the day with her black cat.

She releases the cat to pick up her cup of coffee, and is interrupted by the intrusion of Sugiani and his gang of thugs. Maffy makes the mistake of confronting Sugiani, whose response is swift and fatal. The black cat is a shocked witness to the killing, his shining eyes prominent in the shot.

After the deed is done, however, the cat doesn’t hesitate to lap up milk from the bowl Maffy has left behind (which has somehow managed to become full of cream whereas in the previous shot it had been empty).

Final Mewsings: Cats apparently grieve by eating.

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