by Ted Davis and Linda Kay
Directed by: Leslie Pearce
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: In this negligible example of an early 1930s precode comedy short (a remake of the previous Sennett silent short Hubby’s Quiet Little Game), spry and overconfident dance instructor Thomas Regan (Arthur Stone) attempts to seduce Patsy (Patsy O’Leary), but his efforts are doomed when he joins a poker game in which her jealous hair-triggered husband Bill (Wade Boteler) is participating.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Regan downs a drink and turns from the sideboard, almost stepping on a tortoiseshell kitten lying on the carpet. The cat is waved away by the immoral dancer, and although the kitten was facing left when prone, successive shots show him padding to the right, then back to the left. The same padding shot is recycled later in the short as well.
A moment later the kitten shows up on the sideboard, only to be shooed away again by the tipsy Regan.
The kitten returns at the end of the short chasing a mouse which scampers up the leg of the angry husband. The kitten follows and the husband starts gyrating wildly, firing a flurry of bullets from his revolver, although it’s not too clear whether his target is Regan, the cat or the mouse.
Regardless, the determined kitten is seen struggling out of Bill’s vest in his effort to catch the game little mouse. The existing copy of this short is missing the ending but if it is like the original the cat and mouse do wriggle free of the man’s clothes and a reconciliation between husband and wife is quick to follow.
The only thing superior about this short compared to the 1926 original is the fact that a real cat and mouse were utilized for this final gag, as opposed to the strange animated animals used in the former. This sequence is also similar to one in another comedy short, 45 Minutes from Hollywood, created in 1927.
Final Mewsings: The cute kitty was so discombobulated by the plot that he didn’t know which way to turn.
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