RKO Radio Pictures
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Franchot Tone, Fay Bainter, Eric Blore
Directed by: George Stevens

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

Synopsis: Set in the early 1800’s in England, a young woman named Phoebe Throssel (Katharine Hepburn) still has hopes that the man she loves, Dr. Valentine Brown (Franchot Tone) will propose.  Instead he enlists in the army and leaves for the Napoleonic Wars without any indication of love for her.  Ten years later, worn and tired from teaching school with her sister (Fay Bainter), Phoebe feels she now has no hope with the returning Captain Brown, so when an unusual circumstance of mistaken identity leads Captain Brown to think Phoebe is actually a much-younger niece, Phoebe takes advantage of the situation to taunt the man ruthlessly.

Kitty Cameo: In the opening scenes, Phoebe’s sister Susan is visiting in her sitting room with the neighborly spinster women.  In the foreground we see a gray cat sitting in a basket.

The cat remains in the scene until the boisterous Recruiting Sergeant (Eric Blore) enters the room.  The cat then dashes from the basket and darts up the fireplace chimney, never to be seen again.

Final Mewsings: The cat was probably white before it took to hiding up the chimney.

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