Directed by: Henry King

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

Synopsis: Parisian sewer worker Chico (James Stewart) reluctantly rescues an abused prostitute named Diane (Simone Simon) and gives her shelter in his attic flat, slowly realizing over time that he is falling in love with her.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): When Chico first brings Diane to his flat high above the streets he tries to get her to walk the narrow walkway to the neighbors, but Diane is too afraid. She then shrinks further when she sees a black cat watching them from a chimney top. Chico realizes Diane is not only afraid of heights but cats as well.

Chico explains the cat is Rosette, one of his neighbor Aristide’s (J. Edward Bromberg) cats. He jumps up and down to scare the cat away and further explains she came over to see what was going on and will report back to Aristide. Sure enough Rosette lurks back into the neighboring room.

Cat Cattle Call: Leaving Diane his bed, Chico walks over to Artistide’s to spend the night. There are numerous cats in the astrologer’s room, including Rosette.

Later when Diane has become less afraid, she is hanging wash along with the neighbor Marie (Mady Christians). Marie shoos away Rosette and complains about Aristide’s numerous cats and the noise they make at night. Diane tells her that Chico says the cats yowled because the moon was full and said it didn’t keep them awake.

Diane is preparing a special dinner for Chico and the neighbors to celebrate his success in his new position as street cleaner when Rosette jumps onto the table and startles her.

Aristide suddenly appears and gathers Rosette in his arms before approaching Diane and accosting her with accusations of lying to Chico and taking advantage of him.

He further predicts that she will drag him down and ruin his greatness. Diane is confused and upset by Aristide’s harsh words.

When Chico returns and finds Diane gone he learns that she had talked to Aristide. He bursts into the man’s apartment, scaring the cats into scattering. They further run when he storms out.

Later Chico returns home with a present for Diane. Rosette is sitting on the floor playing with a ball of yarn while Diane knits.

The men are called to serve during World War I and the neighbor returns wounded from a blast in which Chico was also injured. Chico’s whereabouts and status are unknown but Diane holds out hope that he is alive. She is feeding Aristide’s cats outside the man’s apartment on the day the war is ending.

She picks up one tabby cat and says, “And you should have a bag full of catnip today, so you could be happy with the rest of us.”

Aristide arrives and realizes Diane expects Chico to come home. He thanks her for feeding his cats and admits he had been wrong about her.

Behind the Scenes

The character of Aristide was not included in the 1927 film adaptation of this play, so his cats were also not present in that silent version. But the inclusion of Aristide and his cats in this version did not go unnoticed by the press. Ruth White shared this tidbit about the feline thespians employed on the film in The Corning Observer on April 24, 1937:

    Six cats of various hues had to be trained to walk the narrow plank from one roof-top to another in one sequence of the film. These cats were part of the atmosphere used by J. Edward Bromberg is his character of Aristide, the bookseller and astrologer. The property department worked with the animals over a week training them to “walk the plank” in Indian file. They performed like regular troupers when the time came, although several bits of fish had to be placed in a bowl just out of camera range as an added inducement.

Strangely enough no such scene appears in the film as it exists today.

The black cat who played Rosette was not credited nor singled out in that article, but amazingly enough her stand in, Lena, had articles all their own printed in newspapers like the Chico Record on May 4, 1937, which is all the more remarkable since Lena was a stuffed cat!

    The latest idea in standins was introduced to the film world by the Twentieth Century-Fox property department, which supplied a stuffed black cat, “Lena,” for sequences in “Seventh Heaven,” now at the Senator Theater with Simone Simon and James Stewart.
    Lena was used while camera and lights were focused on certain spots where a live cat was later lured with bits of fish for an actual scene. In other sequences where six live cats were required, director Henry King suggested to the property department that they call into play some of Lena’s eight other lives, since there was only one stuffed cat available to serve as stand in.

Final Mewsings: A cat has to have a pretty poor agent when their stuffed stand-in gets press and they don’t!

Many thanks to Kitty L, Brian H. and Mark Murton for letting us know about the cats in this film.

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