by Linda Kay

Directed by: Max Marcin

Synopsis: Jim Warren (Clive Brook) is on death row for murder but it is suspected he may be covering up the crime for someone else. The truth comes out when he relates his story to a prison chaplain (John Craig).

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): In the 1926 film version of this story a tabby cat was utilized to show how nervous Jim was after escaping from prison. In this version, his girlfriend Norma (Peggy Shannon) is sitting in her apartment with two policemen who are convinced that some money which Jim has stolen was sent to her. They are correct and the money is hidden beneath her knitting basket. One detective is using the yarn from the basket to play with an adorable calico kitten on the floor, threatening to upset the knitting and expose the money.

Even when the detective stops playing the with kitten, the playful cat continues to pull on the string.

Nonchalantly, Norma unties one of the ribbons on her shoe and uses that to distract the kitten away from the dangling yarn. This works and the kitten plays with the ribbon instead.

Unfortunately it is all in vain because when the detectives stand they upset the basket (which almost lands on the kitten, who scurries away) and the money is exposed.

Behind the Scenes

The calico kitten only has a brief scene in this film but since it is a notable one she did receive praise and press for her performance. The kitten was provided to Paramount Studios by animal trainer J.H. Kerr who reportedly specialized in small animals including birds and reptiles. According to a press release, reprinted by several newspapers:

    When Paramount needed a kitten to play, purr and chase a ball of yarn in a scene for “Silence”, the director commissioned J.H. Kerr to furnish the feline actor. The scene was made without trouble or loss of time because of the kitten’s previous training and familiarity with its owner.
    Kerr personally handled the kitten in [the film] because of the patient coaxing necessary to make the kitten work. The part played by the kitten is one of significance to the characters portrayed by Clive Brook and Peggy Shannon. In the scene where the cat toys with a basket of yarn, in which is concealed a quantity of stolen money, their fate hangs in the balance. It is one of the many tense moments in the picture.

Another aspect of the cat’s appearance was covered in a separate piece, published this way in the Dayton Daily News on August 30, 1931:

    The purring of a cat was successfully recorded for a sound moving picture during filming of “Silence.”
    A 3-months-old kitten was used for the experiment. Clive Brook and Peggy Shannon petted the kitten while the microphone was brought close to it. The sound was too strong the first time, sounding like the low-toned motor of an airplane. Reduced in volume, it sounded like the clicking of a movie picture camera. Other adjustments brought the purring in like a waterfall, an outboard motor, the exhaust of an automobile, the snoring of a man.
    Proper amplification reproduced perfectly the purring of the kitten.

Of course there is no actual sound of a kitten purring in the finished film, not that one can discern in existing prints anyway.

Final Mewsings: Kittens are not really concerned with keeping our secrets.

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