Sitting Pretty (1948)

Directed by: Walter Lang

Synopsis: A suburban family is surprised when the live-in-babysitter they hire turns out to be the self-righteous and proper Mr. Belvedere (Clifton Webb).

Purr Blurs: In one scene, Harry King (Robert Young), the father of the house, is pulling into his driveway. The camera pans along with the vehicle but Harry has to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting a bunch of wagons and toys in his way. A black cat can just barely be seen jumping off a wagon and running away.

Sitting Pretty - black cat running away from car offscreen

Harry has to get out of the car and move everything out of his way. He is then seen pulling up to the garage. As the car stops, a long-haired tabby cat is sitting on the fence on the other side of the hedge.

Sitting Pretty - longhaired tabby cat on fence by driveway

This cat also jumps down and runs away. A joke which follows has the family’s Great Dane running after a screeching cat off screen. The King boys run after the dog, yelling for him to “Leave that cat alone.” Chances are the black cat in the first shot was supposed to be the set up for this later joke, but since the cat ran away so quickly it didn’t work. The second cat was probably their solution to at least show a cat before the dog chasing joke. It’s not clear if there had been any plans to shoot the dog actually chasing either cat, but it doesn’t look as if the cat actors were very willing to participate.