Directed by: John Huston

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

Synopsis: Disguises abound as former intelligence officer Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott) is embroiled in a complex who-done-it when asked by his friend Adrian Messenger to investigate a list of names, most of whom have been killed in odd ways.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): After Messenger himself is killed in a plane crash, Anthony works with the plane’s sole survivor, Raoul Le Borg (Jacques Roux) to help solve the mystery. Realizing that author Messenger may have left a clue in his latest manuscript, they head to his apartment. Meanwhile, we see someone sitting at Messenger’s desk as a tabby cat named Omar walks back and forth, rubbing his cheek on the man’s legs and the legs of the desk.

The man is finishing what he is doing with the manuscript when Messenger’s cousin, Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm (Dana Wynter), walks in. The man hides as she enters but then makes his presence known.

The man introduces himself as Mr. Pythian and explains he lives downstairs and heard the cat meowing and thought she might be hungry. Jocelyn explains that she had come to feed the cat but Pythian says he has already given her three big saucers of warm milk.

Jocelyn sees Mr. Pythian out (he pauses to say goodbye to Puss first) just before Anthony and Raoul arrive. When she opens the door for them they are surprised to see her and ask what she is doing there. “I promised Adrian I would look after Omar while he was away,” she explains.

Jocelyn continues to hold Ulma until the end of the scene, then the cat is not seen again.

Behind the Scenes

Omar was played by a cat actor who was trained by Frank Inn. Inn explained the difficulties of training the cat, who is referenced in the piece as Screwball, in part of an interview with Harold Heffernan, as published in the February 5, 1963 issue of The Birmingham News:

    HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 5 — Some 22 million or more feline fanciers around the country will resent the castigation bitterly but it is uttered by a fellow who should know. Cats, he says, are the most cantankerous, unpredictable creatures in the entire animal kingdom.
    One of a dozen top trainers catering to the needs of movies and television, Frank Inn, of necessity a man of patience and restraint, is today the colony’s sole handler of educated cats.
    A prize Inn charge had just completed a role in “The List of Adrian Messenger,” starring Dana Wynter and George C. Scott, for Universal Studio, and it developed into such a prolonged chore for the “Cat Man” that he feels like tossing in the sponge.
    “This kitty’s name is “Screwball,'” said Inn, “and it is just perfect for the sort of part he plays. He had to scare the daylights out of Miss Wynter by materializing out of nowhere in a dark, deserted apartment (CC: It is actually Mr. Pythian who did the scaring) and rubbing up against her leg as he meowed soulfully. Sound simple? It took me six weeks to train that consarned creature to rub the lady’s leg. And we practiced on the very set where the scene was shot.”

Several questions present themselves in regards to this credit, however. First of all, it is not clear if Screwball was a regular member of the Orangey team or not. What’s more, Screwball may not even be the name of the cat in this film at all! The above article is almost an exact reprint of the one Heffernan published in 1950 for The Fuller Brush Girl which did star a cat named Screwball, but that was a Siamese cat! We believe that credit was correct, so chances are Heffernan simply failed to change the name of the cat in the article rehash, as it’s unlikely Inn would have used the same name for two of his cat actors unless they were somehow related.

Final Mewsings: Cats may by cantankerous but they let you know exactly who they are!

Many thanks to Ted Davis for reminding us of the cat in this film.

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