Starring: Orangey
Directed by: Robert Stevenson
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Merlin Jones (Tommy Kirk) is a smart but bumbling high school students whose experiments with hypnotism and mind reading get him into trouble.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): In one scene Merlin is at home thinking about some theories of hypnosis. An orange tabby cat is sitting on his desk.
The cat moves to the door and meows to be let out. Merlin does this without breaking his train of thought.
Suddenly there is a commotion of barking and meowing and Merlin rushes outside to find a dog has treed the cat.
After chasing the dog away, Merlin scolds him for being such a scaredy cat. This gives Merlin the idea to try his new hypnotic theories on the cat.
Merlin lulls the cat into a trance and then tells him to open his eyes and listen carefully.
“You are a member of a noble family,” Merlin states. “A cousin to the leopard and the tiger. And a cousin to the killer beast himself, the mighty lion. And there will be no more running away from your enemies like a frightened mouse. But you will turn and you will face your enemies like a tiger! You will roar, like a lion!” The cat opens its mouth and a lion’s roar comes out.
The cat jumps down out of the tree and chases the dog, ending with the dog treed as the cat roars below. Merlin is surprised at his own success.
It would appear the cat acting team known as Orangey played the part of the timid then ferocious feline.
Final Mewsings: All cats have an inner lion.
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