The Verdict (1946)

The Verdict poster

Warner Bros.
Starring:
 Rosalind Ivan, Peter Lorre
Directed by: Don Siegel

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

Synopsis: Scotland Yard Superintendent George Grodman (Sydney Greenstreet) is dismissed after sending an innocent man to the gallows but is quickly caught up in another complicated series of murders that hit close to home.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Grodman lives across the street from his friends including Victor (Peter Lorre) in a boarding house run by an alcoholic, snoopy landlady named Mrs. Benson (Rosalind Ivan). Mrs. Benson is often seen in her apartment, indulging in some liquid refreshment with her large, long-haired tabby cat by her side. When one of her tenants comes to call, she is pouring liquor into her tea at a table. The cat is in her lap.

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat on Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan lap as she pours liquor into tea

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat on Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan lap

As the man enters, Mrs. Benson covers the liquor bottle with a tea cozy before getting up, the cat jumping to the floor.

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat on Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan lap as she covers liquor with tea cozy

Later Mrs. Benson is in bed with her cat lying by her side. This time she pours some liquor into her milk.

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat on bed with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan as she pours liquor into milk

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat on bed with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan as she pours liquor into milk

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat on bed with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan as she drinks spiked milk

She then sits back to read a tabloid magazine with a story about the recent murders.

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat on bed with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan as she reads sensational magazine about murders

After Mrs. Benson has fallen asleep, the cat looks at the glass of milk. Interestingly, the cat’s ear folds back and eyes close as if someone has blown air on the cat.

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat lying on bed with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat lying on bed with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan

The cat, who appears to be older, creeps up to the end table and finally sits down to lap up the spiked milk.

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat lying sneaking up to milk with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat sniffing in glass of milk with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat drinking from glass of milk with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat drinking from glass of milk with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan animated gif

The cat is then seen in slow motion, apparently to indicate drunkeness. Since the cat barely moves in this shot, the effect is kind of wasted.

The Verdict - drunk large long-haired tabby cat drinking from glass of milk with Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan

Upstairs, Victor sees someone creeping into his room and fires a gun. The shots startled Mrs. Benson awake and the cat jumps off the bed, not to be seen again.

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat lying on bed with sleeping Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan

The Verdict - large long-haired tabby cat jumping off bed when Mrs. Benson Rosalind Ivan is startled awake

Final Mewsings: Cats learn bad habits by example.


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