by Ted Davis

Directed by: Robert Siodmak

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

Synopsis: The small town of Eaton Falls, New Hampshire is already reeling from the recent closure of its shoe factory, with the attendant loss of 300 jobs, when Doubleday Plastics, the other main employer in the community, experiences staggering financial losses and may also be forced to shut down. To save the plant, and by extension the town, new plant manager Brad Adams (Lloyd Bridges) is forced to implement drastic and wholesale layoffs, which result in an internal crisis that odious former manager Dwight Hawkins (Russell Hardie) and his treacherous acolyte Miss Russell (Helen Shields) conspire to exploit, with the intended outcome that the weasel Hawkins would control and manage the plant, to the mutual detriment of the workers and Eaton Falls.

Purr Blur: At the local Water Wheel tavern, hotheaded union agitator and perennial malcontent Al Webster (Murray Hamilton) harangues a group of worried and stressed unemployed men in an attempt to generate even more mistrust of Adams and his policies. One of the workers, Joe London (James Westerfield), regards Al with valid skepticism while petting a sweet tabby and white lap cat, which seems very attentive to the conversation.

Final Mewsings: Cats know better than to follow false prophets.

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