by Ted Davis
Directed by: William Castle
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: In the first entry of The Whistler series of thriller-mysteries, which ran for eight features during the 1940s, well-to-do businessman Earl Conrad (Richard Dix) hires underworld fixer Lefty Vigran (Don Costello) to schedule his own assassination because his wife died under doubtful circumstances, which presents something of a problem when Conrad learns later that his wife is still living, and he’s unable to cancel the hit because Vigran was killed in the interim.
Kitty Cameo: In an effort to elude his murderous nemesis (J. Carrol Naish), a disheveled Conrad rushes out the back exit of a movie theater surprising a tuxedo alley cat who loses his balance on top of a nearby garbage can and drops to the pavement, accompanied by the clatter of the falling garbage can lid.
In actuality, the lid of the can is somehow flipped up beneath the cat, either by someone hiding behind the can or a wire concealed somewhere. There appears to be something tied to the handle of the lid which could either be some kind of foodstuffs to keep the cat actor in place or a device for pulling the lid off.
Amazingly, the stubborn cat does not leave the immediate area and waits for Conrad to depart before resuming his meal, presumably.
Final Mewsings: A hungry cat can be conspicuously brave and stubborn.
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