by Mark Murton

Directed by: Joseph Strick

Synopsis: Once controversial film adaptation of James Joyce’s literary classic set in Dublin. Stephen Daedalus (Maurice Roëves), who fancies himself as a poet, embarks on a day of wandering about the city during which he finds friendship and a father figure in middle-aged Jew Leopold Bloom (Milo O’Shea). Meanwhile, Bloom’s day is illuminated by a funeral and an evening of drinking and revelry that stirs paternal feelings toward Stephen, and ends with a rapprochement with his cuckolding wife, Molly.

Kitty Cameo: Early on, Bloom is in the kitchen of his home preparing a tray of tea for his wife while also preparing his own breakfast. He places a kidney in the frying pan that is heating on the stove and then tosses the meat-stained paper it was wrapped in onto the floor for his fluffy tuxedo cat.

Towards the end of the film, Bloom returns home, accompanied by Daedalus, and the cat is again seen on the kitchen floor (in what is clearly unused footage from the earlier scene).

The cat was taken straight from the book although the interaction between Bloom and the kitty has been truncated here. James Joyce was a noted cat lover, writing about cats in several of his works.

Final Mewsings: Cats are of incalculable value to both filmmakers and authors.

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