by Mark Murton

Directed by: Lawrence Huntington

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

Synopsis: During World War II the Nazis devise a plan to kidnap (the never named) Winston Churchill and fly him back to Germany by having an agent pose as Lord Buckley (Raymond Lovell), owner of a large estate frequently visited by Churchill. Complications arise when Buckley’s niece, Frances (Jean Kent), arrives unexpectedly followed soon after by her fiancé Johnny (Philip Friend) and two of his Forces friends, George Hawkins (Gordon Harker) and captain Fletcher (Finlay Currie).

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Upon her arrival, Frances finds her Uncle unexpectedly unwelcoming as he tries to convince her to leave before the arrival of his VIP visitor. Despite his standoffishness, Frances insists on sitting and talking with him, cradling a Siamese cat in her arms all the while.

At the end of their conversation, she stands and places the cat on the floor next to the chair.

As Frances retires upstairs to unpack, a noise of something approaching the door outside causes the cat to arch its back.

Much later in the film, Frances, who has hidden herself away when the fake Lord Buckley (also played by Raymond Lovell, but you guessed that) and his cohorts arrive, teams up with Johnny, George and Fletcher. They come up with a plan to rescue the real Lord Buckley and alert the authorities. As they enact their plan George finds he needs to distract the fake Lord Buckley and so grabs a small china statue from a nearby shelf and throws it down the stairs. It lands with a crash, distracting the fake Lord Buckley who goes down to investigate. There he finds the statue lying smashed on the floor with the cat sitting nearby and assumes the kitty was the cause of the breakage. The cat is in the exact same position on the floor as before, so this insert was shot at the same time as the last.

Final Mewsings: Cats aren’t fooled by impersonators.

Many thanks to Ted Davis and Rob G for also letting us know about the cat in this film.

Relevant Links:

To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on Facebook and X.