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.

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

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

She then sits back to read a tabloid magazine with a story about the recent 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 cat, who appears to be older, creeps up to the end table and finally sits down to lap up the spiked milk.

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.

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.

Final Mewsings: Cats learn bad habits by example.

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