B.P. Schulberg Productions
Starring: Lon Chaney, Marguerite De La Motte
Directed by: Tom Forman

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

Synopsis: A Chinese man named Yen Sing (Lon Chaney) resists being converted to Christianity by his newfound friends yet helps them when a crisis occurs.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Yen Sing has a Bengal tabby cat which is first seen sitting in the lap of a woman named Sympathy (Marguerite De La Motte).

She and Minister John Malden (Harrison Ford) are visiting Yen Sing on his boat where he takes in laundry. Sympathy holds up the young cat after she gets up, then sets it down.

After the young couple leave, Yen Sing pets the cat which is sitting on the chair.

Sympathy has given Yen Sing a new cushion. As he sits down on the bed with the cat, he offers the pillow to the cat. He then picks up the cat and places it on the cushion before curling up on the bed with his feet just against the pillow, not disturbing the animal.

Later after Sympathy and the Minister have married, there is a scandal seemingly involving Sympathy’s presumed-to-be-dead husband, but Yen Sing knows the truth of the matter. He notices the cat playing with a mouse (in reality it seems to be just a fake mouse on a string) and compares that to the situation before him.

Near the end Yen Sing realizes he is dying. The cat curls up beside him, appearing to know that the man’s time is almost done. Yen Sing asks his young friend (Buddy Messenger) to fetch the Minister. The cat remains by Yen Sing’s side as a dramatic series of conversations take place between the dying man, the Minister and the man who has done him wrong.

After all is revealed, Yen Sing says goodbye to his friends.

He then asks the boy to take the cat away for him. The boy complies, lifting the cat into a basket and covering it with a cloth before leaving.

Final Mewsings: True cat loves will always give up their cushions to their cats.

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