Policy and Pie (1918)

International Film Service
Directed by:
 Gregory La Cava

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

Synopsis: A short animated film featuring the characters from The Katzenjammer Kids comic strip by Rudolph Dirks.  Der Captain presents Mama with the gift of a life insurance policy and she plans to reward him with a fresh baked mushroom pie.  But Hans and Fritz have other plans!

Cartoon Cat: The short begins with the mischievous boys chasing a black cat.  The cat hides underneath the porch.

Policy and Pie - black cat running away

When the boys see that Mama is going to bake a pie for der Captain they decide to play a trick.  They pull the poor cat out from under the porch and fit him in a sock then place him inside the house.  The cat backs up into der Captain’s hat and der Captain is quite surprised to see his hat moving around.

Policy and Pie - black cat in sock backing up towards hat

When der Captain realizes it is a cat he is kind to it, inviting it to jump up on the table beside him.

Policy and Pie - black cat on table beside der Captain

Mama throws a ball of dough into the room and the cat catches it in his mouth and eats it.  The ball goes straight to his tail, making a strange knob there.

Policy and Pie - black cat with knob in its tail

The friendly cat continually climbs up onto der Captain and even licks the man’s head.

Policy and Pie - black cat licks der Captain's head

When the cat bops der Captain on the head with his ball tail the man throws the cat into the kitchen where he lands in Mama’s pie dough.  Mama is quite surprised to see a strange knob sticking out of her dough!  The “dough” then runs to a bowl in the corner and drinks heartily, growing fat (much to Mama’s shock).

Policy and Pie - black cat covered in dough

The “dough” sees a mouse and chases it around the kitchen and then into a hole in the wall where it falls off the cat as it runs through.  Mama picks up the dough, not understanding what has happened.  The cat is not seen again after this.

Policy and Pie - black cat covered in dough chasing mouse

Final Mewsings: Successful cats are always rolling in dough!


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