Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
Starring: Margaret Rutherford, Stringer Davis, Robert Morley
Directed by: George Pollock

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

Synopsis: Agatha Christie’s amateur detective Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford) investigates the suspicious death of a wealthy man whose heirs may have wanted to hasten his death to collect the inheritence.

Purr Blurs: When Miss Marple and her sidekick Mr. Stringer (Stringer Davis) arrive at Mr. Enderby’s (Finlay Currie) mansion while collecting for charity they are startled to witness the old man fumble at the top of the stairs and then fall down where he dies.  There is a noise upstairs and Miss Marple makes her way to the room from which the old man emerged.  She has heard something break inside and when she opens the door she sees a broken vase.  Much to her shock a cat is seen on the dresser and leaps at her!  But if you look closely you’ll see the cat she first sees isn’t a real cat at all!  It’s a rather poorly stuffed fake cat the filmmakers pull off the dresser to simulate it jumping!  However, the cat which leaps past Miss Marple in the medium shot of the doorway and the cat which lands on the ground and runs away is real.

As it turns out the murder victim was deathly afraid of cats and someone put it there to scare the old man into having a heart attack!

Later Miss Marple stays at a hotel and horse riding facility.  While snooping around near the stables she shines a flashlight into one room and briefly sees a gray cat sitting on a saddle.  The cat is only seen for a brief second.

Kitty Cameo:  Miss Marple calls on one of the heirs and finds her in a chair in her home with a white cat on her lap.  Needless to say she is also dead.

Final Mewsings: That fake cat would have scared anyone to death!

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