English Title: The Damned
Spéva Films
Starring: Henri Vidal, Jo Dest, Florence Marly, Anne Campion
Directed by: René Clément
Synopsis: In the final days of World War II, a group of Nazi personnel and sympathizers board a U-boat bound for South America where they hope to establish a stronghold once the war is won. Along the way they are forced to kidnap a doctor (Henri Vidal), who is forced to undertake the trans-Atlantic voyage with them. But later they receive word that Hitler is dead and their plans go badly awry.
Kitty Cameo: A submarine may be about the last place one would expect to find a cat, but after the doctor is taken aboard he wakes the following morning to see a small black and white cat peeking into his cabin.
He gathers the cat into his arms and cuddles it for a moment (only to toss it aside after he is called upon by members of the crew.)
Later, after one of the party escapes the vessel and leaves his daughter Ingrid (Anne Campion) behind she looks for the doctor and finds the cat in his cabin.
She, too, takes comfort in the cat’s company, holding it tightly.
At the end of the film the cat is the doctor’s sole companion and we see it briefly sitting beside the table where the doctor is writing down everything which has happened to him.
Final Mewsings: Every submarine should come with a cat, if only as a comfort item.
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