Two Cities Films
Starring: Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, Alison Leggatt
Directed by: David Lean

Synopsis: An adaptation of the Noel Coward play, this film follows two decades in the life of the Gibbons family between the two World Wars from 1919 to 1939.

Featured Feline: The opening scene shows the Gibbons as they move into a new house with a large back garden.  Ethel Gibbons (Celia Johnson) enters the house carrying the family’s pet British shorthair cat named Percy.

Ethel carries Percy around with her during her first moments in the house.  She pauses to open a window while she talks to her mother before moving to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen Ethel sets Percy down on a shelf in front of the window where the cat sits quietly and unfazed as movers bring in furniture.

Later Ethel’s sister Sylvia (Alison Leggatt) is sitting in the kitchen with mother (Amy Veness).  Sylvia is buttering Percy’s paws.  This is an old wives’ tale which says that if you butter a cat’s paws before putting it outside for the first time in a new home it will stop to lick the butter instead of immediately running away, giving it time to grow accustomed to their new surroundings.

Sylvia then picks up Percy and sets him outside in the garden.  She gives a little kick at him but thankfully misses.

Upstairs Frank Gibbons (Robert Newton) sees Percy walking along the back wall of the garden and wonders who let him out.

Percy is not seen throughout most of the movie although he is referred to several times by the characters.  He doesn’t make another actual appearance until the scene in which everyone is preparing for Reg’s wedding.  Mother is angry because Percy has been sleeping on the dress she plans to wear.  As they leave the house Mother realizes she doesn’t have her black boa and Phyllis the maid (Betty Fleetwood) runs inside to get it.  Percy the cat is seen sitting on the boa but runs away as Phyllis approaches.

Final Mewsings: Buttering your cat’s paws will only lead to a slippery floor.

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