Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Starring: Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, Maggie McNamara
Directed by: Jean Negulesco
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Three female American secretaries working in Rome long for romance but come up against unexpected obstacles in their search for happiness.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): The oldest of the secretaries is Miss Frances (Dorothy McGuire) who works for writer John Frederick Shadwell (Clifton Webb). While the younger two secretaries actively seek love, Miss Frances is more pragmatic. In one scene the housekeeper, Louisa (Grazia Narciso) brings Frances a basket as a gift. Inside the basket is a white Angora kitten.
Frances is tickled with the gift until Louisa explains she worries about Frances being alone and she got the kitten from her sister who is a “maidenly lady” and owns countless cats, talking to them all day.
Setting the kitten back into the basket, Frances goes to the window to look out. A moment later the kitten is at her feet.
Frances picks up the kitten and explains to him that she isn’t quite ready to consider herself a maid yet.
Final Mewsings: Kittens make great gifts, even if they come with unintentional insults.
Relevant Links:
To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on
Facebook and Twitter.