The Shadow Of The Cat 1961 Written by George Baxt, directed by John Gilling. The last movie in the last set of Universal Horror Collection Volume 6. There's a commentary with Bruce G Hallenbeck, an interview with Barbara Shelley and a still gallery. It's a Hammer Film made in the UK.
I read a couple of George's Hollywood mystery novels but at this time what they were is long gone. He didn't write many movies, less than 2 dozen, and I've only seen a handful, The Revenge Of Frankenstein, Circus Of Horrors, The City Of The Dead, Strangler's Web (part of The Edgar Wallace film series made by Anglo-Amalgamated in the early 60s), Vampire Circus and Tower Of Evil. John was fairly prolific and I know I've seen quite a few of the movies he's written and directed plus all 10 episodes of The Saint. I've probably seen those 10 episodes close to a dozen times each.
A wealthy old lady is murdered by her greedy family, the only witness is the old lady's cat. The old lady's body is buried in the grounds and the cat saw that too. The cat takes it upon himself to get vengeance for the old lady. He does a good job, these people are so scared you'd think the cat is a giant monster of some sort.
It's pretty entertaining watching them flail about as the cat gets to work. The police poke their noses into the mix. The bodies pile up and the family's attempts to kill the cat backfire on them in deadly ways. Eventually the cat leads the police to the old lady's body. We'd all be better off with a guardian cat.
It's not a great movie but it is entertaining. I usually get a laugh or two out of it.
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