The Shadow of the Cat
Late one night in the early 1900's in the English town of Great Melling, Ella Venable (Catherine Lacey), an elderly and wealthy woman, is murdered in Duncroft Mansion by her butler Andrew (Andrew Craw…
The Shadow of the Cat
Late one night in the early 1900's in the English town of Great Melling, Ella Venable (Catherine Lacey), an elderly and wealthy woman, is murdered in Duncroft Mansion by her butler Andrew (Andrew Crawford), in collusion with Walter Venable (André Morell), Ella's husband, and Ella's maid Clara (Freda Jackson), who then dispose of her body. There is only one witness to the murder, in the form of Ella's tabby cat, Tabitha (Bunkie), so the murderers make plans to kill Tabitha. Walter gathers the people together and informs them that Ella has disappeared, but she had re-written her will just before the disappearance (Walter had actually forced Ella to sign this new will before he murdered her) to leave everything to him, but her original will, which left nothing to Walter, remains hidden somewhere in the attic. Walter has to find and destroy the original will in order to claim Ella's inheritance. Inspector Rowles (Alan Wheatley) and newspaper reporter Michael Latimer (Conrad Phillips) are called to Duncroft Mansion to investigate Ella's disappearance. Walter invites Elizabeth "Beth" Venable (Barbara Shelley), Ella's favourite niece, to stay at the mansion. After Beth arrives, Walter begins to worry that she might question the legitimacy of the altered will and decides to deal with her in person. When Beth used to live in the mansion with Ella, she first developed a friendship with Michael, and they become closer as their old friendship is renewed. Most of the people in the house either become afraid of the cat or, like Ella's murderers, want it gone, and these feelings increase after the cat leaves some deep scratch marks in the side of Andrew's face, but Beth is the only person who disagrees with their plans because Tabitha is always sweet whenever she is with her, and is puzzled as to why the other people in the mansion are afraid of a domestic animal that she herself sees as being harmless. Michael hypothesises that everyone else's fear of Tabitha may have arisen from guilty consciences, which leads him to suspect that they may have some culpability in Ella's disappearance. Walter goes up to the attic, which is structurally unsound, to search for Ella's original will, but he has an accident there. Later, he encounters Tabitha and has a heart attack as a result of seeing her. Unable to continue searching for the will as a result of being bedridden, Walter invites his brother Edgar (Richard Warner), Edgar's criminal son Jacob (William Lucas) and Jacob's wife Louise (Vanda Godsell) to Duncroft Mansion and promises them a share of Ella's inheritance if they find and destroy her original will and kill Tabitha. They set a cage trap that is baited with mice and succeed in using it to capture Tabitha. They place the cat into a sack and request Andrew to drown the sack in a nearby river with Tabitha inside, but they forget to tie the sack shut, so when Andrew drops the sack, Tabitha runs out of it. She climbs up a tree close to a swamp and Andrew follows her up the tree and out onto one of its branches, but he loses his balance, falls into the swamp below, and drowns after sinking into it. Clara discovers that there are some muddy footprints in the kitchen and follows the prints up a flight of stairs. When she reaches the top, Tabitha jumps onto her and sends her falling down the stairs to her death. Meanwhile, Jacob continues searching for Ella's original will in the attic, but he becomes worried that Walter might not honour his part of the bargain, so he turns on his uncle by letting Tabitha into the bedroom where Walter is still in his bed. When Walter sees Tabitha again, he has a second heart attack, and this one proves to be fatal. Walter's will is read out, and he has left everything to his brother Edgar. Beth, Michael and Inspector Rowles accuse the other people in the mansion of conspiracy. Edgar uses his new-found status as Duncroft Mansion's owner to order them to leave. As they are departing, Jacob sees Tabitha and pursues her up to the mansion's roof, watched by Beth, Michael and Inspector Rowles. Jacob slips and falls off the roof to his death. Edgar uses the distraction of Jacob's death to sneak up to the attic and search for Ella's original will, which he eventually finds behind a painting of Tabitha hanging on the attic wall. When Tabitha herself appears in the attic, Edgar frantically tries to kill her but demolishes the attic in the process of doing so. He is eventually struck by a falling attic beam and killed. Tabitha then leads the police to the swamp, and they find the body of Ella there. After Ella's original will is found near Edgar's dead body and read out, she leaves everything to Beth. Beth tells Michael that she never wants to see the house again and requests that he take her away. Duncroft Mansion is put up for sale. After it is sold, Tabitha watches from the courtyard as the family who buy it, consisting of a husband and wife and their daughter and grandfather, move in. The grandfather complains that he will probably die of boredom while he is living there, and the husband and wife have a discussion about convincing the grandfather to change his will.
The Shadow of the Cat
Horror,Mystery,Thriller
Film Details
Late one night in the early 1900's in the English town of Great Melling, Ella Venable (Catherine Lacey), an elderly and wealthy woman, is murdered in Duncroft Mansion by her butler Andrew (Andrew Crawford), in collusion with Walter Venable (André Morell), Ella's husband, and Ella's maid Clara (Freda Jackson), who then dispose of her body. There is only one witness to the murder, in the form of Ella's tabby cat, Tabitha (Bunkie), so the murderers make plans to kill Tabitha. Walter gathers the people together and informs them that Ella has disappeared, but she had re-written her will just before the disappearance (Walter had actually forced Ella to sign this new will before he murdered her) to leave everything to him, but her original will, which left nothing to Walter, remains hidden somewhere in the attic.
Walter has to find and destroy the original will in order to claim Ella's inheritance. Inspector Rowles (Alan Wheatley) and newspaper reporter Michael Latimer (Conrad Phillips) are called to Duncroft Mansion to investigate Ella's disappearance. Walter invites Elizabeth "Beth" Venable (Barbara Shelley), Ella's favourite niece, to stay at the mansion.
After Beth arrives, Walter begins to worry that she might question the legitimacy of the altered will and decides to deal with her in person. When Beth used to live in the mansion with Ella, she first developed a friendship with Michael, and they become closer as their old friendship is renewed. Most of the people in the house either become afraid of the cat or, like Ella's murderers, want it gone, and these feelings increase after the cat leaves some deep scratch marks in the side of Andrew's face, but Beth is the only person who disagrees with their plans because Tabitha is always sweet whenever she is with her, and is puzzled as to why the other people in the mansion are afraid of a domestic animal that she herself sees as being harmless.
Michael hypothesises that everyone else's fear of Tabitha may have arisen from guilty consciences, which leads him to suspect that they may have some culpability in Ella's disappearance. Walter goes up to the attic, which is structurally unsound, to search for Ella's original will, but he has an accident there. Later, he encounters Tabitha and has a heart attack as a result of seeing her.
Unable to continue searching for the will as a result of being bedridden, Walter invites his brother Edgar (Richard Warner), Edgar's criminal son Jacob (William Lucas) and Jacob's wife Louise (Vanda Godsell) to Duncroft Mansion and promises them a share of Ella's inheritance if they find and destroy her original will and kill Tabitha. They set a cage trap that is baited with mice and succeed in using it to capture Tabitha. They place the cat into a sack and request Andrew to drown the sack in a nearby river with Tabitha inside, but they forget to tie the sack shut, so when Andrew drops the sack, Tabitha runs out of it.
She climbs up a tree close to a swamp and Andrew follows her up the tree and out onto one of its branches, but he loses his balance, falls into the swamp below, and drowns after sinking into it. Clara discovers that there are some muddy footprints in the kitchen and follows the prints up a flight of stairs. When she reaches the top, Tabitha jumps onto her and sends her falling down the stairs to her death.
Meanwhile, Jacob continues searching for Ella's original will in the attic, but he becomes worried that Walter might not honour his part of the bargain, so he turns on his uncle by letting Tabitha into the bedroom where Walter is still in his bed. When Walter sees Tabitha again, he has a second heart attack, and this one proves to be fatal. Walter's will is read out, and he has left everything to his brother Edgar.
Beth, Michael and Inspector Rowles accuse the other people in the mansion of conspiracy. Edgar uses his new-found status as Duncroft Mansion's owner to order them to leave. As they are departing, Jacob sees Tabitha and pursues her up to the mansion's roof, watched by Beth, Michael and Inspector Rowles.
Jacob slips and falls off the roof to his death. Edgar uses the distraction of Jacob's death to sneak up to the attic and search for Ella's original will, which he eventually finds behind a painting of Tabitha hanging on the attic wall. When Tabitha herself appears in the attic, Edgar frantically tries to kill her but demolishes the attic in the process of doing so.
He is eventually struck by a falling attic beam and killed. Tabitha then leads the police to the swamp, and they find the body of Ella there. After Ella's original will is found near Edgar's dead body and read out, she leaves everything to Beth.
Beth tells Michael that she never wants to see the house again and requests that he take her away. Duncroft Mansion is put up for sale. After it is sold, Tabitha watches from the courtyard as the family who buy it, consisting of a husband and wife and their daughter and grandfather, move in.
The grandfather complains that he will probably die of boredom while he is living there, and the husband and wife have a discussion about convincing the grandfather to change his will..