Main Cast: Harold Lloyd, Una Merkel, George Barbier, Nat Pendleton, Grace Bradley
Release Year: 1934
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
Plot
Harold Lloyd plays Ezekial Cobb, a missionary's son who has spent his entire life in China. Cobb is sent to his father's home church in California, where it is hoped he will find a wife. A true babe in the woods, Cobb is befriended by politician Jake Mayo (George Barbier). Mayo is a cog in a crooked political machine whose bosses plan to set up a "reform" candidate for mayor, so that they can continue their underhanded activities unmolested. The candidate drops dead, so Mayo sets up the innocent Cobb as the mayor-to-be--a "cat's paw" to deflect attention from the system's corruption. But once elected, Cobb takes his duties quite seriously and begins to clean up the town. The machine frames Cobb with planted evidence of wrongdoing, destroying the lad's political career. Undaunted, Cobb remembers the story of an ancient Chinese leader, who, similarly disgraced, took the law in his own hands and executed all known criminals in his last days of power. Cobb orders that every crook in town be rounded up and brought to a dark cellar. He insists that they confess their crimes or face instant death--and backs up his words by "beheading" two of the crooks on the spot! Actually, these executions are cleverly designed magical illusions, and no one is really killed; but the terrified criminals are so hoodwinked by Cobb's apparent cold-bloodedness that they literally climb over one another to confess. Cobb is exonerated, and honesty is restored to his administration. While not Harold Lloyd's best feature film, The Cat's Paw is definitely his most unorthodox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Cat's Paw is not a bad film (in spite of the use of racial epithets that may have been acceptable in 1934, but aren't today). Harold Lloyd, however, made a serious misstep when he decided to bring Clarence Buddington Kelland's novel to the screen. Instead of merely taking the story's basics and then making it his own, Lloyd decided to conform his approach to the story. The result is just not a Harold Lloyd film -- in fact, out of any of the leads, he seems somewhat miscast as Ezekiel Cobb, the naïve young missionary who brings Chinese honor and philosophy to a graft-filled California town. Lloyd could have made the character his own -- he certainly had played odd young men in his silent pictures -- but he didn't, and he couldn't quite fit himself into the character the way Kelland had written it. This miscasting is especially noticeable because Una Merkel and George Barbier fit their roles so well -- both were actually inspired casting choices. The truth is that Cobb, as he is presented here, could have very well been done better by one of the comedians whose careers flourished in the talkie era -- someone like Eddie Cantor, perhaps. Lloyd could have made far better use of his personality and comic talents if he had given the film his usual assortment of gags. As it stands, The Cat's Paw is a good enough comedy that could have been much, much better. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
Harry Oliver - Art Director, Larry Ceballos - Choreography, Sam Taylor - Director, Bernard W. Burton - Editor, Alfred Newman - Composer (Music Score), Alfred Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Walter Lundin - Cinematographer, John L. Murphy - Production Manager, Harold Lloyd - Producer, Sam Taylor - Screenwriter, Clarence Budington Kelland - Short Story Author
