The Last Picture Show) Bogdanovich's first film in eight years.
Assembled on that fateful voyage were Hearst, his mistress Marion Davies, Hollywood's own "little tramp" (in more ways than one) Charlie Chaplin, and assorted film people, gossip columnists and Hearst minions – a recipe for raucous times, and in this case, an unexplained disappearance.
Adapted by Steven Peros from his stage play,
The Cat's Meow embraces rather than betrays its origins. While it may be slow, it is lifted by the playwright's attention to atmosphere, the script and the obligatory charleston.
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Evoking scenes and ideas from Shakespeare's
Othello, Peros and Bogdanovich manage to skilfully mix the building tension with the frivolity of 1920s Hollywood (including the worst table-tennis match ever committed to celluloid).