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The Cat's Meow (2001)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
2/19
2/19:
There's a lot of movie history in The Cat's Meow which is only a theory of what happened.
On November 16, 1924, film mogul Thomas Ince was found dead on a yacht that was owned by William Randolph Hearst,
the famous subject of Citizen Kane. On board were Hearst's long-time partner
Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin, Elinor Glyn, Louella Parsons, Margaret Livingston, and a few others.
The mystery hasn't been solved to this day, but it's more than conceivable that William Randolph Hearst killed Ince
when he meant to kill Chaplin for taking interest in Marion. I suspect Peter Bogdanovich knows the truth after
hearing it from Orson Welles who used to stay at his place on and off for a period of years. That's how
The Cat's Meow happened. In fact, Orson Welles wanted the story to be included in
Citizen Kane but chose not to in fear of what Hearst might do to him. The
rumor has also been substantiated by Mamie Van Doren.
By the way, Thomas Ince, according to Wikipedia, was responsible for "revolutionizing the motion picture industry
by creating the first major Hollywood studio facility and invented movie production by introducing the 'assembly
line' system of filmmaking," was the "first mogul to build his own film studio," and was "instrumental in
developing the role of the producer in motion pictures."
Back to the film, it's interesting to see how the Hollywood luminaries behaved back then. The acting, especially
from Edward Herrmann and Eddie Izzard (Chaplin actually had deep blue eyes, but they became dark in black-and-white
films), is top-notch. I'm starting to appreciate Kirsten Dunst's talent.
All in all, The Cat's Meow has me convinced that William Randolph Hearst fatally shot Thomas Ince by
accident, with Louella Parsons as a witness, and therefore covered it up.