That Darn Cat!

Two sisters, Patti and Ingrid Randall, share their home with a Siamese cat named D.C. When the cat returns one night with a woman's wristwatch on its collar, Patti becomes convinced that it carries a message from someone in danger. The watch belongs to a bank teller who has been taken captive by a pair of robbers, and she has used the cat's collar to signal for help.

Patti takes her suspicions to the FBI, but persuading the bureau to act proves difficult. The agent assigned to the case, Zeke Kelso, is allergic to cats, yet the only way to find the missing woman is to follow D.C. on its nightly wanderings. The household becomes the base for a surveillance operation built around the cat's movements.

The film was directed by Robert Stevenson for Walt Disney Productions, the tenth of the fourteen features he directed in chronological order, following Mary Poppins and preceding The Love Bug. Bill Walsh wrote the screenplay with Gordon and Mildred Gordon, and Walt Disney produced. Hayley Mills plays Patti, with Dean Jones as Zeke Kelso, Dorothy Provine, Roddy McDowall, Frank Gorshin and Neville Brand among the twenty-two credited cast members. It took about 28 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.8 from roughly 8,700 votes, on TMDB 6.6 from 199 votes, and critics rate it 6.8 from 16 reviews, close to the audience scores.