The Cat's Meow
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Written by Steven Peros
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cary Elwes, Edward Hermann, Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley
Release Date April 12th, 2002
Published April 15th, 2002
An enduring Hollywood mystery surrounds the death of director Thomas Ince (Cary Elwes). Ince's death occurred during a major Hollywood party. Someone shot Ince and there were many suspects, none the least of which was the host of the party, legendary powerbroker and publishing magnate, William Randolph Hurst (Edward Hermann). The insecure Hearst was a maniacally jealous man who, it is believed, was searching for superstar Charlie Chaplin (Eddie Izzard) with the intent of killing the famed actor. Chaplin was rumored to be sleeping with Hearst's beloved mistress turned wife, Marion Davies (Kirsten Dunst).
Hearst allegedly wanted to solve the problem of Chaplin permanently and when he saw Marion talking to a man that he thought could have been Chaplin, he raised his pistol and pulled the trigger. Essentially, the legend goes that Ince was the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. But this is all rumor and conjecture. Hearst was never questioned about Ince's death in terms of him being the killer. The party was barely interrupted by Ince's death or any subsequent investigation of Ince's death. Though he'd been beloved and respected in the silent film era, Ince's death was swept under the rug. It became an urban legend, one of Hollywood's dirty little secrets.
The movie The Cat's Meow dramatizes the murder of Thomas Ince with the aid of stellar production design, costuming, and witty dialogue. Director Peter Bogdanovich, working from a screenplay by Steven Peros, creates an elaborate old Hollywood party aboard an old yacht. Bogdanovich's camera sneaks about the boat, a perfect fly on the wall, capturing conversations, deceptions, rumors, and innuendos, it's all very catty and High School like but involving well-heeled millionaire adults, eager to watch each other tear themselves apart over relationships, sex, and perceived betrayals.
The Cat's Meow is witty, stylish, and quite darkly funny, even as it is weaving its way to becoming a murder mystery. In reality, no one knows what happened to Thomas Ince. In reality, no one even knows if Ince was shot. What we know is that Thomas Ince died, he was quickly cremated, and there was no real investigation into what happened. Guests did report hearing a gunshot during the party but no one saw how Thomas Ince died and as his body was wheeled out of the party, speculation ran wild but it remained speculation because no one was going to try and out William Randolph Hearst as a killer. Hearst also had the means, via his newspaper empire to cover the whole thing up and bury Ince's death under piles and piles of paper and ink.
The Cat's Meow takes a catty, nasty, pleasure in exposing William Randolph Hearst as an insecure creep, a man who had everything except the ability to trust the one person he truly he loved. Edward Hermann's performance is pitch perfect, never going for anything sympathetic but finding something pathetic in Hearst that makes him both human and monstrous. Kirsten Dunst is also wonderful in The Cat's Meow, playing Marion as a woman who just wants to have a good time, she just wants to have fun and not worry about things. She chafes under Hearst's controlling nature and her flirtation with Chaplin, wittily played by Eddie Izzard, is part retaliation against Hearst and a genuine connection with Chaplin.
As captured by Peter Bogdanovich it's all very charming, very witty and quite droll. The cinematography is gorgeous, elegant and a perfect vessel for these witty characters and the dreamy universe of memory that they now inhabit. Bogdanovich and Bruno Delbonnel, his cinematographer, use the boat setting ingeniously, creating a space they can widen and contract as needed for bringing characters together in small groups while creating plenty of thin hallways and alcoves for private conversations and potential betrayals.
The Cat's Meow was Bogdanovich's first film in 9 years in 2002 and goes on to become his last great film. That's not a grand pronouncement, he only directed one more film after The Cat's Meow, but still. It had been a few decades since Bogdanovich was part of the vanguard of Hollywood's new wave of the late 60s and early 70s. Though he was always respected, his messy personal life derailed Bogdanovich for many years and the death of his beloved Dorothy Stratton, after they'd just made a movie together, They All Laughed, pushed Bogdanovich almost completely out of the mainstream. The Cat's Meow seemed to come out of nowhere. A complete, yet very brief, return to form for a former New Waver. That makes the movie a landmark even as it hasn't exactly lasted in our cultural memory.
