THE CAT'S PAW (1934) B/W 101m dir: Sam Taylor

w/Harold Lloyd, Una Merkel, George Barbier, Nat Pendleton, Grace Bradley, Alan Dinehart, Grant Mitchell, Fred Warren, Warren Hymer, J. Farrell Macdonald, James Donlan, Edwin Maxwell, Frank Sheridan, Fuzzy Knight, Vincent Barnett

From Variety's contemporary review of the film: "The Cat's Paw is a big departure for Harold Lloyd in that it is the most adult comedy attempted by him yet.

:The story is simply a play on the corrupt politics theme. Lloyd, as a missionary's son, visiting his home town in the U.S. after 20 years in China, is picked as a prize sap by the burg's political czars and nominated for mayor as the 1,000-to-1 shot opponent for their own man. But he surprises everybody, including himself, by winning, and the worm keeps on turning until having cleaned up the city 100 percent.

"There are some good, substantial laughs along the way, but the roars are few and far between. Script [from a magazine story by Clarence Buddington Kelland] nurses itself for quite a long stretch to build up to the climax.

"There's a girl, too, and no more fortunate choice for the part of this smart-cracking cigar counter femme could have been made. Una Merkel plays it expertly. A gem character performance by George Barbier and some polished gangster and gun moll stuff, respectively, from Alan Dinehart and Grace Bradley, give Lloyd a lot of help in the support line."