by Allan Fish
(USA 1942 73m) DVD1/2 (France only)
Moya sestra, moya sestra!
p Val Lewton d Jacques Tourneur w De Witt Bodeen ph Nicholas Musuraca ed Mark Robson m Roy Webb art Walter E.Keller, Albert S.d’Agostino
Simone Simon (Irina Dubrovna), Kent Smith (Oliver Reed), Tom Conway (Dr Judd), Jane Randolph (Alice Moore), Jack Holt (Commodore), Alan Napier (Carver), Elizabeth Dunne (Miss Plunkett), Elizabeth Russell (the cat woman),
Situated exactly at the crossroads between horror and film noir, Cat People was the first of Val Lewton’s memorable series of forties thrillers made at RKO. Cheap, often on recycled sets (this one utilising the memorable Amberson mansion staircase) and with often B movie casts, they were a wonderfully experimental series in horror movie history, though in actual fact it can be argued that they were noirs in all but their subject matter. Visually, they are very much akin to the hardnosed thrillers that characterised that genre. If I had to pick one I’d say I Walked With a Zombie would be the masterpiece of the strain, but Cat People remains a bona fide classic for horror aficionados.
Irina Dubrovna is a Serbian immigrant sketch artist who meets up with American architect Oliver Reed (gotta love the name) at the zoo, from which they fall in love and get married. Irina refuses to consummate the marriage, however, because she is convinced she will turn into a panther during intercourse and kill her lover. Unable to cope, Oliver talks to his friend and colleague, Alice, though Irina grows jealous and that, too, brings out the feline instinct in her and effects a transformation.
What is perhaps most shocking about the film today is the undercurrent of sexuality, and how Lewton and Tourneur managed to circumvent the stifling atmosphere of the production code. Everything in the film, though, is under the surface, hinted at, so that any form of censorship would rather be on the back of an assumption rather than a cast iron fact. The audience knows that Irina cannot let her husband have sex with her because she thinks she’ll kill him in the act. They also might see the psychological links to the very notion of frigidity and sexual frustration, as felt by the rejected husband. There’s something slightly disturbing about her even before the marriage, as the animals in a pet store go mental when she enters, she has a statue of King John of Serbia skewering a cat on her desk, and she likes to listen to the cries of the lions at the nearby zoo at night. Certainly they could have got no-one more mysterious and feline than Simone Simon for the role. Though of course of Gallic origin, there’s something in her broken English and physiognomy that hints at a mysterious Eastern European ancestry. One recalls her line in All That Money Can Buy when she’s asked where she came from and replies “from over the mountain.”
The real heart of the film, however, lies in its use of light and dark. Jacques Tourneur and DP Nick Musuraca were cinema’s greatest masters of shadow, as they would go on to prove in not only later Lewton chillers but Out of the Past. He and Lewton ingeniously refuse to show their monster in any form until fleeting glimpses in the final few minutes. One is reminded of Hitchcock’s knowing comment that there was “no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.” His film is filled with an inexplicable, invisible menace, a menace most potently seen in the film’s most famous sequence of Jane Randolph being pursued by Simon’s Irina. There’s a very eerie portion where Randolph is walking down a street pavement under bridges and past lamp posts, where she is adamant she is being followed. When a bus pulls up one can imagine the contemporary audiences being scared out of their wits, but that was nothing compared to the sequence in the swimming pool, with its reflected water rippling as shadows on the wall, Randolph defenceless in the pool and the noise of the ferocious cat all around her. Followed by a memorable sequel of sorts, The Curse of the Cat People, in 1944, the original was remade with no subtlety in 1982, and is only of note to the three remaining people on planet earth yet to see Nastassja Kinski naked on screen.
The use of “light and dark” is indeed the central visual focus of this B classic (the interesting use of sound as well) which has stood its ground for decades. It’s certainly one of the best of the series, as Allan contends in his excellent review.
Of all the Val Lewton’s films offered on the Lewton 9 film(s) boxset…I think I enjoy watching “Cat People,” “Curse of the Cat People,” ” The Seventh Victim,” and “The Leopard Man” the most.
Allen, once again, what a very detailed and well written review of Lewton’s film “Cat people.”
dcd 😉
Thanks, Tony and dcd, I thought this would be up your street, and it’s one I always return to. Ideal Halloween stuff, though we are purposefully avoiding an over-saturation on Halloween on WitD as we know several other blogs have excellent themed series going on.
Hi! Allen,
Is it me?!? or is Tony D’Ambra’s comment on “Cat People” MIA?
Btw, I notice that your response (about “Cat People” ) is directed to both us?!?…hmm…
dcd 😉
“Cat People” is the forerunner of this series which promotes ‘suggestion’ over what is actually seen on screen. The scene at the swimming pool and the noctural walked by Ms. Simone are standout sequences. Terrific review.
Dcd, there was a comment by me, but a gremlin ate it 🙂
Tony, yes there was a comment by you, a lengthy and excellent one. But it got put in the Moderation box three times – and when I deleted two of them, as well as a comment held twice for The Goddess, it deleted all three of your Cat People comments and also a lengthy one I’d just posted. I tried getting it back, but my PC connection crashed at an inopportune time. If you can remember what you put or have a copy, please repost and we’ll clear it.
…….an American horror classic that seemingly endless remakes has never diminished. Wonderful review…..
Laughter…ha!ha!…ahh! a “wonderful sense of humour ” is on display by the
“serious one” this morning…hmm
dcd 😉
No worries re the lost post. Here it is again…
Like the Seventh Victim, Lewton uses prose as chilling book-ends:
Opening Credits:
“Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness.” (uncredited)
Closing credits:
“But black sin hath betrayed to endless night
My world, both parts, and both parts must die.”
(Holy Sonnets – John Donne)
Tourneur uses stark lighting and moody night shots to suggest horror and foreboding in scenes that are rendered completely only in the viewers’ imaginations. Simone Simon portrays the woman doomed from birth with understated intensity, and her engaging performance gives the erstwhile demon a fragile humanity. This theme of a doomed destiny became a common film noir motif, and the cat woman is not just a captive of her accursed fate, but imprisoned by her very sexuality, which can be expressed only by unleashing her demonic self – another noir motif.
A beautiful line from the film: ” Another sound – the panther – it screams like a woman… “
Magisterial contribution there Tony!
I love the use of that John Donne sonnet that closed the film, yet another example of the cultured Lewton, who suffused his work with poetry and literary passages.
Similarly, the apt reference to Tourneur, who uses lighting and noctural moods to evoke horror without displaying it is stating the very essence of this film’s allure and craftsmanship.
And now finally, thanks for the excellent post, Tony. I don’t know how wordpress picks and chooses its Moderation criteria. Like some ISPs with spam emails, I guess.
Thanks Allan and Sam. It is 2.10 am over here and am typing in bed on my cell phone. Have had a great time…
Yes, I was wondering when you’d go to bed. You’re not a cricket fan, are you, Tony? I know the baggy greens are in India at the mo. It’s normally sports that keep you guys up at night (and us, for that matter).
Wonders in the Dark should be commended in the highest terms for serving up two equally terrific reviews of Val Lewton classics by its two head writers.
I admit it’s hard to pick which of these two literate fright classics is better.
I second Peter’s sentiments here, but I think my own favorite is ‘Cat People.’ The site is really looking good Sam. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Peter and Sue, much appreciated.
Great writing style employed in this review with a kind of tongue-in-cheek delivery. Good point to bring up the undercurrent of sexuality. One can only imagine how this inspired fear in 40’s audiences, certainly by our current standards this is tame stuff.
I would say this is one of the banner moments for the series, along with “I Walked With A Zombie” and “The Body Snatcher.” But as far as the entertainment aspect I think it’s tops.
Another exceptional consideration of one of the more celebrated of this landmark horror lot.
Tony said, “Thanks Allan and Sam. It is 2.10 am over here and am typing in bed on my cell phone. Have had a great time…”
Oops!… Sorry! I am not familiar with the timezone in your region.
dcd 😉
Dark City Dame–thanks for brightening up our day. I think your own time zone is about three hours behind ours, is that right?
Tony’s insights on the Lewton films are incomparable, and his point of references impeccable.
Sam said, “I think your own time zone is about three hours behind ours, is that right?” Ahh!….
something like that Sam…Btw, Did you ever receive the film “Walk Softly, Stranger:” Starring Joseph Cotton from G.McCall?….
dcd 😉
DCD:
G. McCall’s parcel arrived yesterday. I am right now making a copy for you. Also, which Val Lewton films would you like copies of? Do you want them all?
and I have IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH and MICHAEL CLAYTON copies for you as well……..DCD.
Allen said, “I tried getting it back, (D’Ambra’s comment) but my PC connection crashed at an inopportune time.”
Wow!…D’Ambra, was headed in the right direction when he mentioned the word Gremlin, because when I….looked up the word “gremlin” here goes the definition:
The definition of “gremlin:” a tiny mischievous “imaginary” being that is blamed for faults in tools, machinery, and electronic equipment. hmm…Just kidding!
dcd 😉
I won a copy of this and RETURN OF THE CAT PEOPLE from my film teacher after correctly predicting the most Oscar winners in the class. I still haven’t watched it though…sounds like I need to get around to it soon.
Make that CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE…sorry my brain’s not on tonight.
Matthew, your mission for tonight is clear.
If I didn’t have to work until after midnight and be back at work at 9 AM tomorrow…my mission would most definitely be clear.
Ok, another night, Matthew. But soon…
I watched both CAT PEOPLE and CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE today, and I must say that while I liked CAT PEOPLE, I found CURSE to be the best of the two. I was totally taken aback by its poetic beauty and its haunting psychological nature, totally eschewing supernatural horror for an astute examination of a lonely little girl’s relationship with an imaginary friend. Wonderful stuff.
Excellent, Matt. I prefer the original, but Curse is a wonderful little study of childhood in its own way. Those who don’t like it preconceive it’s a horror movie, not helped by RKO’s insistance on that ludicrous title, but it isn’t…