31 Days of Halloween, Day 5- Cat People (1942)

Directed by: Jacques Tourneur

Tope 8 Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Tom Conway, Elizabeth Russell, Elizabeth Dunne, Alec Craig, Dot Farley

Plot: Irena Dubrovna is a Serbian immigrant in love. She also might be the descendant of a tribe of black-panther-turning hill witches, or maybe that’s just psychosis. Her shrink; husband; and his co-worker that he’s just a bit too-friendly with, will find out!

Response: O, elegance of elegances. Ineffectual man-boy hubbies gaslighting from their own limitations. Psychoanalyst as Teutonic Knight. Creeping, slurping shadows. Cat People!

Some Quick Thoughts & Background Details: This flick is a pretty stunning example of old Hollywood refinement. Densely packed with manifold meanings but slippery and graceful enough to resist having A message. In other words, it can’t quite be codified. There’s a lot here about relationships, gender, psychology, and immigration (one could easily read it through queer, colonial or feminist lenses). But ultimately it rests in that consistently generative and anti-reductionist place of art. Super rich.

It serves as a nice companion piece to our Day 3 picture (I Saw the TV Glow). Glow served a different function than this picture. One of revealing and allowing for witnessing and resultantly (and to no fault) it was a bit more on-the-nose. It needed to be. What’s interesting is how the tragedy in that film was about remaining in the closet whereas the tragedy of this one is about coming-out (to the wrong people). It indicts society. A common 2020’s reaction to Cat People is to boo hiss the stupid husband (mostly for being too-tragically steeped in his own privilege to be a loving spouse*). One of the riches of this film is how every character is understandable, and fully realized. We know these folks.

The picture is spare, economic, expertly lensed in black and white (boy does this film know how to utilize shadow!), and yet (like the best of old Hollywood) there is room and space to breathe here. To allow the events to unfold succintly but for them to hit deeply.

Much has been written about The Lewton Bus (one of the first horror movie jump scares and one that has been emulated innumerably since then). This picture is remembered as much for its producer, Val Lewton as for its director, Jacques Tourneur. They would team up again for I Walked With a Zombie and The Leopard Man (both from 1943, also for RKO pictures).

The film also has a cool connection to classic weird fic. The germ of the idea came from Val Lewton’s own Caucus mountains, werecat story, “The Bagheeta” published in Weird Tales (1930) but it also took as atmospheric inspiration, Ambrose Bierce’s “The Eyes of the Panther”, Margaret Irwin’s “Monsieur Seeks a Wife” and Algernon Blackwood’s “Ancient Sorcieries”*

It’s a highly recommended watchadoozle from the J-man.

Incomplete Legacy of Cat People and Panther-Ladies in Cinema: Cat People has gone on to achieve the status of horror classic frequently appearing on various 100-Greatest-Horror-Movies-of-All-Time lists, such as Variety’s where it nabbed the 93 slot.

It was followed by The Curse of the Cat People, from 1943, which saw Irena’s ghostly return, takes place at Christmas, and features Cat People progeny.

There were also a slew of imitators (notably The Cat Creeps from 1946 and The Creeper from 1948).

Kent Smith dips his toe back into Cat People waters for the third time in the Robert-Bloch-penned, Made-for-TV homage The Cat Creature (1973) and Tom Conway’s shitty shrink character, Dr. Judd, nonsensically returns in the unofficial sequel The Seventh Victim from 1943.

In 1982, Paul Schrader (of Taxi Driver fame) directed a sexy remake (also called Cat People). That one’s got Natassja Kinski and Malcom McDowell, a theme song by Bowie, and a lot of style. It’s become a bit of a cult classic in its own right.

1991 brought us the hardcore porno Curse of the Cat Woman and 1992 gave us the Mick Garris and Stephen King joint, Sleepwalkers.

The og horror panther woman is still probably Kathleen Burke’s Lotta from 1932’s Island of Lost Souls.

Second Opinions:

“The film, which has been admirably mounted and tightly directed and acted, should find an appreciative audience among those who prefer melodrama with originality, but can scarcely be termed pleasant entertainment.” - E.A. Cunningham, Motion Picture Herald

“…weds avant-garde symbolism with a variation of the classic story of the were-creature.” - Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine

“It will give you icy jitters but it’s kinda fun at that.” - Photoplay Magazine

“Jacques Tourneur made a masterpiece that is highlighted by its great cinematography, specifically in its use of chiaroscuro. But all would be at the service of nothing if it wasn't for the engaging character drama at the center of all the madness.” - Lynch/Fellini on Mubi

Score:

Autumn Vibes: 0/5

Scares & Chills: 3/5

Cultural & Cinematic Importance: 5/5

Monster Action: 1/5