Cast:
Simone Simon (Irena Dubrovna), Kent Smith (Oliver Reed), Tom Conway (Dr. Louis Judd), Jane Randolph (Alice Moore), Jack Holt ('Commodore' C. R. Cooper), Steve Soldi (The Organ Grinder), and Alan Napier ('Doc' Carver) Directed by Jacques Tourneur (#998 - I Walked with a Zombie)
Review:
Oh yes, there was plenty of horror schlock to go around in the 1930s and 1940s, but one cannot forget about the ones besides the studio fare of the era. In 1942, an era of B-movie horror at RKO Radio Pictures began reaching theaters, with Val Lewton being tasked to do features for the studio; he had been hired after previously serving as story editor on films for David O. Selznick. Granted, they were not the cheapest type of horror film of their time, because even the Poverty Row studios like Producers Releasing Corporation made horror films too, but Lewton's run of producing horror B-movies made a distinct mark on horror cinema. It all started with this film, with Lewton picking both the director (Jacques Tourneur) and writer (DeWitt Bodeen), and each contributed to the script treatment, which had cat-related literature as research, with wither Tourneur or Lewton responsible for the modern setting as opposed to a period piece. One other part of the film crew was Mark Robson, who served as editor before cultivating a career of directing films in his own right. The film, reusing sets from films such as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), was made for roughly $141,000. The film was a fair success for RKO despite mild reviews, which led to a semi-sequel with The Curse of the Cat People (1944) that saw three of the main four actors from the previous film return while Lewton served as producer and contributed script details (attempts by him to not use that particular title failed), and it happened to be the debut feature for a future famous name in Robert Wise. A remake was done in 1982. Lewton would produce eleven films for RKO from 1942 to 1946 before the death of Charles Koerner (executive vice president who supported Lewton while also being known as the guy who fired Orson Welles from RKO) along with Lewton's ailing health led to him not having employment with RKO. Lewton did produce a few features afterwards, but he died in 1951 at the age of 46. Among the notable horror films that he did were the aforementioned Cat film alongside I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and Isle of the Dead (1945). Tourneur had started his directing career with films in his native France in 1931, but it was these films that rose him into eventual status at RKO in the 1940s before he added freelance work to his output that saw a variety of genres to go with horror, most notably with Night of the Demon (1957).
Eight decades have been kinder to the film, which was a moderate success with audiences while having a decent if not spectacular reaction from others (i.e. not as hyperbolic as Freaks). In fact, the reputation of the film has perhaps been a bit overstated depending on the perspective of who is evaluating it, which either rests on being a sophisticated classic or just a good B-movie. I think it is merely pretty good, not exactly outclassing the creature features such as with Universal of the time but instead going for something a bit different in creativity. At any rate, the power of imagination is what matters most for the output of the RKO run with Lewton and company. Tournier himself described the film as "very poor" (in terms of the script and story progression) and "very childish" while also not being happy with Simon's acting. At any rate, it is the examination of "the Other" that matters most, where it is not only a movie about someone who may or may not be a cat but also a tragedy of how one loses their bearings in mind and with people. Superstitions and legends matter most to those who have the words to back it up, basically, whether that involves panthers or something else. It is a 73-minute movie with the most careful of touches that lives and dies on how you treat the road to seeing if someone is a cat-person or not, one that treats it seriously without veering into ridicule territory (RKO tried to push for more shots of, well, take a guess, but the filmmakers did play it carefully in shooting). Oh sure, you could save yourself the time by peeking to see whether the title is going to be what the title is, but sometimes it is the imagination of where the truth lies that is more useful to consider. With that in mind, Simon is serviceable up to a point: one can see the vulnerabilities present in a withering role like this and give her credit while also thinking that she pulls it off a majority of the time in shaky grace rather than an absolute one. Smith, tasked with being the ordinary fellow in a movie with the most careful of all tensions, does exactly what is required, one with striking causality towards how he treats Simon and Randolph when paired with either that makes for the tension needed. Conway is harder to peg down, mostly because he isn't exactly just the doctor character playing exposition nor one who has as much time to corral against Simon, but his last sequence does show exactly what would hope to see from a moderate actor. One of the most striking things to linger from the film is a moment that lasts for less than a minute: the first jump scare. Imagine if you will, a quiet little scene with growing tension, one that has you curious in your seat, things move carefully, and then bam, a loud noise strikes out of nowhere, with this one being the sound of an incoming bus. The jump scare became more of a thing in the 1970s with slashers, but it's always interesting to see where horror tricks can come from, especially when done right. As a whole, I think it is a pretty good movie, maybe not exactly the kind of movie that is great in any one area, but it would prove just right for a night out with the proper mindset of patience.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
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