Cast:
Dennis O'Keefe (Jerry Manning), Margo (Gabriella "Clo-Clo"), Jean Brooks (Kiki Walker), Isabel Jewell (Maria, the Fortune Teller), Marguerite Sylva (Marta), Margaret Landry (Terésa Delgado), Abner Biberman (Charlie), James Bell (Dr. Galbraith), and Tuulikki Paananen (Consuela Contreras) Directed by Jacques Tourneur (#998 - I Walked with a Zombie and #1898 - Cat People)
Review:
Sure, let's go with an RKO horror movie. With such an alluring title, one might be unsurprised to know this was based on the 1942 novel Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich (in his day, Woolrich was a prolific pulp writer that would see plenty of his stories serve as the basis for films, most notably Rear Window). Ardel Wray and Edward Dein served as writers for the film, which as you might remember, was done around the idea of being given a title by the studio in advance and trying to find a good story to go with it. This was the third film produced by Lewton in his horror cycle, with Tourneur once again directing; Lewton had four productions for RKO all come out in 1943, with this being the second. Tourneur (in his last effort for Lewton before RKO promoted him to higher-fare films) was quoted as stating the film was not among his favorites, stating that it was "too exotic" with uneven effect. Mark Robson, who edited each of these films, made his debut as a feature director with Lewton's production of The Seventh Victim and The Ghost Ship. The movie has enough of a cult following that William Friedkin was a noted fan of the film.
I should note that some of these reviews end up getting written while I attempt to watch a different film, which is sort of a test of one's patience along with being because that sure helps get a review off the ground by trying to remember as much as possible before it goes. Unfortunately, this is not one of those neat winners to really write home about. I actually had to go back and watch the second half again because it really just slipped my mind when the end moment actually showed up. If one thought Cat People was a test of one's patience with getting to the point in terms of having the idea of a body-count in favor of tricks that could be thought of as being "atmosphere", you sure will have a time to behold here for 66 minutes. One might be wondering just what the body-count of terror is here. Well, the answer is "two", and I say that because "leopard man" implies, well, a guy is doing the murders that somehow gets confused for a leopard because of the opening death. Those moments spent in shadow, where one really has to pay attention to the sounds made beyond just a scream only to close it out with a puddle of blood, really does invite one for inquiry into where it could go beyond moments spent with middling folks in New Mexico. One jumps around from character to character mainly because if it spent enough time somewhere, you might notice that it really is a drifter-type of film that tries to coast on shadows and spook you into thinking something may be there in shadow. To add insult to injury, the performances are pretty ordinary for a movie that begs to have the perils of fate be handled by even one tormented performance. Not even figuring out the killer is that particularly interesting with the actual climax (complete with some sort of ceremony after "drawing out" the killer) when it comes to motives or even the result. In the long run, if one picks the film out of the blue when it comes to looking for something quick and curious, it might work just for you, particularly if you have a carefully planned set of expectations for a cheap but decent B-movie. It can't compare to Tourneur's previous horror features, but it might click for you. Or not, but you never know...
Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.
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