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“Night brings terror. Strange, alien forms move restlessly across the face of the earth. Fear, horror and death follow in their wake. The sky is dark; the moon has not yet risen; the stars seem too frightened to shine ..." --- Drake Douglas (introduction to Horrors)

Horrorphile - October 2007

Cat People

October 23rd 2007 03:47
Cat People movie poster
"Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness ..."

Producer Val Lewton made several low-budget “horrors” for studio RKO. With Cat People (1942) he employed French ex-pat Jacques Tourneur to direct and the result was an artistic success and a commercial hit. Tourneur went on to direct the haunting I Walked With a Zombie (1943) and one of the best of the classic film noirs, Out of the Past.

Cat People Simone Simon
Simone Simon as Irena Dubrovna
Eschewing the usual horror trappings Tourneur went for a more atmospheric look and feel and an ambiguous tone in dealing with the movie’s themes and plot devices. It made for a sublimely affecting drama; a tragedy torn by the talons of horror. A sequel to Cat People, The Curse of the Cat People (1944), directed by Robert Wise features Simone Simon in the lead again, but she's not playing Irena, and the film is different in tone, less about the supernatural, and more about childhood loneliness.
Cat People Jane Randolph, Simone Simon and Kent Smith
Jane Randolph as Alice, Irena and Kent Smith as Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), a naval construction engineer, meets Eastern European fashion designer Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) at the zoo, where she discards a strangely macabre sketch she has made of the black panther. Reed flirts with her and before you can say “Meeeeeow!” they’ve fallen in love and married each other. However, Irena is afraid of an ancient Serbian curse that spells that a woman can not be kissed by a man; otherwise she will transform into a panther and kill.

Cat People Simone Simon and Egyptian statue
Irena feels jealousy stir deep inside her
Due to Irena’s intense emotional anxiety the couple does not consummate their marriage. Reed instead becomes closer to his work colleague Alice Moore (Jane Randolph) whom admits to being in love with him. Reed arranges for Irena to be treated by his friend psychiatrist Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway). It becomes apparent Dr. Judd has an unprofessional agenda.

Cat People Jane Randolph
Alice is stalked as she walks alone
When Irena discovers she is losing Oliver to Alice she becomes jealous and hateful. She schemes and stalks, her stealth inexorably, and figuratively, leading her into the lion’s den.

Cat People is a unique study of repressed sexual desire and deep-rooted emotional upheaval. It also deals with sly deception and moral corruption. The horror of the movie is not so much the actual killing, but the fear of being consumed by something that should be so pleasurable, yet is a plague upon the senses.

Cat People Simone Simon
Irena recieves hypnosis treatment
Oliver Reed admits to Alice that he is strangely drawn to Irena, that he has to look at her when she’s in the room, has to touch her when she’s near, yet he has soon as Alice admits to her desire to be in a relationship with Reed he makes the decision that he is no longer in love with Irena; the pressing desire for sexual companionship has quashed his patience. Then when Irena becomes fully aware of Alice’s intent on Reed she unleashes her dark inner beast. It is this carnal creature that she so desperately wants not to be her nemesis, so she can enjoy what any normal woman does.

Cat People Simone Simon and Tom Conway
Dr. Judd has a dangerous hidden agenda
Dr. Judd, however, sees this repressed sexuality as an untapped elixir that needs to be released. “What should I tell my husband? Naturally he’s anxious to have some word,” Irena ask him after their session. “What does one tell one’s husband? One tells him nothing,” Dr. Judd replies with quiet authority.

Cat People Elizabeth Russell
The very feline Elizabeth Russell as Irena's cat-sister
Tourneur plays with light and shadow, sound and editing brilliantly. There are several stand-out scenes, most notably when Alice is stalked by Irena along a road at night, with just the sound of their stilettos clacking on the pavement, then quiet, then the roar of a panther is drowned out by the loud swish of a bus pulling into shot beside Alice at the roadside. The wedding reception scene in a restaurant has a great moment when another striking Eastern European woman (Elizabeth Russell uncredited as the cat woman) seems to recognize Irena and says to her “Mia sestra.” Irena looks frightened and quickly makes the sign of the cross.
Cat People black panther
Or is this Irena's real sister
Cat People Jane Randolph
Alice is terrorised as she takes a swim
The other memorable scene has Alice being stalked again as she takes a swim in an indoor public baths. Irena as a silhouetted panther growls and circles the pool while the dappled light dances feverishly across the walls and ceiling. That swimming pool scene is the only scene which found its way into Paul Schrader’s 1982 remake which starred Nastassja Kinski as Irena. The two movies are ultimately quite different with the remake upping the sex and nudity ante with an incestuous twist to boot, but still a somewhat underrated movie with a great soundtrack and some good special effects makeup too (realistically though, the remake is one of my guilty pleasures).

Cat People is a classic noirish horror-drama, and like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), it belies its meek origins, transcends the genre, and resonates with the chilling sensuality of a strange and troubling dream.
Cat People quote at movie's end


Here is the original theatrical trailer:


And here we hear the always brilliant Martin Scorcese from his masterful doco A Personal Journey Through American Movies, talking up the swimming pool scene then letting it play:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
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1 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Miswanderlust

October 25th 2007 23:21


Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Bryn
This movie is one of my favorites. Your review has spurred me to investigate the sequels (have not ventured there.... not one to enjoy "sloppy seconds")
Well done!

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