The Leopard Man

Plot synopsis:
The story, set in New Mexico, begins as Jerry Manning hires a leopard as a publicity stunt for his night-club performing girlfriend, Kiki. Her rival at the club, Clo-Clo, not wanting to be upstaged, startles the animal and it escapes the club into the dark night. The owner of the leopard, a solo sideshow performer named Charlie How-Come—billed as "The Leopard Man"—begins pestering Manning for money for replacement of the leopard.
Soon a girl is found mauled to death, and Manning and Kiki feel remorse for having unleashed the monster. After attending the girl's funeral, Manning joins a posse that seeks to hunt down the giant cat. Presently another young woman is killed, and Manning begins to suspect that the latest killing is the work of a man who has made the death look like a leopard attack. The leopard's owner, who admits to spells of drunkenness, is unnerved by Manning's theory and begins to doubt his own sanity. He asks the police to lock him up, but while he is in jail another killing occurs: the victim this time is Clo-Clo. Afterward, the leopard is found dead in the countryside, and is judged to have died before at least one of the recent killings. When the human murderer in finally found, he confesses that his compulsion to kill was excited by the first leopard attack.

Tags: cult, mystery, murder

Review:
'I Walked With a Zombie' was confined to a tropical island setting, while 'The Leopard Man' takes place in a New Mexico border town, on the edge of town, so that we travel along the desolate and wide open spaces of the sleepy Southwest at nighttime.Early in the film, a young Mexican girl is sent on a late-night errand by her mother to buy some tortilla.
Although not one of producer Val Lewton's better known films, director Tourner endows the story with considerable atmosphere, and the result is a moody and intriguing film that holds it own with the more celebrated CAT PEOPLE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.Like other Lewton films, THE LEOPARD MAN relies more upon what it suggests than upon what it actually shows.
This film is particularly effective in building suspense in a series of scenes that show various characters walking--a saucy Spanish dancer strolling along the street, a frightened teenager making a night-time trip to the grocer, a young woman rushing through a cemetery at night.
After a few deaths, the cat is blamed...but is there more to this scenario than meets the eye?Just like Val Lewton's earlier and later productions, The Leopard Man is notable for it's breathtaking atmosphere, which is once again up there with the greatest ever seen in cinema.
The use of shadows and lighting is impressive, and when you combine this with Jacques Tourneur's incredible ability to stage a scene amidst this atmosphere; you've got a recipe for a truly great horror movie.
****SPOILERS**** Dark and creepy film based on the Cornell Wollrich novel "Black Alibi" about a leopard on the loose in the desert and towns of New Mexico.
Publicity agent Jerry Manning, Dennis O'Keefe, trying to spice up his client Kiki Walker, Jean Brooks, nightclub act gets her a black leopard from a local carnival to upstage her rival at the club Spanish dancer Clo Clo, Margo.
With the local police as well as the towns people looking for the escaped black leopard it later crosses the path of young Teresa Guadalupe who's outside going to the store to get corn meal for her mother to make dinner.
You just can't wait for the nerve racking scene to finally end where at the same time the director of the movie, Jacques Tourneur, keeps you totally in the dark to what's happening off screen.
Even though "Leopard Man" touched upon a lot of psychological aspects of the human, as well as animal, mind it pre-dates the movie "Spellbound" which many consider the first major Hollywood film about the subject by two years.The films dark and eerie ending in the darkening New Mexican desert amid a black hooded precession to commemorate the 17th century slaughter of the towns original inhabitants, by the Spanish Conquistadors, was one of the most creepiest sights I've ever seen in a movie..
A far better than average early film from the Val Lewton unit, The Leopard Man is as much murder mystery as horror picture.
O' Keefe, James Bell, Margo, Brooks, and the entire cast give credible turns and enforce our ability to accept what is going on.Some scenes are quite memorable: the young girl walking back home from the store is a classic scene of terror, the cemetery scene, and the procession of the monks allowed Tournier to work his magic with the lens.
Horror supreme producer Val Lewton teams up for the third and last time with director Jacques Tourneur to bring us The Leopard Man. Set in New Mexico, the story sees Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hire a black leopard as a publicity stunt for his night-club performing partner, Kiki (Jean Brooks).
However, Manning & Kiki, driven by guilt, join the hunt for the rogue animal; but Manning is starting to believe the killings are not of the animal's doing.....Based on the book "Black Alibi" written by Cornell Woolrich, The Leopard Man's only crime is that it's not as great as its two predecessors, Cat People & I Walked With A Zombie.
The nightclub owner(played by Dennis O'Keefe) tries to find it, but it seems to be responsible for a series of brutal killings(including a young woman on her way home, the best sequence in the film) There is other evidence pointing to another guilty party, proving the Leopard's innocence.
Their solutions proved inspired, resulting in a string of classics  The Cat People, The Leopard Man, I Walked With A Zombie  that still rank among the moodiest, most memorable fright-films ever made (with different directors, Lewton oversaw The Seventh Victim and other distinctive works in the same vein).
That magic was to suggest rather than to show; to plant seeds in viewers' imaginations and let them grow.In a sleepy New Mexico town that somehow supports a posh night club, publicity man Dennis O'Keefe gets an idea to promote an act by arranging for the star (Jean Brooks) to make a grand entrance with a big black leopard on a leash.
This, of course, is diametrically opposed to the way horror is portrayed in movies nowadays, which is to drench the screen with buckets of blood and gore.This is a Val Lewton low budget picture, Lewton being the man who could produce quality films at bargain prices for RKO.
The Leopard Man is a Tourneur/Lewton collaboration from RKO, adapted from the book Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich (the most prolifically adapted crime writer of his time).
Apart from its classic murder sequences (particularly the first with its bloody pay-off), this one has an original, audacious structure (criticized at the time because it was not understood) with the narrative following minor characters every once in a while and veering off into seemingly unrelated subplots - a half-century prior to Tarantino's would-be seminal PULP FICTION (1994), but also Luis Bunuel's THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974)!!Dennis O'Keefe is a wonderful lead as the sleuth figure; in fact, the film is actually more of a thriller since the murders do not have a basis in the supernatural (as was the case with the previous two Lewton/Tourneur collaborations).
James Bell underplays his pivotal role as the museum curator/animal expert (which is similar to the brief doctor part he essayed in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE [1943]); also fine is Abner Biberman as the owner of the escaped leopard, who blacks out during his frequent drinking binges and thinks he may be the murderer.The small-town atmosphere is brilliantly captured on a studio set (marred only by some corny elements in the script intended to accentuate the local color, such as the over-use of Margo's castanets - to the point where they even become a motif - or the birthday song delivered to the second victim of the titular creature&#8230;but, especially, the infuriatingly stupid mother of the little girl - who bullies her innocent and fearful daughter to an early grave!); the 'outdoor' climax, then, is given an added touch of strangeness by taking place in the midst of a procession headed by a group of caped villagers!Curiously, both the Leslie Halliwell and Leonard Maltin film guides give the running-time as a mere 59 minutes; however, the two times I've watched the film, it's always been by way of the full-length 66-minute version!
It contains two very frightening sequences--one in which a young girl is locked out of her house while the leopard is after her; the other is one of the scariest locked in a cemetary after closing sequences I've ever seen.The movie is short (59 minutes) and interesting and one character (Raoul) has some of the most beautiful face shots at the end--hard to explain, you have to see it.
Despite being 70 minutes long, it has a large ensemble of characters from different areas of a small New Mexico town - English and Spanish, rich and poor, entertainers, police, scientists - all involved in some way in a story about an escaped leopard who may be hunting humans.
"The Leopard Man" is the third and the last horror film made by Jacques Tourner in collaboration with RKO's producer Val Lewton, others being "Cat People" and "I walked with a Zombie".
The Leopard Man is the third in producer Val Lewton's series of psychological horror films made at RKO in the 1940s.
A seemingly tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy new Mexico town.Mike Mayo says this film is "cut from the same highly stylized cloth and it isn't derivative of" Cat People.
Jacques Tourneur's menacing low-budget film noir sets a mood which far surpasses the B-movie conventions of its scenario, using a dark, evocative style to convey the claustrophobic nightmare of a small New Mexican desert town held at bay by a marauding escaped leopard.
With the hunt for the leopard on, Manning becomes concerned that the leopard is not the only thing killing in this small border town.I had not seen this film although all I really needed to know was that it was from Lewton and Tourneur and that was enough for me to make a point of watching.
This film is another product of the partnership between producer Val Lewton and director Jacque Tourneur (celebrated for such horror films as "Cat People" and "I Walked with a Zombie").
Based on the novel "Black Alibi" by Cornell Woolrich, the story is set in a small New Mexico border town, the plot involves an escaped leopard and a subsequent series of grisly killings for which the animal is blamed.The film is hampered by its reliance on studio sets and frequently corny dialogue.
By today's standards, the plot is predictable and you'll figure out who the killer is early on, but there is till much to enjoy-great black&white photography, neat camera angles, and at least one chilling scene...the blood of the young girl seeping under the door, while her mother and brother stand by helplessly.
After she dies, the movie has very little to offer.The same should be said about Teresa and Consuela - wonderful, moving characters whose identity is bound up with the landscape and their Hispanic culture.The real horror of this story is seen in the ugly ordinary-ness of the final scenes, dominated by the wooden acting of Dennis O'Keefe and the equally wooden response he elicits from Jean Brooks.
"The Leopard Man" is another little masterpiece produced by the legendary Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur.
In the familiar "film-noire/shadows in the dark" style, Lewton and Tourneur create a terrifying horror film with plenty of shocks and scares.The story opens in a seedy New Mexico nightclub where the competition between a Spanish Dancer, Clo-Clo (Margo) and another entertainer, Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) is established.
Perhaps no one other than Orson Welles with his radio background, understood the dramatic effect of sound upon the visual medium of film.)The story itself concerns an escaped leopard menacing a small New Mexico town, where a series of mysterious killings may or may not be its work.There are several really riveting scenes in which the black and white photography and fluid camera work of celebrated director Jaques Tourneur achieve a high level of both suspense and genuine artistry.
The basic plot : Killings in a small New Mexico town are originally thought to be the work of an escaped leopard, but then people begin to suspect it's not....The praise: Exceptionable cinematography, classic Lewton ambiguity,cool Black& white,neat plot.Moreover, there is one classic scene :   When the girl who goes back from the market,the leopard attacks her,and you see her mother and brother paralyzed with fright as her blood seeps in the crack of the door.
Cornell Woolrich's (William Irish's ) novel was not among his best.The movie highlights its problem :unlike "I married a dead man" or "the bride wore black" there isn't one single really endearing character in it.Jacques Tourneur ,a great horror movies director ("cat people") is to be commended for almost transcending the limitations he's working under.There are strong connections with "cat people".Two scenes are particularly spooky:the first one is the young girl,screaming behind the locked door and the blood stain which appears under it.the second is even stronger:a girl is locked up in the cemetery where the graves ,the statues and the whispering trees become enemies.The ending is not very convincing,and it takes all Tourneur's talent to turn it in an impressive scene ,with an extraordinary use of a procession of penitents..
Leopard Man, The (1943)*** (out of 4) Flawed but still entertaining Val Lewton production about a small New Mexico town being terrorized by an escaped leopard.
Those other names, though, two of them, are strange -- though I have no idea what, if anything, they signify."The Leopard Man" is the closest of any Val Lewton movie to a film noir.
The opening scenes, in which promoter Dennis O'Keefe brings the leopard into a nightclub where his girlfriend is performing looks like a noir.It also makes more sense than some Lewton outings.
In New Mexico, the agent Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hires the leopard of the sideshow performer Charlie How-Come (Abner Biberman) as a publicity stunt for his girlfriend Kiki Walker (Isabel Jewell) in her show in a night-club.
When the animal is found murdered in the countryside, Manning is sure that the deaths are the work of a serial-killer."The Leopard Man" is a dramatic and suspenseful low-budget horror movie with a gloomy cinematography and a predictable story.
"The Leopard Man" is an excellent film, one to watch preferably in series with "I walked with a Zombie" and "Curse of the Cat People"..
Through the use of shadows and imagery, Lewton was able to play on the viewers' fear of the unknown and create horror in what one imagines in place of what is actually seen.Perhaps the best example of this is the tortured walk young Teresa Delgado is forced to make to buy cornmeal by her demanding mother.
Then, as the face of the black leopard appears to her, Teresa is overcome with a fear that creates panic, ultimately ending in a scene in which blood is seen oozing underneath the door sill of her home, as she is unable to make her way inside.What bothered me about the story as it unfolded was the lack of concern the authorities might have shown for those who I felt most complicit in the first victim's death.
Two further killings follow, and are blamed on the animal, but a visiting theatrical agent suspects these later deaths may be murder.This is a nifty old RKO B-movie, made by the gifted team responsible for horror classics Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie - director Tourneur, producer Val Lewton, editor Mark Robson and composer Roy Webb.
An atmospheric chiller from the Val Lewton stable, directed by Jacques Tourneur (the man who brought us the truly incredible NIGHT OF THE DEMON), which sadly overdoes the subtlety of the story to the point of boredom; but as with all of the Lewton-produced horrors of the 1940s, this is intelligent and suspenseful entertainment, which displays some excellent use of black and white photography and plenty of creepy moments as damsels in distress encounter malevolent big cats and greater evils in the middle of the night.
That's not the end of things, however, as more unfortunate young women fall victim to what COULD be the leopard, but could also easily be a deranged human.As far as producer Val Lewtons' suggestive, low budget genre films go, this isn't one of the best ones but it definitely has its moments.
This film marked the third collaboration between director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton ("Cat People" and "I Walked With a Zombie" being the previous two) and it is perhaps the weakest of the three.The fear factor here is represented by a black leopard that threatens a small town in New Mexico.
After another person dies under mysterious circumstances, they begin to doubt that the leopard is the one responsible.The movie is well photographed and Tourneur managed to recreate the atmosphere from his previous two films, but one of the main issues here is the way the story unfolds.
A 1943 chiller by director Jacques Tourneur, "The Leopard Man" sees a series of locals killed in small town New Mexico.
This was director Jacques Tourner last collaboration with Lewton and his direction was wonderfully suggestive and atmospheric and it was no wonder that the studio was anxious to put him onto more "important" pictures, although none of his bigger productions have the same reputation as do his films for Lewton.To try and upstage temperamental castanet dancer Clo-Clo (Margo), publicist Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hires a leopard for nightclub singer (Jean Brookes) to parade into the club with while Clo-Clo is in the middle of her act.
Technically The Leopard Man is solid & in particular the cinematography by Robert De Grasse is impressive creating a nice atmosphere throughout by making good use of light & shadow which is obviously important in a black & white film.
Because of this, you really can't compare this film to A-pictures, but need to understand that despite the budget, this is an excellent film--though not as eerie or effective as other Val Lewton produced films such as THE CAT PEOPLE or I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.The film starts with a publicity stunt gone awry, as in the process a black leopard escapes and the town is quite naturally scared.
The killings don't look like an animal did it.Starring Dennis O'Keefe, who was a prolific B-movie actor in the 30s and 40s, and Margo, who was in real life married to actor Eddie Albert of "Green Acres" fame and mother of Edward Albert of "Butterflies Are Free", this is another Val Lewton must-see horror film.
THE LEOPARD MAN is an atmospheric little thriller by Tourneur about a series of murders on women in New Mexico.
I'm still excited to look for other films by Tourneur like "I walked with a zombie" and "cat people", two of his classics.THE LEOPARD MAN is good for a lazy Sunday afternoon..