Cat People

Plot synopsis:
While sketching a panther at the zoo, Serbian fashion artist Irena Dubrovna [Simone Simon] meets American Oliver Reed [Kent Smith]. She invites him to her apartment for tea. A few months later, they are married.Irena is a strange and lonely woman with no friends. She has a fascination with panthers, but animals don't seem to like her very much. When Oliver brings her a Siamese kitten as a gift, for example, the cat hisses at Irena, so they return to the pet store and exchange it for a bird. While in the pet store, Irena's presence sets all the animals to caterwauling. Several weeks later, the bird dies in fear when Irena reaches for it in its cage.Irena is haunted by a tale from her country that tells how the people of her village were witches, devil worshippers, and, under strong emotions like jealousy or anger, could change into panthers. She refers to them as the 'cat people.' Oliver takes it as a folktale, but Irena takes it for real, so real that she refuses to sleep with her husband because she believes that she might kill him.Oliver suggests that Irena see a psychiatrist, so she goes to see Dr Louis Judd [Tom Conway], who was recommended to Oliver by his co-worker, Alice Moore [Jane Randolph]. When Irena returns home after the first session, she finds Oliver and Alice seated on the couch, talking about her. Irena gets angry when Oliver reveals that he has told Alice about her problem.About a week later, Oliver runs into Dr Judd and learns that Irena has stopped seeing him. Concerned about Irena's belief in these folktales, Oliver again confides in Alice. Alice lets on that she's secretly in love with Oliver, and Oliver admits that he isn't so sure anymore that he really loves Irena. When Oliver gets home from work that evening, he and Irena quarrel about her not keeping her appointments with Dr Judd, so Oliver goes back to the office, stopping first at the snack shop around the corner. Irena calls the office, but when Alice answers the phone, she hangs up. When Alice learns from the cleaning lady that Oliver is in the snack shop, she decides to join him. Irena walks down to the office, passing the snack shop along the way and sees Oliver and Alice in there together. When they leave the shop, Irena follows Alice, scaring her badly.One afternoon, Oliver, Irena, and Alice go to the museum. Oliver and Alice are interested in seeing the scale models of boats, and they suggest that Irena look at some other displays on the next floor rather than being bored by boats. They plan to meet in about an hour, but Irena does not show. After leaving the museum, Alice goes to the gymnasium for a late swim. Irena follows her. The place is empty, save for the desk clerk and cleaning lady. As Alice gets into her swimsuit, she hears what sounds like a growl. Scared, Alice dives into the deep end of the pool and treads water in place. The growling gets louder. It's in the pool room with her. Alice starts to scream. Suddenly the light goes on, revealing Irena standing there. Irena asks if Alice knows where Oliver is, and then leaves. When Alice gets out of the water, she finds that her robe has been torn to ribbons.Alice goes to see Dr Judd. She tells him about being followed twice by something inhuman, which she believes may be Irena's cat form. Judd thinks it's all in her imagination. Irena consults Dr Judd, too. She tells him about the incidents with Alice, but he tells her that she is on the border of insanity and he could have her put away. He advises her to forget all this cat people stuff and lead a normal life. When Oliver comes home that evening, Irena is setting the table for a romantic dinner. She tells him that she's no longer afraid, but Oliver says that it's too late. 'I love Alice,' he admits. Irena tells him to leave. The next afternoon, Oliver and Alice have lunch with Dr Judd to discuss how to proceed with Irena. Dr Judd recommends an annulment so that they can marry, but Oliver and Alice opt to have Irena committed to a mental hospital where she can get the help she needs. They arrange for a meeting with Irena at 6 pm at her apartment.It is now 7:30 pm, and Irena hasn't shown, so the three of them leave, Oliver and Alice intending to return to the office. Dr Judd walks out with them but then asks for the key to the apartment so that he can retrieve his cane, which he conveniently 'forgot'. What he really does is to leave the door unlocked. Oliver and Alice are working when the telephone rings. Alice answers, but the caller hangs up. Alice is scared and wants to leave. They turn out the lights and go to the door, but it is locked. Then they hear a growl and see a panther in the room with them. Oliver grabs a cross and tries talking to Irena, pleading with her to leave them alone. Oliver and Alice manage to get out of the building but not before smelling Irena's perfume.Dr Judd has gone back to Irena's apartment. When she comes in, he tries to kiss her. Irena turns into a panther and kills him, but not before he stabs her with his cane. Irena goes to the zoo and unlocks the panther's cage with a key she stole from the zookeeper several days ago. The panther leaps at her, knocking her over and killing her. Oliver and Alice find Irena lying dead on the ground outside the panther's cage.'She never lied to us,' Oliver says to Alice.
[Original synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
Had he shown Norman's "mother" from "Psycho" killing the girl in the shower in greater detail, the horror of the scene would have been more greatly ineffective as compared to just how haunting it is today.Jacques Tourneur obviously understood this idea and used it to his advantage in "Cat People."  An experienced director of cult horror films from the 30s and 40s, Tourneur's story of a woman with a mysterious background still works as a pinnacle thriller sixty years later.
The bird dies from fright weeks later.When she meets Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) downtown in the city, she falls desperately and hopelessly in love, but the depression of her own fear of unleashing the cat within prevents her from coming in close contact with her own boyfriend--and eventual husband.Left untouched by his own wife, Oliver eventually turns to his co-worker Alice Moore (Jane Randolph) for satisfaction (only lightly hinted at by the film), which ends up sparking a terrifying anger and hatred within Irena.
This was director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton's first horror/thriller film together (they were to do two others together, I Walked With A Zombie (1943) and The Leopard Man (1943)), and for my money, this is the best of the three.
This tale about a young, beautiful, Serbian immigrant named Irena, who marries a man named Oliver, but can't have sex with him because she believes she'll kill him, is a movie that speaks to me every time I watch it.
Lewton also had on his side, in this instance, the best of his directors, Jacques Tourneur, a sensualist (which could scarecely be said of his successors, Mark Robson and Robert Wise) who makes of the story a sort of tactile poem in the textures of the black fur of Irene's coat, the silk of her stockings, the flakes of falling snow on Irene and Oliver's wedding night, the wet tarmac across which Jane Randolph has to make her scary walk home, the ebony of an Egyptian cat-statue, the fabric of a couch torn by Irene's fingernails, the white enamel of Irene's bath-tub and the gleaming dusky hunch of her wet shoulders as she sits weeping within.
An American man (Kent Smith) marries a Serbian immigrant called Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) , a shy woman who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together .
The movie was produced by RKO and its most known and famed producer , Val Lewton , the biggest producer of horror classics (I walked with a Zombie , Leopard man , Bedlam , Ghost ship ), plus he produced for director Mark Robson (in Cat people he works as an editor) numerous films (Isle of the dead , seventh victim) with similar technicians and artists .
'Cat People' was the first collaboration between director Jacques Tourneur ('Curse Of The Demon') and producer Val Lewton, and is still one of their greatest achievements, and one of the most influential horror movies ever made.
After several movies made in his native France ,Jacques (Jack) Tourneur makes his first American works in the late thirties."Cat people" is the fifth one;the others are difficult to see and anyway this is this movie that is looked upon as his towering achievement(with the exception of "out of the past") .His female star,Simone Simon,whose English was perfect,enjoyed a career in both countries too:her best part is easily Jean Renoir's "la bête humaine" ,(human beast:it's funny when you know she's playing a woman-animal here)."Cat people" belongs to the fantasy and horror genre,but it does not really follow its rules.We're close to psychological drama.(Almost) deprived of "special effects" -which is a blessing-Tourneur works with his camera the way a painter does with shadow and light to create strange dreamy atmospheres The pièces de résistance are the scene in the swimming -pool that creates a feeling of terror without using the tricks of the trade,and the scene when Oliver and Alice are in the flat,hearing roaring.The movie was ahead of its time in several respects:the Freudian allusions would later be developed by Fritz Lang("secret beyond the door",1945) and of course Hitchcock ("Spellbound",same year).You're going to say that these two great directors give their movies a "realistic" treatment and Jack Tourneur does not.Actually,he takes a divergent way:he introduces ambiguity,this ambiguity dear to Roman Polanski .After all,it could be a mere ,so to speak, neurosis.Few of the sequences actually deal with the supernatural :most of the time,it's a couple then a triangle:the "fantastic" elements could be real :the disturbing woman,who calls Irene "my sister",the scenes with the panther at the zoo,and the pool sequence can be explained by Irène's jealousy.Although,it's only understood ,it's obvious that the marriage Irène/Oliver has not been consummated,because of a not clearly defined reason-how can a man as pragmatist as Oliver believe in such a far-fetched curse?Isn't it the fear of woman,of the original sin?.This topic will be brilliantly taken on by Christian de Challonges "l'alliance" (1970).Note also how Richard Donner aped the pet shops scene for "the omen" (1976).It seems that Alice's character is an easy way out,and the weak part of the movie because she's essentially here to comfort the audience,to show the way to "straight" life and to secure a happy end.The remake (1982) destroys all ambiguity,keeps nothing from the original story but the proper nouns ,and fills its quota of nudity and blood.Stick to the Tourneur version..
Jacques Tourneur directed this Val Lewton production that stars Simone Simon as Irina Dubrovna, a Serbian immigrant working as a fashion artist in New York City who meets Oliver Reed(played by Kent Smith) at the zoo.
Get ready to suspend your disbelief, because the beautiful Ms. Simon won't have martial relations with her husband - in fact, they've never even kissed Simon fears, with any hint of sexual pleasure, she will turn into a big cat and scratch Mr. Reed's eyes out!It all has to do with a dreadful, ancient Serbian curse (of the "Cat People").
Somehow, Reed also manages to resist beautiful co-worker Jane Randolph (as Alice Moore), who throws his jealous wife into a feline rage.The combination of producer Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur works magically on this modestly budgeted suspense thriller; more of the "horror" is suggested than shown, which is always most effective.
Sets creep, vehicles hiss, and smoke billows artfully.********* Cat People (12/6/42) Val Lewton : Jacques Tourneur ~ Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Tom Conway.
Kent Smith and Jane Randolph are great in support, while Tom Conway shines like he has in several other Val Lewton films in his small but effective role as the psychiatrist.The second side of the film concern's its story.
The film was followed by a sequel, "The Curse of the Cat People" in 1944, which again starred Simone Simon as Irena, Kent Smith as Oliver and Jane Randolph as Alice.
This film is the brilliant collaboration of two of cinema's most ingenious minds - the first film produced by legendary producer Val Lewton, "Cat People" is doubtlessly also the greatest work of director Jacques Tourneur.
While we never actually see a drop of blood shed, Tourneur's brilliant sense for atmosphere and cinematographic style creates unspeakable eeriness by the mere use of shadows, light and darkness.The film tells the story of the incredibly beautiful young Irena (Simone Simon).
A third unexpected scare takes place in Olivers shipbuilding office; a panther stalks Oliver and Alice across a dark floor to a vivid white pin-up wall; with the beautiful film noir lighting the movie is known for.Something no one has mentioned so far; Irena has a strange dream with animated superimposed panthers padding around.The psychiatrist is the classic slimeball, but the script provides an interesting rationale for his provocation of Irena.
Irena becomes jealous of Alice and you know what that means.In two of the film's classic scenes, Lewton gives us the first of his "shadows in the dark" scares.
Jealousy rears its ugly head when Irena realizes that Olivers' co-worker Alice Moore (Jane Randolph) is in love with him."Cat People" was the first in a line of low budget black & white horror films produced by Val Lewton for RKO Studios.
The story, and the atmosphere it has, is one of the main reasons why Cat People works so well, this is more than a monster/ghost feature, this is more a psychological horror that relies on suspense and playing on the audience's fear.
As Oliver turns to an attractive co-worker (Jane Randolph) for consolation, a series of strange occurrences leaves them wondering if Irena's curse is real or if she is just mentally ill.Cat People is a classic.
Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur team up to create an eerie foreboding world of shadows, a black panther Irena visits at the zoo, that likes to eat birds.
Of these, the first film, "Cat People", is usually cited as the best of the lot.The story concerns a young Serbian woman who falls in love with and marries an American man.
Jack Tourneur's low budget horror film Cat People suggested a new way the genre could go.
A couple of French imports, director Jacques Tourneur and star Simone Simon, helped producer Val Lewton create one of the most haunting films you'll ever see in Cat People.
Actually Simon lived to be 95 and had quite the life, giving gold keys to her bedroom to men she considered worthy.The movie was a huge hit and set the stage for horror films to come, and it was producer Val Lewton's first and directed by Jacques Tourneur.
And no one was a "sex kitten" like she was, as her performance in her second American film, "Ladies in Love" proves.Many of the excellent scenes in "Cat People" have been imitated, even by Alfred Hitchcock and Dario Argento, but they've never been equaled.
The result was a tremendous critical and popular office success and the first of nine celebrated horror films Lewton would make for the studio between 1942 and 1946.Directed by Jacques Tourneur, the 1942 CAT PEOPLE offers the story of Slavic beauty Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) whose marriage to the all-American Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) goes awry when she confesses to her new husband that a man's kiss may turn her into a ravening beast.
For when Irena becomes jealous of Oliver's co-worker Alice (Jane Randolph), the young woman suddenly finds herself being stalked through the night by a cat-like creature that is more sensed than seen.At the time, CAT PEOPLE was an extremely startling: films of the early 1940s did not often deal with psychiatry, still less present marriages tainted by sexual problems; horror films were expected to be direct in terms of imagery.
When Irena sees that she is losing Oliver to Alice, she becomes jealous and hateful, leading to a tragic end."Cat People" is a metaphoric suspenseful classic, where the viewer has to "read" between the subtle lines of the narrative.
In the dark, all sorts of things come alive." Shields was obviously referencing Jacques Tourneur's 'Cat People (1942),' the brainchild of legendary horror producer Val Lewton, who made B-movies so professionally-crafted that to call them B-movies would be to do them a disservice.
If this film is a triumph, then it's a triumph of atmosphere, with Nicholas Musuraca (one of film noir's most accomplished cinematographers) prolonging the intrigue and suspense through his masterful use of lighting and shadows.When American Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) marries Serbian immigrant Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), he convinces himself that his wife's fear of intimacy is simply a remnant of her superstitious childhood.
The film also lacks the slinky sexiness you'd expect from a woman who turns into a black panther when sexually aroused or angered, some of which can be attributed to the production code at the time, and some of which are due to director Jacques Tourneur and his leading lady Simone Simon.
The film became a cult favorite to supernatural/horror fans, that there was a sequel maded in 1944 called The Curse of the Cat People.The film's story starts when naval construction designer Oliver Reed sees Serbian-born beauty Irena Dubrovna at a zoo, he flirts with her, and soon they fall in love and marry.
It's been many years since I've seen this film, but from memory, it's about a European woman in the US who thinks she is cursed and will turn into a cat or something.Now, the REAL reasons to watch the film: for aspiring movie makers, the scene in the pool is one of the greatest of all time, and just utilises editing and shadows.
Based on a legend of the cat people this lack of physical closeness sees Irena withdraws more into herself despite Oliver's attempts to help her by sending her to see Dr Judd.Having seen a handful of atmospheric and effective films from producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur I eventually got the chance to watch Cat People (having already watched them out of order by see Curse of the Cat People a few years ago).
The first of the three movies Tourneur would do for Lewton, was also his debut on feature length films: the now classic 1942 film, "Cat People"."Cat People" is the story of Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), a Serbian fashion designer who has moved to New York and spends her free time watching the animals at the zoo.
And this is because "Cat People" is more than a tale of horror and suspense, it is a subtle metaphor about sexual repression and mainly, the fear of losing control over the passions of the body.If the script is worth of praise, the directing by French filmmaker Jacques Tourneur is simply outstanding.
With a high emphasis on mood and atmosphere, Tourneur plays with sensuality and subtlety in ways no other director had done before in a horror film, employing the power of suggestion to create fear instead of direct graphic horror.Now, as written above, Irena Dubrovna is probably one of the best written characters in the horror genre, but it wouldn't had the impact it had without the remarkable performance by the beautiful French actress Simone Simon.
While nobody else in the cast reaches her level of talent (Kent Smith is particularly weak), they are all very effective in their roles, with Tom Conway being remarkably good as Irena's psychiatrist, Dr. Judd.While personally I consider "I Walked With a Zombie" as Tourneur's horror masterpiece, "Cat People" is probably the most influential film that came out of RKO studios during Val Lewton's years.
As one of the most influential horror films in history, Jacques Tourneur's "Cat People" is a definitive must-see.
Though it does not get the modern press of the Universal horror films of the same era, it clearly holds its own and indeed succeeds as a thriller for grown-ups.What makes 'Cat People' good is that you care about the title character (well played by Simone Simon) and her anguish as she struggles between her love for a man (Kent Smith) and the curse which she believes she is under.The story builds from a common 'young love' theme, to relationship struggles, to outright jealousy and maybe revenge.
****SPOILERS**** The first and best of the producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur collaborations in horror/suspense movies that they made in the 1940's that was to start a trend for many other horror/mystery/suspense films for years to come.With a limited budget, the movie "Cat People" cost something like $140,000.00 to make.
I have no doubt this scene was a direct tribute to the careers and films of an unjustly obscure pair of visionaries, producer Val Lewton and director Jaques Tourneur and their most "famous" film, 1942's Cat People.Shot at RKO in under a month for less than $140,000, this dark little gem stars Simone Simon as Irena, a Serbian woman (immigrant?
Cat People was the first collaboration between the RKO producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur that later resulted in more two films I Waked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man forming this way now classic and at the time commercially successful Horror Trilogy.
Cat People is generally considered the best of the three and it was the first film where Jacques Tourneur used his innovative, which later became his trademark suspense technique in direction, which basically consists in not showing the most frightening moments in the film's action using instead shadows and sounds leaving the rest to the viewer's imagination, a technique that resulted perfectly at the time of film's initial release in 1942, providing its astounding for the B horror movie success at the Box Office and establishing Jacques Tourneur as the master of the genre.
In Cat People, average American guy Oliver (Kent Smith) falls in love with the mysterious Irena (Simone Simon), a Serbian woman he met in a zoo, where she was drawing the big cats next to their cage.
It's budget limitations meant that it worked in shadows and light to bring an eerie atmosphere.In a Central Park Zoo, while sketching a panther, mysterious Serbian Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) meets and falls in love with Oliver Reed (Kent Smith.) Reed is enchanted by her story of how some people in her village could transform into a panther.
There is the scene in the swimming pool, Tournier makes use of light to give a sense of tension.Cat People might be dated now but it inspired the genre of film noir.
The cast of Cat People Kent Smith,Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, and Jack Holt were all character actors and competent craftsmen in their work and were recognizable to theater audiences but none were big stars.Simone Simon's portrayal of Irena is both exotic and vulnerable and remains her best known role to American audiences.
"Cat People" is the least interesting of the Val Lewton produced horror movies I have seen.Like "Ghost Ship" and "The Leopard Man", the movie doesn't seem to know if it is a horror movie or not, or if it even wants to be.It takes far too long to get to its suspenseful scenes.