Review of Cat People (1942) by Craig B — 13 Oct 2010
Producer Val Lewton managed to make a virtue out of the micro-budgets he had when making films for RKO - Cat People cost $134,000 to shoot and went on to make $4million - and produced several little masterpieces like this one by ratcheting up the tension through suggeston.
In this film we have bloody pawprints turning into a woman's footprints, sinister shadows by the swimming pool and, most famously, the screeching of a panther which turns out to be the sound of a bus braking.
This film has its detractors but personally I like a film where some things are left to the imagination. Cat People is snappily directed by Jacques Tourneur, who knew what he was doing with this kind of thing, and there are some excellent performances by Simone Simon, Kent Smith and particularly George Sanders's big bro Tom Conway, who plays the psychiatrist trying to get to the bottom of Irena (as it were) like a lascivious and dastardly Cholmondley-Warner.
What a cad! The sequel, Curse of the Cat People, is very good too.
This review of Cat People (1942) was written by Craig B on 13 Oct 2010.
Cat People has generally received positive reviews.
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