When 'Cat People' was being made. RKO Picture Inc. was not doing very well, financially. Most of RKO's other artistically ambitious pictures has bomb at the box office; including Orson Welles's 1941's masterpiece 'Citizen Kane'; due to the WW2 & the wrath brought down by the William Randolph Hearst newspaper chain. Despite, well regarded high praise from most critics, with Welles's movie & his follow-up work, 1942's period drama 'the Magnificent Ambersons'; both films still went way over-budget & couldn't pay off the 2 million dollar loan. Thus, causing, RKO to limited any future production; to a budget of under $150,000; in order to stay afloat. Because of this, no adaptation of well-known horror works outside the studio control, could be used as a guiding stone for any new screenplays. Thus, producer, Val Lewton originally idea of adapting Algernon Blackwood's short story "Ancient Sorceries", a film set in a French village in the 19th century was no more. They couldn't get the film rights. This cause
Lewton to turn to his own little-known works to please the studio heads. He found a unique tale, within the pages of the July 1930 issue of Weird Tales magazine; in which, his adventure short story, 'The Bagheeta' was published. It tells the story of a young Russian man, going to the forest to kill a mysterious seductress who turns into a panther. However, this adaptation was still too foreign, over the top & way too expensive to make. Thus, screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen was brought in, to make it, more ground and simple. Instead of having it, take place, in hard to get to, rural areas of Russia, the writer choose to have it, set in then-modern day, New York City. Also, as an alternative of the highly fantasy elements of the original tale; the film version told the more solid relationship story, of an young married couple, Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) & his Serbian wife, Irena (Simone Simon) being haunt by the adulterous affair, the husband, has put them, though, and the sexuality anxiety fear of the wife, who believes that she might hurt somebody, if she gave him, to her sexually animalistic instincts. Without spoiling the movie, too much, in order to save more money, the story had to be shorten to fit in a 17 days, shooting schedule. Thus, sets from 'The Magnificent Ambersons' and other movies were written into the script, to be reused. Since the movie didn't have the budget for special effects and fancy make up work; an on-screen facial transformation like Universal Pictures 1941's 'Wolfman', could not be done. Instead, director Jacques Tourneur use film noir style suggestion. The use of shadows and lighting was quite astonishing. The use of sounds build a lot of suspense & set the mood and tone. There is no better example of using unseen horrors and draw upon viewers' imaginations, than the infamous indoor pool moment and the notorious Lewton bus scene. Those moments were pretty eerie. However, not all effects, were that great. The panther encounter with Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway) was somewhat laughable. You can really, tell by the shadows, how fake-looking, the big cat puppet, clinging to Dr. Judd was, compare to the shots with the real animal being presence around the office. Also the use of some foreshadowing tactics like the couple going to a Serbian restaurant felt a bit out of place. Honestly, it doesn't make sense in the plot for both of the couple to agree to go to a place, like that, when Irena trying avoid memories from the old country and Oliver being dismissive of her background. Despite that, the movie does a good job, making it seem like a psychological horror. After all, even, toward the end, you really don't know, if Irena's fears of turning into a large cat is real or just in her head. Either way, Simone Simon gave a magnificent performance as a troublesome woman full of heartbreak. The scene where she leaves, claw marks on the sofa, was intense. Nevertheless, I didn't find her, as a great actress. Her cat-like mannerism with her body language was bit cartoony. Her voice also doesn't work well, with this film. While, her French accent does sound foreign; it didn't sound, Eastern Europe at all. Still, she stood out, more than any of her co-stars; who are pretty forgetful. I hardly remember, Kent Smith at all. His character didn't seem, even real. After all, who in their right mind, marry a person, who isn't affection!? As for Jane Rudolph as Alice Moore, a friend of the couple. She was great, with her limited role as the final girl. Most viewers kinda care for her safety. No wonder, why the film went on to great success at the box office. It was such a hit, that critics who originally hate it, went back to the theater to rewatch it. Causing, many of them, to rewrite more favorable reviews in the weeks, following the movie's release. The success of 'Cat People' also inspired a sequel, 1944's 'The Curse of the Cat People' & a remake of the same name in 1982. In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Regardless, this B-movie still can make audiences agitated & restless like a cat on a hot tin roof, with its ridiculous simpleton obvious spell it out for you, numerous references and allusions to cats. Still, some people find this movie, complex enough, that theories had been written, with some going as far, as saying, the film is a social commentary about negative effects of conservative within gender roles, or the fears of xenophobia communism or close-minded judgmental attitude toward sexuality. Regardless of that, the wonderfully atmospheric horror movie, is worth prowling for. So, don't be a scary cat. Catch the Lewton Bus, and go see this movie. It's worth checking out.
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