Cat People (1942)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writer:

DeWitt Bodeen (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

She knew strange, fierce pleasures that no other woman could ever feel!

Plot:

Irena Dubrovna, a beautiful and mysterious Serbian-born fashion artist living in New York City, falls...

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Psychiatrist | Panther | Zoo | New York

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Simone Simon	...	Irena Dubrovna Reed
Kent Smith	...	Oliver Reed
Tom Conway	...	Dr. Louis Judd
Jane Randolph	...	Alice Moore
Jack Holt	...	The Commodore
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Ford	...	Whistling Cop (scenes deleted)
Bud Geary	...	Mounted Policeman (scenes deleted)
Leda Nicova	...	Patient (scenes deleted)
Henrietta Burnside	...	Sue Ellen (uncredited)
Alec Craig	...	Zookeeper (uncredited)
Eddie Dew	...	Street policeman (uncredited)
Elizabeth Dunn	...	Miss Plunkett, pet shop owner (uncredited)
Dynamite	...	The leopard (uncredited)
Dot Farley	...	Mrs. Agnew, scrubwoman (uncredited)
Mary Halsey	...	Blondie, apartment house desk clerk (uncredited)
Theresa Harris	...	Minnie, waitress at Sally Lunds café (uncredited)
Charles Jordan	...	Bus driver (uncredited)
Donald Kerr	...	Taxi driver (uncredited)
Connie Leon	...	Neighbor who called police (uncredited)
Murdock MacQuarrie	...	Sheep caretaker (uncredited)
Alan Napier	...	Doc Carver (uncredited)
John Piffle	...	Café proprietor (uncredited)
Betty Roadman	...	Mrs. Hansen (uncredited)
Elizabeth Russell	...	The Cat Woman (uncredited)
Steve Soldi	...	Organ grinder (uncredited)

Directed by
Jacques Tourneur

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
DeWitt Bodeen		written by

Produced by
Val Lewton	....	producer

Original Music by
Roy Webb

Cinematography by
Nicholas Musuraca		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Mark Robson

Art Direction by
Albert S. D'Agostino
Walter E. Keller

Set Decoration by
A. Roland Fields		(as Al Fields)
Darrell Silvera

Costume Design by
Renié		(gowns)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Doran Cox	....	assistant director

Sound Department
John L. Cass	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Vernon L. Walker	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Linwood G. Dunn	....	photographic effects (uncredited)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director
John Leipold	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Mel Koontz	....	animal trainer (uncredited)
Lou L. Ostrow	....	supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1952) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Ajay Film Company (1976) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV) (syndication)
• Criterion Collection, The (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• King of Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Nostalgia Merchant, The (1980) (USA) (VHS)
• RKO Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Czech

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (1988) | UK:A (original rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #8693) | West Germany:12 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

RKO Studios - 780 Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Because of the incredibly tight budget, sets from Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) were re-used.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Irena is alarmed by the woman in the restaurant, she makes the sign of the cross left-to-right, as a Western Catholic would. However, as a Serb, she would more likely have made it right-to-left, as Orthodox and Eastern Catholics do. And if she was Orthodox, she would join three fingers (thumb, index and middle finger) to make the sign of the cross, not use the whole hand.

Quotes:

Woman at pet shop: You can fool everybody, but landie dearie me, you can't fool a cat. They seem to know who's not right.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest Scary Moments (2003) (TV)

A horror classic. Hugely influential and still as enjoyable as ever.

'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. It's arguably the best horror movie made between the Universal classics of the 1930s and the beginning of Hammer studios in the 1950s. So many subsequent film makers from Hitchcock on down have been influenced by this movie and yet it rarely gets the respect it deserves. 'Cat People' pretends to be a monster movie but is really something more complex, and relies on atmosphere and suspense rather than explicit shocks or gore (there is virtually none of the latter). Fans of Hitchcock and film noir will probably appreciate it more than hardcore gorehounds. Simone Simon is very well cast as the mysterious and troubled Irena and the rest of the cast range from adequate to very good. The acting is probably one of the weakest links in the film but not enough to spoil your enjoyment (I think 1940s acting is an acquired taste and I can see how a modern viewer who expects more realistic and natural performances could sometimes find them a bit hard to swallow). 'Cat People' is a horror classic and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the genre.