The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

This mostly unrelated sequel to Cat People (1942) has Amy, the young daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed. Amy is a very imaginative child who has trouble differentiating fantasy from reality,... See full summary »

Directors:

Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise

Writer:

DeWitt Bodeen (screenplay)

Stars:

Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Simone Simon	...	Ghost of Irena
Kent Smith	...	Oliver 'Ollie' Reed
Jane Randolph	...	Alice Reed
Ann Carter	...	Amy Reed
Eve March	...	Miss Callahan
Julia Dean	...	Mrs. Julia Farren
Elizabeth Russell	...	Barbara Farren
Erford Gage	...	Police Captain
Sir Lancelot	...	Edward

Storyline

This mostly unrelated sequel to Cat People (1942) has Amy, the young daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed. Amy is a very imaginative child who has trouble differentiating fantasy from reality, and has no friends her own age as a result. She makes an imaginary friend though, her father's dead first wife Irena. At about the same time, she befriends Julia Farren, an aging reclusive actress who is alienated from her own daughter Barbara.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | cat | imaginary friend | actress | kiss on the forehead | 

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Taglines:

Strange, Forbidding, Thrilling

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Genres:

Drama | Family

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 October 1944 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

A Maldição da Pantera

Filming Locations:

900 West Adams Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The poem quoted by the Miss Callahan is The Unseen Playmate by Robert Louis Stevenson from 'A Child's Garden of Verses' (1913).

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Goofs

The photograph Amy finds in the drawer is seen in close-up to be a portrait of Irena. In long shots, however, it looks more like a wedding picture with one person in white and another in black standing side-by-side.

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Connections

Referenced in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

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Soundtracks

"Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant"
(Traditional French Christmas carol)

User Reviews

Wow! This is really good...

but then that should really be no surprise considering who's involved here..Val Lewton, Robert Wise and returning star Simone Simon here in a much different albeit the same role as in CAT PEOPLE. Ann Carter as Amy is absolutely phenomenal in this film as well.

This celebration of the strength of a child's imagination is a joy to watch as it is in essence her imagination which gives her strength and courage and in the end will even her tormented and worried father , still terribly haunted by the events in CAT PEOPLE, need it?

While this is in part a sequel to CAT PEOPLE, it's relation to that film is mild at best. No this is a journey into the fantastic through the eyes of one very imaginative yet very lonely child. Beautiful and moving.