I’d heard so much about Cat People (1942) over the years as a classic horror-noir, and it was one of those old Hollywood movies that lived up to its reputation. I was watching it by myself one afternoon, and every moment of expressionistic lighting, suggestive and creepy use of shadows and sound design, I would audibly react, “Yes!” Directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures, it focuses on Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), a fashion designer from Serbia, who strikes up a flirtatious meeting with an engineer Olivier Reed (Kent Smith) at the panther exhibit at the Central Park Zoo in New York. Their romance and eventual marriage is complicated by Irena’s fear of a curse from the old country that any feeling of lust, jealousy, rage, will transform her into… well, it’s there in the title. Things are brought to boiling point by Olivier’s close relationship with a co-worker Alice (Jane Randolph) and the smarmy psychiatrist Dr. Judd (Tom Conway) who is treating Irena. One key scene is when Olivier confides to Alice that he’s always been happy in his life, had things easy, until this complicated marriage with Irena, which interestingly brings up a divide between those with unthinking privilege and those who don’t have it so easy, dealing with psychological issues, past trauma, mental health issues, etc. There’s plenty of writing about the metaphor of the ‘cat people’ with regards to anxieties over female desire as well as European stereotypes, but the film’s sympathies lie with Irena, effectively played by Simon as someone divided and trying to live above her fears (and her potential power) until others force her into a corner. The movie is elegant in how it creates moments of suspense (the infamous, influential pool sequence) by keeping things hidden and in the shadows, resulting in an eerie, charged atmosphere that makes it unique. Followed by the sequel, Curse Of The Cat People, and remade in the 1980s by Paul Schrader. I watched the original Cat People on the Criterion Collection Blu-ray. Recommended.
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