CAT PEOPLE 1942
Cat People (1942) is a groundbreaking supernatural horror film that redefined the genre with its psychological depth and atmospheric storytelling thanks to the masterful storytelling by Val Lewton. Directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Lewton for RKO Pictures.
Val Lewton, a producer-auteur known for his meticulous oversight of every aspect of his projects, collaborated closely with Tourneur to create this new kind of horror film—one that relied on suggestion and atmosphere rather than overt scares. Lewton and Tourneur pioneered a revolutionary approach to horror filmmaking, employing suggestive imagery, chiaroscuro lighting, and masterful use of sound and silence to create an atmosphere of dread and terror through implication rather than explicit violence or supernatural manifestations, establishing a new paradigm that would influence generations of filmmakers.
Jacques Tourneur played a crucial role in shaping the visual style of his films, including his masterpiece, Out of the Past. He employs a masterful use of shadows: Tourneur went beyond standard film noir techniques, using shadows not just decoratively but as fundamental storytelling elements. He created beautiful compositions where shadows defined and redefined mood. Tourneur frequently employed “corridor” style shots, often shooting directly down paths or hallways to create long perspectives. He alternated these with lateral tracks featuring masked foregrounds, creating a rich visual mix. He also focused on “unofficial” architecture, like projecting awnings, to create unique compositions and emphasized complex textures in backgrounds, using elaborate wallpapers, moldings, and grillwork. Tourneur skillfully manipulated lighting to enhance the mood, using soft shadows for intimacy in romantic scenes and darker, more oppressive shadows for tense moments, particularly in the pool scene where an unseen predator stalks Alice, Cat People’s ‘good girl’ noir-like heroine. Tourneur’s visual style often left threats ambiguous, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions.
Cat People tells the story of Irena Dubrovna (played by the intoxicatingly beautiful Simone Simon), a Serbian émigré in Manhattan who believes she is cursed to transform into a murderous panther if she experiences romantic or sexual passion. Her fears lead to a tense love triangle with her husband, Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), and his co-worker, Alice Moore (Jane Randolph), as well as sessions with the skeptical psychiatrist Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway). Lewton aimed to create a film that consisted of psychological depth, an intelligent horror film that explored themes of sexual repression, jealousy, and the clash between science and superstition. Lewton ultimately decided to set the story in contemporary New York, involving a love triangle between a man, a foreign woman with abnormal fears, and a female office worker desperately in love with Oliver.
Val Lewton wrote “The Bagheeta,” a short story that appeared in the July 1930 issue of Weird Tales Magazine. This story was one of Lewton’s early works in the horror genre, published before he began his career at RKO Pictures. “The Bagheeta,” which featured a legendary panther-woman hybrid in the Caucasus Mountains, served as inspiration for Cat People (1942).
The script was written by DeWitt Bodeen, who drew inspiration from myths about cats and curses, as well as Algernon Blackwood’s short story “Ancient Sorceries.” Lewton initially considered basing the film on Blackwood’s 1906 short story which featured a French town inhabited by devil-worshipping cat people. Bodeen researched cat-related literature, including works by Ambrose Bierce and Margaret Irwin. Lewton contributed heavily to the screenplay, ensuring its thematic complexity and subtlety.
Studio directive: RKO executive Charles Koerner gave Lewton the title Cat People and instructed him to develop a film from it. Koerner felt that werewolves, vampires, and man-made monsters were overexploited, suggesting that “nobody has done much with cats.”
Cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, who contributed his keen photographic eye to some of the most extraordinary film noirs, brought the film’s shadowy visuals to life, employing chiaroscuro lighting and inventive framing to evoke fear through implication rather than explicit imagery. This approach gave rise to iconic moments like “The Lewton Bus,” an early example of a jump scare that has since become legendary in horror cinema.
The mythology behind Cat People blends Balkan folklore with Freudian psychology, portraying Irena’s transformation as both a literal curse and a metaphor for repressed desires. The film also subtly critiques xenophobia through its depiction of Irena as an “exotic” outsider whose cultural beliefs are dismissed or misunderstood by those (Anglo/Christian) around her.
Despite being made on a modest budget of $135,000, Cat People became one of RKO’s most successful films of the 1940s. Its minimalist yet sophisticated approach influenced countless subsequent horror films and elevated the genre’s artistic potential. Though initially conceived as a B-movie, it has since been recognized as a landmark in cinematic history, earning preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993.
CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE 1944
The Curse of the Cat People (1944) is another of Val Lewton’s psychologically geared supernatural thriller directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise. The film follows in the shadow of Cat People with Amy Reed, the six-year-old daughter of Oliver Reed, and his new wife Alice, who lives in Tarrytown, New York. Amy is an imaginative and lonely child, often escaping into fantasies to cope with her isolation. Her life changes when she meets the ghost of her father’s deceased first wife, Irena, who becomes a maternal figure to her. Meanwhile, Amy befriends an eccentric elderly woman, Julia Farren (Julia Dean), and her troubled daughter, Barbara (Elizabeth Russell), leading to a complex exploration of reality, fantasy, and the power of love and acceptance.
