Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), a Serbian immigrant, falls in love with Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), and they quickly marry. Irena refuses to consummate the relationship, believing that arousal would turn her into a panther. Eventually, Oliver persuades her to see psychologist Louis Judd (Tom Conway), but he is more interested in getting his hands on Irena than helping her. Oliver spends more time with co-worker Alice Moore (Jane Randolph), and jealousy begins to bring out the cat in Irena.
Cat People is a low budget thriller with a barely acknowledged supernatural element. Irena might be a shape changing panther, or she might not. If the studio hadn’t insisted on at least one shot of a panther showing up in Irena’s place, the movie would have just been about a girl with severe intimacy issues. It pretty much is anyway.
The subtly of the fantastical elements has earned Cat People cult status. The first collaboration of producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur (that produced the superior I Walked With A Zombie the following year), it displays Lewton’s restraint and Tourneur’s mastery of the camera.
But the movie is a mixed bag. On the plus side is everything touched by Tourneur and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. For a cheaply made picture, it looks amazing. The use of shadows puts Welles to shame. And several scenes deserve their fame, particularly Alice in the swimming pool where ripples reflect on the ceiling and deep shadows obscure what may be a cat. It is one of those scenes that a film fan never forgets.
On the weak side is the slight character development and the implausible plot. I can accept a woman turning into a panther, but must I also accept alien human relationships? Irena is frightened, so she refuses to have sex (or even kiss!) for the first month of marriage, and Oliver isn’t terribly upset. No frustration for Oliver. I guess his multiple orgy scenes with local prostitutes were left on the cutting room floor. He does come up with the insane notion of telling a girl at work about Irena’s psychological problems. How stupid do you have to be to do that? Well, I suppose the lack of sex is blurring Oliver’s thinking.
So, how did Oliver figure this marriage was going to work? Did he assume that Irena’s extreme mental disorder was just going to clear up? And what was she planning to do as a wife who can’t be touched? The film never examines their thoughts, and it needs to.
This is a film about sex where sexual relations are treated like a Disney film. No one has sex and no one cares. But then this is a film where zookeepers warn visitors with Biblical quotes that panthers are evil.
At 73 minutes, Cat People speeds along too quickly for its chemistry-low couple’s interactions to make any sense. And the ending is abrupt and unsatisfying. The remarkable look isn’t enough to overcome the poor script.
In 1982 it was remade, again titled Cat People, but the finished film had little to do with the original, sharing only a vague concept and two scenes (the bus stopping and the swimming pool).