‘I like the dark. It’s friendly…’
Sometimes everyone else can see something that you can’t see. Cat People has high ratings on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. It is included in Steven Schneider’s influential book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die. Iconic film critic Roger Ebert loved it. And yet… I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about. This is doubly disappointing as I’m something of a cat person myself…
After a brief period of courting, happy-go-lucky marine engineer Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) and Serbian immigrant Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) agree to get married. Unfortunately, Irene believes that if she ever kisses a man, she will immediately transform into a cat person and tear her lover limb from limb. Meanwhile, Oliver’s co-worker Alice (Jane Randolph) also fancies a bit of Oliver, and so she sends in psychiatrist Dr Judd (Tom Conway) to destabilise the happy couple.
Let’s get the good stuff out of the way first. As with many films of the period, budgetary constraints mean that many of the key scenes are shot in shadow leading to some ingenious lighting techniques which are undoubtedly the main reason why this film is remembered at all. Despite the sedate pacing, there is no doubt that this is a film that is beautifully shot. The cast does well also. Randolph in particular has a lot of fun as homewrecker Alice, and Conway is suitably slick as Dr Judd (a character he would reprise in another early horror favourite The Seventh Victim). Elsewhere, the dialogue is fine and the story is just weird enough to keep it interesting. The problem is that for much of this movie absolutely nothing happens. A film that is barely 70 minutes long should not feel like a slog, and yet, large parts of Cat People move at a glacial pace.
This is another one of those films that is worth seeking out for horror completists, I can see why the use of lighting has seen it earn its place in the horror canon, but nobody else need bother. Slightly overrated, I would suggest.