Directed by:
Jacques TourneurScreenplay:
DeWitt BodeenCinematography:
Nicholas MusuracaComposer:
Roy WebbCast:
Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt, Alec Craig, Alan Napier, Donald Kerr, Eddie Dew, Charles Jordan, Theresa Harris, Mary Halsey (more)Plots(1)
The first of the horror films producer Val Lewton made for RKO Pictures redefined the genre by leaving its most frightening terrors to its audience’s imagination. Simone Simon stars as a Serbian émigré in Manhattan who believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves (Kent Smith) will turn her into a feline predator. Lewton, a consummate producer-auteur who oversaw every aspect of his projects, found an ideal director in Jacques Tourneur, a chiaroscuro stylist adept at keeping viewers off-kilter with startling compositions and psychological innuendo. Together, they eschewed the canned effects of earlier monster movies in favor of shocking with subtle shadows and creative audio cues. One of the studio’s most successful movies of the 1940s, Cat People raised the creature feature to new heights of sophistication and mystery. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Simone Simon
France
Best movies:
La Ronde (1950)
La Bete humaine (1938)
Le Plaisir (1952)
Kent Smith
USA
Best movies:
Strangers When We Meet (1960)
Sayonara (1957)
A Distant Trumpet (1964)
Tom Conway
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Two O'Clock Courage (1945)
Jane Randolph
USA
Best movies:
Dive Bomber (1941)
T-Men (1947)
Railroaded! (1947)
Jack Holt
USA
Best movies:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
San Francisco (1936)
Joan the Woman (1916)
Alec Craig
UK
Best movies:
Gaslight (1944)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Alan Napier
UK
Best movies:
My Fair Lady (1964)
Madame Curie (1943)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Donald Kerr
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Big Country (1958)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Eddie Dew
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Charles Jordan
UK
Best movies:
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Mr. Skeffington (1944)
Edge of the City (1957)
Theresa Harris
USA
Best movies:
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Jezebel (1938)
Out of the Past (1947)
Mary Halsey
USA
Best movies:
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Nevada (1944)
The Merry Widow (1934)
Murdock MacQuarrie
USA
Best movies:
Modern Times (1936)
Fury (1936)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Connie Leon
UK
Best movies:
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
The Rains Came (1939)
Elizabeth Russell
USA
Best movies:
Horrible Horror (1986) - a.f.
From the Terrace (1960)
Summer Storm (1944)