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"CAT PEOPLE" Val Lewton, Producer Jacques Tourneur, Director Think Alfred Hitchcock was the first one to do the psychological thriller? Think again. Hitchcock learned a lot from Val Lewton, a Russian émigré who started out in Hollywood working for David O. Selznick, producer of Gone With the Wind. After this apprenticeship, Lewton went to work for RKO Studios and was given a modest budget to create a series of "horror programmers." The studio expected "B" pictures such as those being done over at Universal and Mongram, but they got more than they bargained for. Lewton produced nine of the most intelligent, yet chilling horror films of the 1940's. Cat People was the first and it was a smash hit, playing to sellout crowds. Audiences and reviewers had never seen anything like it before. Cat People opens in New York City's Central Park Zoo, with lovely Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) sketching a dangerous looking panther in his cage. Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), a prosaic young architect, is attracted to her and goes over to meet her. He walks her home and she invites him in for tea, but this is not your normal kind of courtship. Turns out that Irena has both a morbid fascination and fear of cats. As a young girl in Serbia, she heard many tales of the evil feline-human "Marmelukes". She believes that she carries an evil inside her which would be released by strong emotions and physical contact so she has avoided relationships. But Oliver thinks all of this is bunk and tries to get Irena to think so, too. They marry, but not happily ever after. Turns out there are a lot more to the old legends than Oliver could ever have imagined. This is a movie that you can see many times, uncovering fresh new nuances with each viewing. Everything clicks - the acting, the incredible background music, the stunning black and white cinematography and the story itself. Simone Simon is the focal point as the tortured heroine, Irena, and keeps our sympathies throughout even when she isn't being particularly sympathetic. Kent Smith is exactly right as the less than imaginative, Oliver. Jane Randolph's, Alice ("the other woman") is just perfect as is Tom Conway's lecherous psychiatrist, Dr. Judd.
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