Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply Perfect

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Sweet and gentle Serbian immigrant Irena Dubrovna (a fine and charming portrayal by the comely Simone Simon) believes that she's suffering from an ancient curse that will cause her to transform into a lethal feline if she ever becomes intimately involved with her husband Oliver Reed (a solid and likeable performance by the handsome Kevin Smith). Director Jacques Tourneur ably crafts an eerie enigmatic atmosphere, relates the compelling and provocative story at a hypnotic gradual pace, and grounds the fantastic premise in a believable everyday reality. Dewitt Bodeen's intelligent script smartly explores the meaty themes of dark secret identities and deep sexual repression wrought by a combination of guilt and fear. Moreover, Irena's lonely plight elicits pathos and sympathy while the tragic ending packs a devastating punch. Simon and Smith make for attractive and personable leads; they receive sturdy support Jane Randolph as the perky Alice Moore, Tom Conway as helpful psychiatrist Dr. Luis Judd, and Alan Napier as the easygoing Doc Carver. Elizabeth Russell has a memorable bit as the mysterious cat woman who Irena has an unsettling encounter with in a restaurant. Nicholas Musuraca's sumptuous black and white cinematography adds immensely to the overall brooding mood. Roy Webb's shivery score hits the shuddery spot. Best of all, this film gains much of its power and impact from the fact that it's quite subtle and suggestive instead of blatant and explicit, thereby proving the point that sometimes less is indeed more. Worthy of its classic status.

Cat People doesn't hold up too well. For all the promise of its premise, the script has a juvenile, dime-novel flavor. True, certain sequences still possess a great deal of suspense, notably the much-anthologized and much-praised sequence in which Jane Randolph is stalked at night along a narrow alley-way. On the whole, however, the picture seems too dated, too talkative, and too obviously made on the cheap. For me, one of the most effective sequences occurs when Simone Simon plays with the canary, her tongue licking her lips in a distinctive and disturbing feline way. Although Simon plays very capably and indeed charmingly throughout the rest of the movie, she never recaptures the menace of that single sequence. She seems fragile and in need of protection herself. (This, of course, is how the role was written). In his film debut, Kent Smith makes for the wettest of wet heroes. The support players likewise struggle with script characterizations that are either one-dimensional (Alec Craig as the zoo attendant) or indifferent (Jack Holt, for example, is completely wasted in a piddling, inconsequential and wholly minor role). Although Tourneur occasionally directs with flair and style, many scenes are handled in a thoroughly ordinary, even pedestrian fashion. Production values are distinctly "B". Many of the sets have about them a pasteboard air which not even Musuraca's opulently gray-toned camerawork can disguise.

*Spoiler/plot- The Cat People, 1942. A young woman tries to hide her unique life and her family heritage from her boyfriend.*Special Stars- Simone Simon, Kent Smith.*Theme- Nature will find a way to foil human nature.*Trivia/location/goofs- French. Made during WW2. An American courts and marries a Serbian girl and finds her very superstitious.*Emotion- Although a horror classic in many people's minds and list, this film is a re-tread of the old story of people possessed by animal spirits.*Based On- Werewolf and gypsy legends of the times.

Much Written about and Endlessly Analyzed, this is one of the First True Film Noirs and Ironically it is not a Contemporary Crime Film. In Fact, it not only has a Noir Template, it is also an Early Psychological Thriller. Add to that, the Supernatural Theme and Monster Transformation and it is Simply a very Complex little Movie that contains so much for so Little Money that to this Day many Consider it the Best B-Movie ever Made.The Founding Father of all this is Producer Val Lewton, one of the Very Few Producers, if any, that became Synonymous with Their Films. The Directorial Talent here is Jacques Tourneur, who can also take Equal Credit for the Movie's Artistic Achievements and ultimate Success.It is a Gloomy, Moody, Sensual, and Beautifully Disturbing Piece of Cinema. The Ending is Surprising and Satisfying and the Creepiness is Never Absent. Wonderfully Underplayed by all the Actors it is an Influential, Complex Adult Story with Mythological Overtones Underlining Modern Romantic Sensibilities.Essential Viewing for Fans of Film-Noir, Supernatural, B-Movies, Horror, and Gothic Romanticism.