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The Curse of the Cat People
USA 1943
produced by
Val Lewton for RKO
directed by Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise
starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter, Eve March, Julia Dean, Elizabeth Russell, Erford Gage, Sir Lancelot, Charles Bates, Joel Davis, Nita Hunter, Sarah Selby, Linda Bieber, Joan Delmer, Gloria Donovan, Ginny Wren, Delos Jewkes, Edmund Glover, Mel Sternlight
written by DeWitt Bodeen, music by Roy Webb
Cat People
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Several years after the events of the original Cat
People: Oliver (Kent Smith) has since married Alice (Jane
Randolph) - who's weirdly oblivious to everything that happened in the
first movie despite having been in the thick of it -, and they have a
lovely six year old, Amy (Ann Carter). Much to Oliver's dismay, Amy lives
in a dreamworld though, just like his first wife (from the earlier movie)
Irena (Simone Simon) did. Because of her living in a dreamworld, Amy has
no friends, so Oliver orders her to go and find some, but the closest Amy
comes to this is talking to a voice that comes from inside a house, a
voice that throws her a ring. When Amy tells Oliver, he thinks it's
another of her fantasy's, while her mother tells her she must return the
ring - which she does, meeting a very nice but somewhat delusional elderly
actress, Julia (Julia Dean), inside who treats her to tea. Julia though
has a strained relationship to her daughter Barbara (Elizabeth Russell),
who she claims isn't her real daughter. Edward (Sir Lancelot), the
family butler, tells Amy that the ring is a wishing ring, so she wishes
for a friend, and her wish comes true almost immediately - and her friend
is Irena, or rather her ghost. However, when Amy tells her father about it
and even identifies Irena in a photograph, he thinks she mocks him and
punishes her severely, so much so that she runs away and ultimately finds
refuge in Julia's spooky house. But Julia fears Barbara will kill Amy
(because she said so in a fit) and wants to hide the girl upstairs. But
walking up the stairs strains Julia so much that she dies. When Barbara
finds Amy next to her dead mother, it looks for a moment that she wants to
kill Amy for real, but Amy sees Irena's ghost in Barbara and goes to
embrace her, and the embrace apparently melts her icey heart. Oliver and
Alice meanwhile have grown worried sick about their daughter, and now find
her with Barbara and dead Julia. And from now on, Oliver promises to take
his daughter's daydreaming more lightly ... Despite being a
direct sequel to Cat People
with all three leads returning in the same roles they had formerly,
there's little to connect the two films storywise, and especially there
are no humans turning into cats in this one. And frankly, The Curse of
the Cat People isn't only no worthy successor to the first movie, it
quite simply isn't a very good film. Basically, the screenplay is just too
random, things are too forced here, and are often too on-the-nose to
properly work. On the plus side of course, the film's just beautifully
shot and heavy on atmosphere (even if the constant feel of unease of Val
Lewton's best horror flicks is missing), which makes it an interesting
watch - that's just let down by its not all that great script.
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