This film hits me on the most personal level of any film I've ever seen. This tale about a young, beautiful, Serbian immigrant named Irena, who marries a man named Oliver, but can't have sex with him because she believes she'll kill him, is a movie that speaks to me every time I watch it. I see so much of myself in the character of Irena, and I connect so much with her tortured psyche. The way she is afraid of hurting those she cares about, the way no one can understand her, and the way she's her own other worldly being are aspects that I can identify with, and make me look at Irena as a kindred spirit for me. But aside from relating to the lead character, I also adore Jacque Tourneur's artistic direction, the story, the lighting, the music, the dialogue, and the overall poetic, and darkly romantic feel to this movie. This film is a true work of art, I've watched it millions of times, and I'm still not done with it. Val Lewton, I love you!
Cat People
1942
Action / Fantasy / Film-Noir / Horror / Thriller

Cat People
1942
Action / Fantasy / Film-Noir / Horror / Thriller
Synopsis
Serbian national Irena Dubrovna, a fashion sketch artist, has recently arrived in New York for work. The first person who she makes a personal connection with there is marine engineer Oliver Reed. The two fall in love and get married despite Irena's reservations, not about Oliver but about herself. She has always felt different than other people, but has never been sure why. She lives close to the zoo, and unlike many of her neighbors is comforted by the sounds of the big cats emanating from the zoo. And although many see it purely as an old wives' tale, she believes the story from her village of ancient residents being driven into witchcraft and evil doing, those who managed to survive by escaping into the mountains. After seeing her emotional pain, Oliver arranges for her to see a psychiatrist to understand why she believes what she does. In therapy, Dr. Judd, the psychiatrist, learns that she also believes, out of that villagers' tale, that she has descended from this evil - women ...
Uploaded By: LINUS
March 03, 2016 at 01:48 AM
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My Favorite Movie!
Somewhat disappointing!
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.
She was a cat, he was a dog.
First off major SPOILER warning as I completely (almost) spoil the film.
Boy (Kent Smith as Oliver) meets girl (Simone Simon as Irena). Except boy is one of the few men between 20 and 60 who is not in the military, and the girl has bizarre fantasies about being one of the "cat people" - people descended from a group of witches and warlocks in Europe that escaped the sword of King John when he came to cleanse their village of wickedness.
Oliver and Irena eventually admit their love, and Oliver proposes marriage. Irena has doubts because of her feelings that there is evil in her, that she is one of the "cat people". Oliver poo poos such nonsense and basically says"Forget that cat people nonsense babe and marry me anyways, it will make no difference." But it does. Irena doesn't want to consummate the marriage. Oliver says no problem he'll wait. Irena goes to see a psychiatrist, Oliver says no problem he'll wait. Irena wrestles with her cat people identity problem until a few months later she tells Oliver she has decided to put the past behind her and be a real wife to him. Not so fast Oliver says. He now loves Alice, a girl at work and he wants a divorce.
So Irena, a troubled soul to begin with, has a husband who thinks "Until death do you part" is just a saying people kick around at weddings and has completely overestimated his patience, while Alice, a woman who has said she was Irena's friend has been that shoulder Oliver can cry on at work until she steals his heart. Also, the psychiatrist has ulterior motives too as Tom Conway rips a page from his brother George Sanders' playbook.
Last line of the film - Oliver saying "She never lied to us". Yep, but ALL of you - the doctor, Oliver, Alice - essentially lied to HER. I'd like to turn into a big cat and eat the three of them if I were in Irena's circumstances.
Don't think I don't love this film - I do. It uses atmosphere and what you don't see where the 82 version just used cheesy sex scenes and lots of gore.