Cat People 1942) *

Somewhere in the night, she is. I had that thought as I was watching Cat People (1942) tonight, especially when Alice (Jane Randolph) is both leaving work by herself down a silent sidewalk before a bus breaks with an open door to her that becomes quite a safety net. And then again later when Alice is swimming at a local pool, as the shadow of a panther seems to form out of a blob on the wall, the sound of roars somewhat in the background disrupting the quiet. I often bring up the “disquiet in quiet” and nevermore is that viable, to me anyway, than in the aforementioned scenes involving Alice in this Val Lewton classic. Alice firmly believes that Irena (Simone Simon) might just be who she says she is…a panther when her emotions are stirred either by love or jealousy. When a member of a zoo finds sheep dead after Alice boards the bus and the rustling of leafy tree limbs halt, Cat People answers the mystery of whether or not it is all in Irena’s mind. For a bit there, the film might seem to question whether Irena’s folklore was nothing but tales told by her ancestors, passed down generations, in order to subvert her Serbian village and people. Her architect husband (and co-worker/friend of Alice’s), Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), is deeply concerned about her mental health and their marriage when she fails to be intimate with him. He’s more than patient and faithful but after a while, as Alice no longer hides her own feelings for him, and vice versa, Oliver finally must confront Irena with a truth…that he can no longer evade how their marriage just hasn’t been satisfying and/or fulfilling and that feelings for Alice have become too strong to avoid. Irena doesn’t take to another woman involving herself with her husband so that jealousy brings out the cat in her. Tom Conway’s smooth-talking, richly British accented psychiatrist, Dr. Judd, has made it quite known how he feels for Irena, even believing that perhaps she is playing mind games with him, seeking help from him but also visiting just for attention. But Irena’s love for Oliver remains all the way to the end, after Dr. Judd tries to seduce her, bringing out the panther that attacks. That scene just shows Simon surrender, darkening until Judd tries to protect himself with a sword sheathed by cane against the panther as it goes in for the rip-and-kill. Irena, bleeding and perhaps mortally wounded, decides to allow a caged zoo panther the chance to finish her off. The entire film has built towards that, too, as trips in the park to visit the panther are like a lure she can’t resist. A dead pet canary, having died of fright just because her hands went in to its cage, is soon fed to that panther as Irena mentions how she felt compelled to do that. There’s just that presence of tragedy that will not be avoided, and I think you can just feel it almost all the way through the film. Irena’s fate just seems destined for such tragic end. Tourneur and Lewton, a team that produced two stunners with this and I Walked with a Zombie, could get much out of little, as the budget provided by RKO didn’t exactly offer extravagant spending. Such noir aesthetic beauty, defying the desire to succumb to its striking idyll, goes for dread and understanding that within the shadows she perhaps crawls on all fours with a pursuit only destined for one goal…to kill.