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Film: The Curse of the Cat People
Year: 1944
Director: Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise
Writer: DeWitt Bodeen
Starring: Simone Simon, Kent Smith and Jane Randolph
Review:
This is a movie that intrigued me when I learned that it existed. I’m a fan of the original film. I like the things that were done with making it more than just a woman turning into a large cat. There were psychological things going on underneath. The remake of that movie goes in a different direction while keeping that weirdness to it. I was then curious as to what we’d get here as this is my Foray through the Fours watch for 1944 and helps me complete the series.
Synopsis: the young, friendless daughter of Oliver (Kent Smith) and Alice Reed (Jane Randolph) befriends her father’s dead first wife and an aging, reclusive actor.
We are years are the events where Oliver Reed lost his first wife, Irena (Simone Simon). He has moved on to marry Alice and they have a daughter Amy (Ann Carter). Now Ollie is concerned about her. She talks to imaginary friends. Knowing that fantasies messed with Irena, he doesn’t want his daughter going down the same road. Alice isn’t concerned, thinking that their daughter just has an overactive imagination.
At school, Amy has friends, but they can be quick to turn on her. Her teacher is Miss Callahan (Eve March). They go out to a bridge as a class and I like that this is brought up that it takes place in Tarrytown or known by its more famous name of Sleepy Hollow. She tells the students the story of the Headless Horseman and it haunts Amy.
Amy has an upcoming birthday party. She wanted to help and send out the invitations. When no one is showing up, this concerns Ollie. It turns out that Amy remembered a story that he told his daughter about a magical tree in their yard. She put the invitations inside of it, thinking they would get mailed out. They didn’t and now her friends are mad at her. She tries to apologize and they dare her to go up to an old mansion in the neighborhood. It belongs to Julia Farren (Julia Dean). She tosses a ring down at the little girl. Alice tells her daughter that she cannot keep it. When she goes to return it, this is where she meets Julia in person. She is an eccentric reclusive actor. She lives with her daughter, Barbara (Elizabeth Russell), who Julia is convinced is an imposter.
There’s another aspect to the story. Amy starts to see Irena. She is there as an imaginary friend and to keep her company while she plays. What is interesting here is that it seems that she started to see her before finding a picture of what she looked like. Alice also found pictures of Ollie and Irena. She doesn’t want to get rid of all of them, where Ollie seems a bit indifferent.
Ollie’s fears of his daughter going down the same route as Irena has him scolding the child and punishing her a bit harshly. Characters need to come to terms with different things before it is too late and cannot be undone.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an interesting follow up to the original. I love that they were able to get Simon, Smith and Randolph all back to reprise their roles. Continuity like that goes a long way for me. There is also an intriguing progression from the story in the first to this one as well.
Now that I’ve set that up, let me delve more into the story. Now Ollie doesn’t believe that Irena became a cat person in the original. There are odd things that happened that makes Alice question. Ollie believed that Irena’s obsession with this curse from the village she came from was too much and it ended her life. Amy is showing a similar mania in his eyes. I do think he’s being too harsh. She has a vivid imagination and keeps information. She reminds me of my niece. I don’t like that Ollie is stifling that which concerns me. He does it out of love so I do think this complicates it. He’s not abusing her; he just has his concerns. I’d say that Smith’s performance here is good.
Let’s then discuss Amy more. She doesn’t want to upset her parents. She is a good kid; she just doesn’t fully understand things. There is the sequence where she remembers that her family said there is a magic tree in their yard. She wants to be helpful and send out the invitations to her party. This creates an issue when they don’t go out, because it is a normal tree. Ollie is shocked that she remembers. He wants her to play with the other children. They aren’t the nicest to her so that complicates things. Amy has an ‘old soul’ so she easily befriends her teacher, Miss Callahan, and this actor of Julia. She can even soften Barbara who has her own issues with her mother. I do like that duality between Julia and her as it is a potential situation that could happen with Amy. I’ll say here that Carter was good as the daughter, which is uncommon for child actors.
There is one other thing with the story and it is around the character of Irena. I like that they brought her back. It is fascinating to me that the first one is a potential monster film where she is a were-panther. This goes in a completely different direction where Amy is seeing her ghost. It makes you wonder if she is or is she manifesting an image of Irena as her friend. I’m inclined to call this a neo-gothic film where the ghost of Irena isn’t bad. It is there to help Amy when she needs it. She doesn’t try to do anything to the father as punishment. It does seem like an imaginary friend of sorts for sure.
Since this is a character study, let’s finish out with the rest of the cast. Randolph is solid here, but she is more of a catalyst. She wants Ollie to get rid of the pictures of his first wife, but she’s not pushing him to remove them all. She doesn’t want to confuse Amy for good reason. I’d also say that she is there to help the daughter and doesn’t think her imagination is the issue that the father does. March, Dean and Russell are good to push Amy to where she ends up. Other than that, Erford Gage and Sir Lancelot were solid. The rest of the cast was fine for what was needed.
All that is left is filmmaking. I’d say that the best part here is the cinematography. I love how shots are crafted here. It isn’t as strong as the previous movie, but not by much. They do great things with the framing and perceptions that Amy has. There are a couple where we see what she does in the backyard with Irena. Then we see what adults see. I do like this idea that the mind of a child is still magical. That makes me worried even more about her father. Other than that, there aren’t much in the way of effects. We don’t necessarily need them though. The soundtrack was also fine for what was needed.
In conclusion, this has big shoes to fill me with how much I like the original movie. I’m glad that this one took a different approach and it fits in line with these RKO/Val Lewton productions. It is good to get back Simon, Smith and Randolph. Adding Carter, who is a solid child actor worked in her role. This was well made. The best part being the cinematography with the framing, effects and soundtrack working for what was needed. This won’t be for everyone. I’d recommend it to fans of the first one. If you also enjoy horror movies from this era, give this a watch.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10