Irena (Simone Simon) likes to visit the zoo. It seems normal doesn’t it? A grown woman at the zoo. Even better, there’s a specific place she likes to spend her time, walking slowly as if she hasn’t a care in the world for what’s in the cage in front of her. The panther stares at her, reacting strangely to her prescence. Deep down she knows she has more in common with this panther than the average person. But she probably shouldn’t let that on to anyone. That’s why she hides and fears human contact. Upon meeting and instantly falling in love with Oliver (Kent Smith), she feels she can only allow him so far. Hopefully he won’t ever make her angry, or else the cat inside her could be unleashed.

Cat People has a fairly stupid premise, one that’s akin to something in the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it’s so visually arresting and meticulously directed by French director Jacques Tourneur, that the film, as short and swift as it may be, becomes a horror movie on a whole other level. I wouldn’t compare it to Hitchcock, but it’s got a lot of his flair, and the notion that what is not seen is scarier than what is seen. In looking at older movies for the last year or so, starting all the way back with D. W. Griffith’s films and arriving to now, in the 40’s, with some classic horror (Phantom of the Opera and Picture of Dorian Gray still to come), I’ve come to admire this period just as much as the Universal horror of the 1930’s. 

One of the most charming aspects of the film is the completely chemistry-free relationship between Irena and Oliver. There’s a wonderfully awkward scene where they discuss getting married and he says that by now, two people in their situation should’ve at least kissed by now. She complains that she’s had some issues with getting close to someone but now wants to move past her problems and find solace in marriage with him. Wait, what? They haven’t even kissed? And they’re getting married? No wonder their relationship turns sour. After Oliver gets bored with her, he starts to date a second woman, who Irena finds out about, and who she gets really, really, ferociously upset about about. How will Irena express her anger? Hmm…

It’s all rather silly, but again, it’s done so well that the absurdity of the premise actually makes the movie more fun. The director doesn’t necessarily take it seriously, which he does to a certain degree, he just brings an ounce of class to the project that would’ve been nothing more than a lame B-movie in the hands of someone else. The audience is smart. They know that Irena is starting to transform into a cat when she gets angry. But the director intelligently holds back in showing us too much, and he allows the scenes to play out with us thinking we may hear a scratching noise, a rustle in the bushes, a meow. There’s an incredibly effective scene where Oliver’s new girlfriend is swimming in a pool, and she starts to hear noises all around her. As she screams for help, two people come rushing to her aid, just as Irena appears to the side, asking her what is so very wrong. It all amounts to an ending that provides nice closure and a little bit of poetry. 

I didn’t really know what to expect from Cat People, but my expectations were far exceeded. The film is short enough to revisit just for the visuals alone. The long, winding trails. The shadows that seem to get smaller and smaller. That cage in the middle of the zoo, surrounded by an eerie fog, one that will make or break the fate of Irena as long as she continues to surrender to the cat inside of her. The performances are all above average for a movie like this, and director Tourneur’s approach to the material is unique to a film with this kind of story. I fell deep into this movie for the entirety of the running time, and I was disappointed to have to wade myself back out again once the final fade out had passed.