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The original 1943 film that inspired the sexier 1982 Natassja Kinski remake is an intriguing metaphor for sexual repression and anxiety.When a Manhattan ship architect named Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) marries beautiful but psychologically tortured fashion sketch artist Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), he has little knowledge of her past other than that she is tortured by myths from her European homeland.His bride fears she will transform into a deadly panther if aroused or angry.Once their passionless marriage deteriorates, and Oliver begins to ponder a romance with his coworker Alice Moore (Jane Randolph), Irena's jealousy and anger begin a series of transformations that threaten her therapist, her husband, and Alice. Director Jacques Tourneur never shows Irena's metamorphosis, usually implying the presence of her feline alter ego through creepy sound effects, ominous shadows, and dramatic camera angles, all elements that effectively generate suspense and fear.This black-and-white mood piece takes its time building up its story, and while Irena's inner panther could easily be interpreted as representing the wrath of a woman scorned, Cat People goes deeper in probing her psychic scars. --Bryan Reesman ... Read more

Reviews (20)

More than the Sum of It's Parts
There's a pivotal scene in Vincente Minelli's "The Bad and the Beautiful" where Kirk Douglas and Barry Sullivan, portraying a fledgling Hollywood producer and director are given the task of making a horror movie with little more than a title (and a silly one at that). In a flash of desperate inspiration, they eschew the typical men-in-suits method that never works anyway, relying instead on the two oldest and most reliable special effects in filmaking: the Dark and the Imagination. Needless to say their film is a hit. I have no doubt this scene was a direct tribute to the careers and films of an unjustly obscure pair of visionaries, producer Val Lewton and director Jaques Tourneur and their most "famous" film, 1942's "Cat People."

Shot at RKO in under a month for less than $140,000, this dark little gem stars Simone Simon as Irena, a Serbian woman (immigrant? refugee?) who is convinced that her blood carries the curse of a race of European Satanist druids, and that any hint of passion, love, desire, anger, jealousy will turn her into a murderous cat-creature. The tiny, lovely Simon plays the role beautifully, with a fragile, feline grace that hints at something very dark (kinky?) lurking just underneath her almond-shaped eyes and alluring smile. Kent Smith plays her husband Oliver Reed rather woodenly by comparison, but Tourneur is smart enough not to try making him any deeper than a typical all-American boy type - at one point he describes his life as "swell" and somehow we don't laugh...maybe you could say stuff like that in the 40s.

DeWitt Bodeen's script efficiently zips through the boy-meets-girl part, but not without giving us things to think about. After brazenly inviting (luring?) Oliver to her apartment for tea after having just met, we soon find Irena humming an exotically European lullaby in the darkened room as Oliver lays on her sofa...though both characters are fully dressed and on opposite sides of the room, the feeling that something did/will/should/wants to happen is palpable. Particularly chilling is a moment when Irena and Oliver enter a pet shop only to find every single animal in the room shrieking with horror, the din ceasing the moment Irena opts to stand by herself in a pouring rain while Oliver shops in the now peaceful establishment. I've seen more graphic depictions of the excluded outsider, but none more poigniant. At a party thrown in honor of their engagement, a mysterious and beautiful stranger who "looks like a cat" according to one guest greets Irena as a familiar, saying something in a language only the two of them understand. It's a simple moment, but a dark one...dark because the audience realizes that Irena truly is something other than what she seems, and because the people around her don't believe it, something bad is going to happen.

This is when Tourneur and photographer Nicholas Musuraca do their work, mixing our own expectation of something awful with shadows, sounds and silence, standing by as we push our own buttons. Utterly normal things like walking to a bus stop, answering the phone, taking a swim and even having coffee and pie morph from the common into hair raising incidents. As we watch we're more frightened each time something dosen't happen, convinced that it's going to be really awful when it finally does. It isn't until the film's bittersweet finale, that we realize that Tourneur and Bodeen have been toying with our very conception of what scary is...conning us into scaring ourselves because we already know how.

DOOMED TO SLINK & PROWL & COURT BY NIGHT....
1942's "Cat People" is one of the finest horror films ever made. The first of a series of classics directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton, it retains its' classic status to this day. A New York fashion artist, Irena (the unforgettable Simone Simon) falls in love and marries but won't consummate the marriage due to her fear of an ancient Balkan legend whose women (of whom she is a descendant) turn into cat creatures when aroused. Her husband turns to a female co-worker for "consolation". The co-worker (Jane Randolph) is then stalked at night by an unseen thing lurking in the darkness. Two scenes stand out as great examples of power by suggestion---the swimming pool scene and Randolph walking along the street at night followed by the creature in the dark. Masterfully handled by Tourneur and thick with film noir terror, these scenes have been imitated in other films but never duplicated. Another great scene takes place in a bar when a mysterious, cat-like woman passes by Irena and her husband and says "Sister"...directly to Irena. Irena is visibly shaken. She has been detected by another "relative". When Irena turns to psychiatrist Dr.Judd (Tom Conway), the beast is unleashed when he crosses the line. The whole film has an eerie, foreboding sense of doom as would Lewton's and Tourneur's other horror films ("The Seventh Victim", "The Leopard Man" etc.) A must see for those who've never seen it, "Cat People" may be tame for some, but this was precisely the point: the power of what lurks in the dark and the psychological impact it has when you know it's there but can't see it can be terrifying. Sound and shadow become monsters as well as the shape behind them. I hope this opens the door for the other films to be released. There should be a whole Lewton/Tourneur collection on DVD. They deserve re-discovery by a new generation of lovers of classic films.

if it weren't for the exquisite Natassia Kinski...
...I would've given this zero stars.

It felt like a bad 1970s made-for-TV movie: clumsy pacing, cheesy keyboards on the soundtrack, tacky "matte" color photography, high-school-drama-class production standards during the absurd prehistoric Africa scenes... CHEEEEEEEEE-SY!!!

There's a little sex and some bared breasts I suppose, but far from "Basic Instinct" quality.

This little pussycat doesn't roar, it just kinda sorta meows.

Great film. Horrible tape.
This movie is every bit as wonderful as other reviewers say, but the tape I received is easily the lowest-quality commercial VHS tape I have ever seen. I'd give zero stars if I could: the image is that poor. A huge disappointment.

Absolutely amazing...
More often than not, it's much better to show nothing than anything at all. Hitchcock knew this, and that's how he essentially became known as The Master of Suspense. Had he shown Norman's "mother" from "Psycho" killing the girl in the shower in greater detail, the horror of the scene would have been more greatly ineffective as compared to just how haunting it is today.

Jacques Tourneur obviously understood this idea and used it to his advantage in "Cat People." An experienced director of cult horror films from the 30s and 40s, Tourneur's story of a woman with a mysterious background still works as a pinnacle thriller sixty years later. Movies like this aren't made anymore--and I mean that in a literal sense. A more modern director would use bad CGI effects to reveal the "cat woman" for what she is, and I can only imagine how an idea like this would translate to the screen nowadays. But the key to "Cat People" is that we never even see the cat people. We don't see anything. We don't want to see anything.

"A Kiss Could Change Her Into a Monstrous Fang-and-Claw Killer!" boasted the tagline in 1942. Of course, this is an ancient filmmaking technique for that age--symbolic of the loss of one's virginity, the essential background of the tale is rooted deeply in the nature and misconceptions of sexuality at the time.

The monogamy of it all is very subtle and, at first glance, nonexistent--but the deeper you look into the hints the clearer the signs appear. Irena is not allowed to kiss a man or she changes into a monstrous beast. A metaphor for loss of virginity and the result stemming from this is old folklore, and the film's use of Irena's background is more than just an explanation for her genetic traits--it is a way of creating the central idea that she lives in fear of her own background of sexuality. It's as subtle and effective as the entire film's approach to horror.

Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is a fashion artist living in New York City. Born from a Serbian background, she lives under the impression that her own family's roots lie in an ancient curse of the "cat people" that were thrown out of a city in Serbia hundreds of years before.

Animals do indeed react strangely to her. She is unable to enter into a pet store, because the squawks of scared birds and the barks of sensitive dogs drown out the entire area. It is almost as if she is truly an animal. When she is given a pet kitten, she takes it back and exchanges it for a bird. The bird dies from fright weeks later.

When she meets Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) downtown in the city, she falls desperately and hopelessly in love, but the depression of her own fear of unleashing the cat within prevents her from coming in close contact with her own boyfriend--and eventual husband.

Left untouched by his own wife, Oliver eventually turns to his co-worker Alice Moore (Jane Randolph) for satisfaction (only lightly hinted at by the film), which ends up sparking a terrifying anger and hatred within Irena. Hounded by a curious psychiatrist (Tom Conway) and feeling like an outcast around her own husband, Irena's inner cat is indeed released and wreaks brief havoc upon those around her.

We never see the cat, and we never see Irena's transformation into another species. But, as I said before, it's much better--and certainly more effective--this way, as the suspense and mystery of the film propels it towards repeat viewings. The movie is even a bit like "Ginger Snaps," in a way, only it's certainly more moody and suspenseful. And there aren't any fake-looking dog puppets in this version of the tale.

It's always pleasant to watch classic movies late at night on a Friday or Saturday night. No one cares about them anymore--cheap straight-to-video movies air on television earlier than the classics. But these are the staples of every existing genre--specifically horror, when it comes to films like "Cat People." These types of films should be appreciated much more than they have been in the past, say, sixty years.

"Cat People" is an amazing achievement with a distinct sense of classic horror and a good dose of suspense. If you like horror--or if you don't--this is a must-see film, and it is certainly one of the most memorable cult horror classics of all time, led by some great performances and a very talented director behind the camera. What a treat. ... Read more

Reviews (73)

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street 2 KA
Rod Serling was a very odd person. He went to school to become a P.E. Teacher and ended up wrighting over one hundred stories for T.V. One of these stories is Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. This story, as you've probably guessed, takes place on Maple Street. The characters Charlie, the annoying, smart-mouthed neighbor, and Steve, the actually intelligent neighbor, are two of the lead characters in the story. I think that if Charlie had only listened to Steve a lot of bad things wouldn't have happened.
I don't think this story was very realistic. In a real neighborhood people would go crazy just because the power went out and they certainly wouldn't think it was aliens that did it. People would say, "Oh, there goes the power again." Not "The electricity's off!!"(669). Oh no! The powers out! What are we going to do? (sarcastically) The electricity goes out in our neighborhood at least once every other month. Most people would be in side all day so only about three people would have seen the U.F.O. and they would have been kids. Who would believe them? I think the people in the story really over reacted.
There were a few parts of the story that were unbelievable, like when Mr. Goodman's car started. That was really weird. I really didn't see that coming. There was also when Pete Van Horn got shot. I didn't think anything like that would happen. I knew the ending couldn't be happy. The Twilight Zone never is. The stories always seem to be so tragic. What was Rod Serling thinking? He must have been a troubled child. Any way; I can't believe that Charlie actually thought that Pete Van Horn was a monster. "You killed him Charlie. You shot him dead!"(679) How dumb could he be?
I didn't really pick this story. Ms. Chabot told us to read it. I liked it though. I think it's funny to watch old science fiction shows. I laugh at the cheesy acting and the corny special effects. You can see the strings holding them in the air. I thought it was funny how one little boy made all the neighbors think that aliens were attacking their neighborhood. Nobody would believe that now-days. Maybe people were more easily convinced of those things fifty years ago.
I think the video Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and the teleplay Monsters Are Due on Maple Street are a lot the same. They used most of the same lines and used the same camera angles. Just like this line, "What was that? A meteor?" The story took a lot longer to read though. The video was only a few minutes. The book took days. It had more detail than the video did. Just like when they showed the space ship. You could see at least five strings coming off of it. Every body in the class laughed. It was really funny.

4jk
Rod Serling was a former boxer and a future PE teacher. He takes a path uncommon to jocks and science fiction. He wrote a movie called "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street." The characters in this movie are: Charlie the wise-cracker know it all, Steve the wise one, Don the laid back one, Tommy the kid who knows what's gonna happen, Sally his mother, and Pete Van Horn a scientist. You don't here a lot about Pete Van Horn because he leaves Maple Street at the beginning of the movie because he goes to another neighborhood to see if the power is on there. It all happens on Maple Street, USA.

My feelings as I read this book were that I couldn't understand why everybody was fighting and blaming each other. It's like you wanna yell " Jiminy Christmas." It's like what Rod serling said, "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, and prejudice to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudice can kill and suspicion can destroy and a thoughtless frightened search for scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children... and the children yet unborn.
Pg [684.]

I wonder why the town is so peaceful, now and days you see kids about 13-16 on the street smoking, drinking and doing drugs. You might see parents telling there kids there grounded and then later you see the kids sneaking out the window. I mean come on who in the right mind would believe that? "Maple Street, U.S.A., late summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, hopscotch, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor." Pg [668.]

My favorite part of The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, is when everybody was accusing each other of who where the aliens. Everybody was bickering and fussing about this and that and everything that was going on. Tommy came running up the street yelling an alien is coming, so Charlie took his shotgun and shot what was coming up the street. It was Pete Van Horn, Charlie shot Pete Van Horn. [He swings the gun around to point it toward the sidewalk. The dark figure continues to walk towards them. The group stands there, fearful, apprehensive, mothers clutching children, men standing in front of wives. Charlie slowly raises the gun. As the figure gets closer and closer he suddenly pulls the trigger. The sound of it explodes in the stillness. There is a long angle shot looking down at the figure, who suddenly lets out a small cry, stumbles forward onto his knees and then falls forward on his face. Don, Charlie and Steve race forward over to him. Steve is there first and turns the man over. Now the crowd gathers around them.] Pg 679.

I felt that the book was good. It was very weird I wonder what's going to happen to all of the other people in the book. I wonder if the aliens are going to take over the whole world. Like hypnotizing all of the animals in the whole world to attack and kill all the people in the world except for one person to tell them how all humans lived and the aliens will all move down to earth and start living like humans. Then the whole world will never be the same again. Are you wondering what happened to that one guy? Well they kept him alive, and hypnotize him to think that the aliens are really humans and he married an alien, which he thought was a human. Are you wondering what happened to the animals? Well there alive to but the aliens experimented on them and mixed all of them up. It is freaky dude. I just hope that one of you aren't the one left not killed, because if I were I would just not feel right but I couldn't feel right because I would be hypnotized. Well I change my mind I would want to be the one left behind because I would act like I was hypnotized then I would get some weapons and kill all the aliens in the world. Then I would search all over the world and try to find pieces of the people that were killed then I would go to a lab and clone everybody so that all the people in the world would be back to life but they would be clones but I still would be happy because all of my friends, teachers, family members and other people in the world would be alive. But before I could clone people I would have to read the manual on how to work the cloning machine, then after I read that I would have to read the manual on how to clone people. Then I would fix all the animals back together. Wow! Sorry got off the subject there. Well the book was good I like it a lot I hope you like it to. So you have to read "Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

1VJ
"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," is a classical episode of the Twilight Zone. I like how it showed that we can be prejudice and suspicious. It's also interesting how all the "monsters", or aliens, had to do was flick on and off a few lights to scare the people. Then the rest was the peoples own doing. The movie is very dramatic, and is almost exactly the same as the teleplay. The fact that it is in black and white makes it even more intense, in my opinion. The video and the teleplay both had the same scene of fright where the lights go out and nothing works. This then goes on to mass confusion, foreshadows the coming of aliens, and shows the weak points of the human race.
The plot advances with chaos. The people get scared and confused. They blame each other for having something they don't. This causes mass confusion and general panic. Things only get worse after that. One thing happens after another. The suspicious grows and the people get paranoid, until someone is killed. This person was Pete Van Horn. "You killed him, Charlie. You shot him dead!" (679)
As the plot advances they also foreshow what will come. The aliens are the ones who cause all the lights to fail, but the humans are the ones who became suspicious. This foreshadows the doom of the humans. The aliens plan to go from Maple Street to Maple Street and do the same to cause the fall of humans. "Then I take this place... this Maple Street...is not unique."
Rod Sterling's theme for "Monsters are due on Maple Street" is you shouldn't be too quick to judge people. Or be suspicious of people who have things you don't. Chaos supports this theme in showing how easily we can become suspicious of others. Then from there chaos and mayhem come. The theme could also be a kind of moral. "They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find... and it is them selves" (682) I think this quote is a good quote to describe the theme.
I think "Monsters are due on Maple Street" is really great. It has a wonderful plot. When I read the teleplay, I thought it was just like the other Twilight Zones. (I have seen a few others. One was about a man being in isolation.) I really enjoyed the Monsters are due on Maple Street. The teleplay was almost exactly like the movie or visa versa. My favorite part in this one was at the end where the sudden quietness is shocking. Then the aliens come and start talking, and it fades out to Sterling's face and he said his "And this is the Twilight Zone." I also like the beginning/ending songs. In conclusion I think the teleplay and the movie were both equally interesting.

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street 1KC
" The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

Rod Serling, a screenplay writer for MGM in the 1950's wrote many famous science fiction teleplays, movies, Broadway shows, and television entertainment shows. Serling has won multiple Emmy awards for his work. He wrote 92 twilight zone episodes that were aired on CBS. They became one of America's most recognized, and most popular television series.
Some of Serling's most famous writings include: "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" and "Time Enough at Last". "Time Enough at Last" was written in 1959. I do not know when "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" was written but I assume it was around 1959.
Rod Serling died on June 28th, 1975. He died during a coronary bypass operation in Rochester, New York. Rod Serling's stories of aliens and super natural happenings are entertaining for all to this day. His name will live on in science fiction history forever.
"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", a teleplay and television entertainment show, was written by Serling in the nineteen fifties'. I love how Serling describes les Goodman's car starting up with no one in it (673). This event brings chaos and unproven assumptions. Other things, such as flickering lights, happen all down Maple Street. They are mostly all blamed on Les Goodman because of his insomnia. These things bring complete and utter chaos.
Confusion breaks free when all of the lights and appliances down Maple Street turn off and stop working (668-669). This advances the plot to confusion. Chaos doesn't come until Les Goodmans' car starts up with no one inside. People turn wild as new and crazy things happen down Maple Street. Sound effects in this section of the teleplay are screams, crying, and gunfires.
Other crazy things happen down Maple Street. Lights flicker, appliances turn on and off, and again chaos starts up (683). Mostly these things are blamed on Les Goodman. They think he is an alien because his insomnia sometimes wakes him up. So to occupy himself he takes walks at night and claims to be looking at stars. But the families all down Maple Street think he is looking for his alien friends. This foreshadows who is behind all of the chaos and confusion.
I thought Rod Serling's teleplay, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", was very realistic when referring to human nature. Even though it is believed that alien or outer space life forms are not real. The car starting then produces this assumption.
I thought it was interesting how Serling never gave a definite ending to "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". He never gives a definite ending to the teleplay. I just assumed the chaos went on until every human life on Maple Street was dead or confused for their lifetime. Even though I am not into science fiction writings, I really enjoyed "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". I would call this science fiction movie and teleplay one of the best from the 1950's.

1OE
The Monsters Due On Maple Street

"The Monsters Due On Maple Street" was probably the only kind of movie that was supposed to be scary back then. Since I'm in the year 2003 that movie was pretty dumb, but back in that time it must have been awesome. The aliens looked really dumb with those two antennas. I liked seeing all the fake shooting and killing. I can now see how far we have come with movies since then. The movie was confusing until the alien started to talk. They told their plan of taking over the Earth by flickering some lights and making some stuff mess up. When they said that, it put all the pieces of the movie together, and foreshadowed that the human race would end because of prejudice.
I think the way he ended the movie was great. He told about the plan and makes you think, could that happen to us? That is how he advanced the plot, he told the story about the alien's plan and then had them talk and tell how everybody is the same. He had the aliens take off saying they were going to take over the world just by sitting down. Then left for another place to terrorize.
When the aliens talk it foreshadows the Earth in complete destruction. Dying because of them assuming that their friends are the enemy, when really they are the most dangerous because they terrorize people as innocent as them. When the aliens talk they say the theme of how people can be so prejudice. "They find the most dangerous enemy they can find............and it's themselves" (682). It is the probably the best and easiest plan the aliens have ever come up with.
The theme in this story is not to be prejudice. My part advanced the theme by talking. The aliens tell their plan about using prejudice to destroy the humans. As much as that sounded stupid, it was smart. The aliens could actually make their plan work, and that is what The Monsters Due Maple Street shows. About everyone has a little bit of prejudice inside him. After reading the story, realizing the theme, and thinking about it, you will think could that happen to me?
The book and movie are so close to each other. You can read from the book and they will say almost all of the same lines in the movie. That is what helps me relate to the movie. I can just see if the picture was same in the movie as in my mind. In other movies they are far off from the book, so it changes the whole view of the story. The author picked a great way to show how everyone can be so prejudice. When I read the story I also was prejudice. I thought Charlie was the alien, but as I found out nobody was. That surprised me a lot. This was the first book that showed that nobody was the bad guy, and that made the story's end great. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

the lighter side of Lancaster
Though the plot is silly and derivative of "Robin Hood", this film makes a great vehicle for Burt Lancaster, as Dardo "The Arrow", a man who is adored by children, loved by women, and lives in a forest with his band of freedom fighters. It isn't the type of film one usually associates with Lancaster, as he won his awards and fame with serious drama; in his mid-thirties at the time, with chiseled bone structure, an incandescent smile, and an enormous amount of hair, he did his own stunts, some which are astonishing acrobatic feats.

Dardo's sidekick is a mute named Piccolo, delightfully played by Nick Cravat, and the love interest is the lovely Virginia Mayo.
It has a rousing Max Steiner score, lavish sets, and beautiful Technicolor cinematography in golden shades of red and brown by Ernest Haller.
This was one of the first films I ever saw as a child, and it made an indelible impression on me; seeing it over 50 years later, it hasn't dimmed in its charm or exuberance. Total running time is 88 minutes.

Tongue and cheek
This movie is just plain fun! The lead actors do all therir own stunts- Also very witty dialoge!

Appreciate it for what it is
In the early '50's Burt Lancaster made a trio of movies, each a send up of a particulat genre. This is his send up of the Robin Hood movie. "The Crimson Pirate" is his unforgettable tribute to the Pirate movie. "Ten Tall Men" pays his respects to Foreign Legion Films. It is evident from the reviews that many or most viewers missed the fact that this film was meant to be "tongue in cheek". Back in those days, Lancaster was the "real McCoy" doing all his athletic stunts himself.

Excuse me, what movie were you watching?
In the one I saw, our noble hero captures the woman and keeps her chained by the neck to a tree while he lectures her about freedom, in one of the most repulsively sexist movies I have ever seen. It is mostly useful in showing people the really horrifying images that were routinely shown to children during the clean and conventional 1950s. Today we would call it bondage porn and keep it for really weird adults only.

the flame and the arrow
the best movie too see, i have seen it about 100 times it`s my favourite film ... Read more

Reviews (61)

By the Pricking of my Thumbs Something Wicked this Way Comes
I am a sucker for old B&W horror films, and Jacques Tourneur was the best, rivalled only by maybe Mario Bava. Both men understood that shadow and light and the grey/silver play in between could set the mood as no colour film movie could. The black and white film could be lensed at such lower light settings, they achieve spooky shadows and the looming sense that something could be hiding in them as no modern colour film ever could.

And Night/Curse of the Demon is the genre at its best. This movie takes a premise that demons can be called forth and 'sicked' upon a person by the mere passing of a slip of paper of runic symbols - and proceeds to make believers of the audience. The only sour note in the wonderful production is the monotone perform by Dana Andrews who seems determined not to take the role serious. It is quite a shame it could not have had an actor with the deftness of Ian McShane give breath to the doubting thomas professor. Still, even Andrews lack luster performance cannot sink this marvellous film.

Andrews plays a parapsychologist who has come to England to debunk a witch-cult. Once he arrives, he finds the man who asked him to come has been killed under very mysterious circumstances. His niece is convinced he was killed by Carlson, the head of the witch, for she finds a reference in her uncle's diary saying Carlson passed him the slip of paper with runic symbols and then he found his diary had all the pages torn from them after a certain date - the date Carlson said something would come for him. Andrews is a confirmed doubter, but even his faith in logic is rattled has he comes face to face with people of the Auld Ways. He also have been passed a slip with the symbols and Carlson has informed him his time allotted nears - and his diary is found with all the pages torn from it.

It is horror films at their best, Jacques Tourneur the master showing how it was done. Be sure to keep an eye out for his I Walked with A Zombie - another masterpiece despite it stupid title.

One the great turning points in horror films
The distributor advertising this DVD as a "Double Feature" stretches the truth a bit. "Curse of the Demon" is merely the shortened American version of the British film "Night of the Demon." The American version runs thirteen minutes shorter and is by far the weaker cut of the film, if still a fine piece of work. It's a nice feature to have the complete American cut on this disk for the sake of comparison with the original, but this is hardly a "double feature." And there's no reason to watch the edited, shorter version when you have the superior British original of one of the seminal horror movies of all time on the same DVD.

"Night of the Demon" hit theaters in 1957 and marked a turning point in macabre cinema. Director Jacques Tourneur had made some important 1940s horror films ("Cat People," "Leopard Man," and "I Walked with a Zombie," as well as the film noir classic "Out of the Past") that moved against the grain of the gothic fantasies that Universal produced during the 1930s. With "Night of the Demon," Tourneur cemented the idea of the modern horror film, where the terrors of the gothic, demonic, and supernatural appear within the realm of the modern, everyday world -- the essentially rational setting of the contemporary times. The success of this film would eventually lead to such movies in the following decades as "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist," which took place in the recognizable contemporary world, where the invasion of supernatural forces seemed all the more ghastly.

The screenplay comes from the short story "Casting the Runes" by master Victorian ghost story writer M. R. James. (You can find this story in an excellent and currently in-print volume of the same name.) In the story, a professor and practitioner of the black arts, Karswell, has found a way to send demonic forces against his academic foes by passing them a slip of paper covered with magical runes. The movie expands the premise: Karswell (Niall MacGinnis, who played Zeus in "Jason and the Argonauts") leads a witchcraft circle and uses his rune-tracker to send a demon after his opponent, professor Harrington. After Harrington's death, his American friend, psychologist Holden (Dana Andrews), comes to America to learn more, but scoffs at the idea that anything supernatural could lurk behind Harrington's death. Unfortunately for Holden, Karswell feels threatened enough to decide to send his murdering monster after the American.

Tourneur brilliantly films the movie in a split style, dividing between realistic, bland daytime scenes, meant to have an almost documentary feel, and increasingly warped and bizarre nighttime scenes as the curse of the demon moves closer and closer to Holden and it becomes harder for him to deny the truth of what is occurring. The demon itself is a point of controversy among film students. Tourneur was famous for keeping his horrors hidden, and some people believe that he never planned to show the demon at all, but the producer forced him to shove it up front. The appearance early in the film of the full demon might have been an error (it would have worked better to save it for the finale), but its materialization at the end is pretty incredible and it's hard to believe that Tourneur wouldn't have wanted the ending any other way. This is (excuse the pun) one hell of a demon. Designed by Ken Adam (who would later create the sets for most of the James Bond films, as well as "Dr. Strangelove"), the monster looks like it leaped from the freakiest medieval woodcut representation of Hell. The special effects and sounds accompanying it are also eerie and disturbing.

Andrews is a bit stodgy in his part, but Niall MacGinnis makes up for it with his scene-stealing role as Karswell. MacGinnis is both a bumbling, whimsical British professor (complete with a doting and scolding mother), and a cold-blooded sorcerer -- often both in one scene. The ending of the film, involving the passing of the runes, is both funny and incredibly tense, leading to one of the most stunning climaxes in horror films. Peggy Cummins as the love interest is delightfully perky and intelligent, much more so than female leads in most horror films.

The only extra on the disk is the inclusion of the American cut. However, the film is in perfect condition, and is finally shown in the original aspect ration of 1:1.66 (a typical European screen format infrequently seen in the U.S.; it's halfway between the shape of a TV screen and the typical 1:1.85 that most American movies are shot in today). "Night of the Demon" is essential horror film viewing for anyone who wants to understand the development of the genre into its current form. (And I have to repeat it, that's one helluva demon!)

Good for the Era
I enjoyed this movie not because it was such a good horror film but because it was representative of the era, the time it was made. Predictable and not horrifying. It is a good addition to my film library. I'm glad these oldies are making it to DVD.

Why did I Laugh during a Horror Film?
I read some of the previous reviews of this film right here on Amazon. I read the reviews and I was excited about seeing the film. I had not seen the film before I read the reviews. I was very excited to see the film, I was.
My first comment is this matey, I think it was wise to show the demon at the beginning of the film, as so many of you have objected to. It was wise because otherwise I may not have made it to the end of the film when they showed the demon again. Yes, it looked fake, but it was effective.
The film starts out waaaaay too sloooow. So at least by showing the demon you know you may get more action.
My second comment goes a little something like this, I laughed my little clover leaves off during the seance. When the "medium" starts speaking in tongues and moaning like he is going downhill on a bike on a bumpy road. I don't mean to offend the fans of this movie, but that scene was too much camp, too funny, when the little child's voice started, I almost choked.

I got a bigger laugh though when the central character, Dana Andrews goes to Stonehenge, and my friend said "Oh he's at Stone hedge."
I had such a good time watching this film.
Let me see, I do have a good point of the film. During the doctor convention, it was kind of spooky, you know? There is a bunch of students sitting watching a doctor and his patient. The patient is comatose because he had once seen the demon. The doctor shoots the patient up with "amphetamines" (um hum we know what he pimping in that needle). The patient jumps up and runs into the audience, then runs and jumps out of a window to his death. Well it takes him 2 times to get out of the window, the first time he just runs into it and falls down.
Oh I did laugh again during the big finale, when the demon shows up again, picks up the "satanic cult leader" and starts smacking him around. Whew.
Do I recommend this movie? I don't know. I do know I had a good time watching it though.

One of the best
Without a doubt this is one of the best movies of all time.
I was on the edge through the whole movie. Great camera work,
great scenery with that dreary English landscape. Rent it, but it, you'll be glad you did. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Lewton's and Tourneur's best film
Jacques Tourneur's work in general and this film in particular contains the most creative use of lighting in the history of small to medium budget films. Narrative ellipsis, elegance,and modulated low-key performances are the defining characteristics of all the Lewton-Tourneur collaborations of the 1940s. What a meeting of minds and sensibilities must have existed between these two gifted film makers-it's all up there on the screen within the boundaries of RKO's miniscule budgets. This is a truly haunting and mysterious film, Jane Eyre transported to the West Indies with voodoo mysticism in place of the atmosphere of the English moors. J Roy Hunt's creative chiaroscuro and Sir Lancelot's insistent balladeer's chorus help to build a cumulatively uneasy mood which extends to the almost dream-like performances of Frances Dee (the gravely beautiful Mrs Joel McCrea), James Ellison and Tom Conway among others. Tourneur blends all these elements into a poetic tour de force about reason struggling with the unknown. Whyever are the Lewton films at RKO unavailable in DVD? I would have thought they would be among the first classics to arrive in this exciting new medium.

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE-FINALLY, I NEED NOT WAIT LONGER
I HAVE NOT RECEIVED THIS FILM AS OF YET. BUT TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT IS ANOTHER MATTER, BECAUSE I CAN. I'M FORTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE. AS A CHILD BACK IN 1969, I SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME AND LAST THE MOVIE I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.

IT WAS WHEN THERE WAS STILL A LATE SHOW, LATE, LATE SHOW AND THE LATE, LATE, LATE SHOW. I WAS SPELL BOUND TO SEE THE ZOMBIES WHICH REALLY SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME SO MUCH THAT TO THIS DAY AS A COLLECTOR, I HAVE DREAMED OF SEEING THIS FILM AGAIN AS WELL AS OWNING IT.

ALSO OUT OF ALL MY COLLECTION OF HORRORS, THE ONLY ONE THAT COMES CLOSE TO I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, IS THE ORIGINAL 1968 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

FOR THE TIME PERIOD BEING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, THIS TRULY MAKES IT A CLASSIC IN IT'S OWN RIGHT. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE LAST TWENTY YEARS FOR A PRICE I COULD HANDLE, AND I COULD NOT WAIT ANY LONGER.

FINALLY I HAVE IT IN MY REACH. I HAVE BROUGHT HUNDREDS OF HORROR FILMS FROM AMAZON AND RARELY DISAPPOINTED, AND NOW I HAVE THE ULTIMATE COMING AND A DRAWER IN MY CASE OF HORRORS ALREADY LABELED AND WAITING. THIS FILM IS NOT WHAT I WOULD CALL HARD CORE HORROR. IN FACT I WOULD CALL IT BY IT'S RESPECTED NAME, A HIGH LEVEL LIGHT REALISTIC LOOK AROUND THE BEDROOM HORROR.

THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT CAN GRIP YOU FOR LIFE.

TO TELL YOU ANYMORE COULD RUIN YOUR EXPERIENCE COMPLETELY. BUT LIGHTLY, THERE ARE ZOMBIES WITH EYES UNFORGETTABLE, MISTY ATMOSPHERE WITH VOODOO AND THE POWERS OF IT.

YES, DIRECTOR JACQUES TOURNEUR HAS DONE A FINE JOB WITH THIS ONE.

ROBERT DORSEY
DISABLED VET
USMC

A CULT FAVOURITE.
Frances Dee (she was also Mrs. Joel McCrea for 50 years) is a private nurse hired by handsome plantation owner Conway to care for his wife, who is suffering from a mysterious illness that has left her mute and in a permanent trance-like state.........Like JANE EYRE, the nurse falls in love with her employer, and in order to free him of his burden, she takes the woman to a voodoo doctor in the film's heart-pounding climax. Unlike its classic predecessor WHITE ZOMBIE (1932) which believes in zombies, Lewton's film lets you make up your own mind. Exquisitely paced by director Tourneur, the film unravels the motivations of its characters slowly, keeping you slightly off balance while trying to decide if the supernatural is fact or only belief. Adding to the uncanny mood is a calypso score plus amazing Darby Jones as a dude you wouldn't want to meet on a dark night! One of the great supernatural mood pieces of the cinema, this cult favourite derives from a series of articles written for a Hearst Sunday supplement by Inez Wallace. Initially skeptical, she claimed to have actually seen zombies working as slave labour on a Haitian plantation. Rather than being dead, however, they were very much alive, but deprived of the their voices and free-will by poisonous drugs!

Morbid yet highly poetic horror film
When I walked with a Zombie came out in 1943, the New York Times critic did not like it and thought that with its palpitating zombie, it exhibited an unhealthy attitude towards life. His was not an invalid point of view and yet this Val Lewton production is extremely effective even if it is a morbid and oppressive work at times. Certainly the forces of superstition and darkness are victorious in the end. The death in life theme, so prominent in Lewton's Seventh Victim (a lesser work) is at the forefront. The acting is better than it was in Cat People, photography and set design are excellent. The screenplay maintains a haunting ambience consistently. An eerie walk by the nurse and her zombie patient through a sugar cane field to the voodoo home fort accompanied by the incessant beating of voodoo drums may be the film's most memorable image. One of director Jacques Tourneur's finest works. 3 1/2 stars

Poetic Masterpiece
I often wonder what war-time audiences of the forties thought after leaving "...Zombie". Who could have been prepared for what lay behind the penny-dreadful title, surely one of the most poetic renderings of horror in genre history. Books have been written about its creator Val Lewton, and deservedly so. But what's on screen is traceable to the unerring pictorialism of director Jacques Tourneur, and his mastery of the fluid camera. Forget the plot and dialogue, too much of which is half-baked philosophising, and the performances which, excepting Sir Lancelot's lovely sing-song, are barely adequate. Focus instead on the lyrical scenes that unfold like an opium dream as the camera pulls back to reveal the poetic beauty of atmosphere. This is the perfect antidote for viewers max'ed out on the over-FXed, overly literal staple of today. "Zombie" shows that Tourneur grasped what Lewton and Hitchcock already knew - that the greatest fright repository is your own imagination. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

"This is another fine mess you've gotten me into!"
Vincent Price and Peter Lorre were the Laurel & Hardy of horror films. Their by-play in this film and in THE RAVEN and TALES OF TERROR is priceless (sorry). And when you add Boris Karloff to the mix, you suddenly have Moe, Larry and Curly, with Basil Rathbone more-than-ably filling in the Vernon Dent/Bud Jamison role.

Why all this comedy name-dropping? Simply to underscore the fact that this is a classic comedy. "Why did I ever escape from prison?" mourns Lorre when forced into another murderous midnight recruitment venture for their undertaking establishment. "It was so nice and peaceful!" And watch Vincent's face as he suddenly wipes off his hands when giving Lorre a leg-up, growling, "What DID you step in? Wipe your feet, for pity's sake!"

Watch Boris' graphic maunderings about Egyptian mummification processes ("they yank out the brain with a hook!") at the dinner table and the excellent, underrated Joyce Jameson's grossed-out reactions. Watch Basil's oh-so-superior sneers as he threatens to evict Vincent & Co. in orotund dialogue worthy of a Snidely Whiplash meller-drammer. Watch the dead Rathbone return to life again. . .and again . . .and again . . . and again . . .and again, with Vincent's facial reactions getting broader each time. Watch Lorre carry on with the shapely Jameson as the romantic lead (that alone is worth the price of admission!)

The film's comic premise is richly endowed with black humor, put-downs, slapstick, a frenetic, prolonged chase, and a first-rate cast that makes the most of every line, pratfall and bit of business ("time for your medicine, old man!") Watch and enjoy.

"What Place Is This?"
This is a hilarious movie! I love it. Vincent Price plays an undertaker, as he has taken over his father-in-law's business. Peter Lorre plays his assistant, Boris Karloff plays the hard of hearing father-in-law, & Basil Rathbone wants the rent money. And of course there is Rhubarb (the cat) playing the role of Cleopatra! Oh, & you may want to wear ear plugs during the singing! Yikes! And just when you think everyone is dead, well you thought wrong! You have to see it to know what I'm getting at.

Brrrrr!
This movie is a great.
Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris KArloff, and last but not least, BASIL RATHBONE star in this hilarious black comedy about two aspiring undertakers who are having trouble getting customers, so they kill people just so they can give them a funeral. This movie had me laughin so hard I was crying, especially the part where Basil Rathbone chases Peter Lorre out of his house, quoting lines from Macbeth all the while. And who could forget the utter disgust on Vincent Price's face as he cries in absolute horror "What did you STEP in?!?"Absolutely hilarious.

Classic Video Fun!
This is a great movie if you like to see the classic horror stars letting their hair down.
There's nothing serious in this film but the fun.
Vincent Price and Peter Lorre are the center of attention with Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone playing the comedy role you never expected to see.
The sets are 1960's B movie stuff, but it just adds to the atmosphere.
If you're looking for something entertaining to watch on movie night this is one to put in the lineup.
I got this and "The Raven" at the same time. Both are funny!

Drunk again, huh?
I LOVE this film!! Vincent Price is just hysterical as the undertaker who needs to drum up some business, Peter Lorre is great as the assistant, Basil Rathbone is the landlord who wants his year's rent, and Boris Karloff just can't hear a thing. "What? Sugar?? There ya go!" Basil just keeps on coming back to life, quoting from "Hamlet" as he goes along, and Peter Lorre laments about his dear Annabel. Joyce Jamison is Annabel, who is Felix Gillie's love interest. Annabel is married to Waldo (Vincent Price) and Boris Karloff is her father. The funeral speech by Karloff is just priceless. Needless to say, as soon as Rathbone's character is buried we hear: "What place is this??" Great. If you haven't seen this movie yet, YOU HAVE TO!! And I agree with the comment: "Where is the DVD??" Get with it MGM, we still need this one and The Raven, and The Tomb of Ligeia....I have to finish my Vincent Price DVD collection! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Rate Seller
This video was sent out to me the next day after I placed the order. It was mailed out as promised by the seller. I was surprised that it was on its' way to me so quickly. It arrived in perfect condition. A reputible seller, indeed.

A Plot Driven Western
I didn't have much in the way of expectations when I started to watch this film, so I have to say I was pretty surprised by how good it was. Dana Andrews stars as a cowboy/businessman in 1850's Oregon who is in love with Susan Hayward, the fiancee of his friend, a reckless gambler played by Brian Donlevy. Andrews has to look out for Ward Bond, a violent wanderer who seems bent on killing him. Toss in some Indians, beautifully photographed scenery, other love interests and subplots, and you have a good story that ties all of the elements in together, providing enough action, drama, and romance to keep any viewer satisfied. Plus you have Hoagy Carmichael moving about singing several songs. What more could you ask for?

A WESTERN THAT REALLY IS DIFFERENT
Director Jacques Tourneur, greatly respected for his low key suspense films such as "I walked with a zombie," and such mysteries as "Out of the past," revealed a different technique altogether when directing this very literate western. In addition to the fine work of Dana Andrews and Brian Donlevy; the music of Hoagy Carmichael is excellent, including "Ole Buttermilk Sky" and the regretfully forgotten novelty number "Somebody stole by horse and wagon, my heart's low, my feet are draggin', I'm walkin' down the trail I used to ride." This film, produced in 1945 was a trend setter whose style is still copied today. A wonderful film in every respect. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

More than the Sum of It's Parts
There's a pivotal scene in Vincente Minelli's "The Bad and the Beautiful" where Kirk Douglas and Barry Sullivan, portraying a fledgling Hollywood producer and director are given the task of making a horror movie with little more than a title (and a silly one at that). In a flash of desperate inspiration, they eschew the typical men-in-suits method that never works anyway, relying instead on the two oldest and most reliable special effects in filmaking: the Dark and the Imagination. Needless to say their film is a hit. I have no doubt this scene was a direct tribute to the careers and films of an unjustly obscure pair of visionaries, producer Val Lewton and director Jaques Tourneur and their most "famous" film, 1942's "Cat People."

Shot at RKO in under a month for less than $140,000, this dark little gem stars Simone Simon as Irena, a Serbian woman (immigrant? refugee?) who is convinced that her blood carries the curse of a race of European Satanist druids, and that any hint of passion, love, desire, anger, jealousy will turn her into a murderous cat-creature. The tiny, lovely Simon plays the role beautifully, with a fragile, feline grace that hints at something very dark (kinky?) lurking just underneath her almond-shaped eyes and alluring smile. Kent Smith plays her husband Oliver Reed rather woodenly by comparison, but Tourneur is smart enough not to try making him any deeper than a typical all-American boy type - at one point he describes his life as "swell" and somehow we don't laugh...maybe you could say stuff like that in the 40s.

DeWitt Bodeen's script efficiently zips through the boy-meets-girl part, but not without giving us things to think about. After brazenly inviting (luring?) Oliver to her apartment for tea after having just met, we soon find Irena humming an exotically European lullaby in the darkened room as Oliver lays on her sofa...though both characters are fully dressed and on opposite sides of the room, the feeling that something did/will/should/wants to happen is palpable. Particularly chilling is a moment when Irena and Oliver enter a pet shop only to find every single animal in the room shrieking with horror, the din ceasing the moment Irena opts to stand by herself in a pouring rain while Oliver shops in the now peaceful establishment. I've seen more graphic depictions of the excluded outsider, but none more poigniant. At a party thrown in honor of their engagement, a mysterious and beautiful stranger who "looks like a cat" according to one guest greets Irena as a familiar, saying something in a language only the two of them understand. It's a simple moment, but a dark one...dark because the audience realizes that Irena truly is something other than what she seems, and because the people around her don't believe it, something bad is going to happen.

This is when Tourneur and photographer Nicholas Musuraca do their work, mixing our own expectation of something awful with shadows, sounds and silence, standing by as we push our own buttons. Utterly normal things like walking to a bus stop, answering the phone, taking a swim and even having coffee and pie morph from the common into hair raising incidents. As we watch we're more frightened each time something dosen't happen, convinced that it's going to be really awful when it finally does. It isn't until the film's bittersweet finale, that we realize that Tourneur and Bodeen have been toying with our very conception of what scary is...conning us into scaring ourselves because we already know how.

DOOMED TO SLINK & PROWL & COURT BY NIGHT....
1942's "Cat People" is one of the finest horror films ever made. The first of a series of classics directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton, it retains its' classic status to this day. A New York fashion artist, Irena (the unforgettable Simone Simon) falls in love and marries but won't consummate the marriage due to her fear of an ancient Balkan legend whose women (of whom she is a descendant) turn into cat creatures when aroused. Her husband turns to a female co-worker for "consolation". The co-worker (Jane Randolph) is then stalked at night by an unseen thing lurking in the darkness. Two scenes stand out as great examples of power by suggestion---the swimming pool scene and Randolph walking along the street at night followed by the creature in the dark. Masterfully handled by Tourneur and thick with film noir terror, these scenes have been imitated in other films but never duplicated. Another great scene takes place in a bar when a mysterious, cat-like woman passes by Irena and her husband and says "Sister"...directly to Irena. Irena is visibly shaken. She has been detected by another "relative". When Irena turns to psychiatrist Dr.Judd (Tom Conway), the beast is unleashed when he crosses the line. The whole film has an eerie, foreboding sense of doom as would Lewton's and Tourneur's other horror films ("The Seventh Victim", "The Leopard Man" etc.) A must see for those who've never seen it, "Cat People" may be tame for some, but this was precisely the point: the power of what lurks in the dark and the psychological impact it has when you know it's there but can't see it can be terrifying. Sound and shadow become monsters as well as the shape behind them. I hope this opens the door for the other films to be released. There should be a whole Lewton/Tourneur collection on DVD. They deserve re-discovery by a new generation of lovers of classic films.

if it weren't for the exquisite Natassia Kinski...
...I would've given this zero stars.

It felt like a bad 1970s made-for-TV movie: clumsy pacing, cheesy keyboards on the soundtrack, tacky "matte" color photography, high-school-drama-class production standards during the absurd prehistoric Africa scenes... CHEEEEEEEEE-SY!!!

There's a little sex and some bared breasts I suppose, but far from "Basic Instinct" quality.

This little pussycat doesn't roar, it just kinda sorta meows.

Great film. Horrible tape.
This movie is every bit as wonderful as other reviewers say, but the tape I received is easily the lowest-quality commercial VHS tape I have ever seen. I'd give zero stars if I could: the image is that poor. A huge disappointment.

Absolutely amazing...
More often than not, it's much better to show nothing than anything at all. Hitchcock knew this, and that's how he essentially became known as The Master of Suspense. Had he shown Norman's "mother" from "Psycho" killing the girl in the shower in greater detail, the horror of the scene would have been more greatly ineffective as compared to just how haunting it is today.

Jacques Tourneur obviously understood this idea and used it to his advantage in "Cat People." An experienced director of cult horror films from the 30s and 40s, Tourneur's story of a woman with a mysterious background still works as a pinnacle thriller sixty years later. Movies like this aren't made anymore--and I mean that in a literal sense. A more modern director would use bad CGI effects to reveal the "cat woman" for what she is, and I can only imagine how an idea like this would translate to the screen nowadays. But the key to "Cat People" is that we never even see the cat people. We don't see anything. We don't want to see anything.

"A Kiss Could Change Her Into a Monstrous Fang-and-Claw Killer!" boasted the tagline in 1942. Of course, this is an ancient filmmaking technique for that age--symbolic of the loss of one's virginity, the essential background of the tale is rooted deeply in the nature and misconceptions of sexuality at the time.

The monogamy of it all is very subtle and, at first glance, nonexistent--but the deeper you look into the hints the clearer the signs appear. Irena is not allowed to kiss a man or she changes into a monstrous beast. A metaphor for loss of virginity and the result stemming from this is old folklore, and the film's use of Irena's background is more than just an explanation for her genetic traits--it is a way of creating the central idea that she lives in fear of her own background of sexuality. It's as subtle and effective as the entire film's approach to horror.

Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is a fashion artist living in New York City. Born from a Serbian background, she lives under the impression that her own family's roots lie in an ancient curse of the "cat people" that were thrown out of a city in Serbia hundreds of years before.

Animals do indeed react strangely to her. She is unable to enter into a pet store, because the squawks of scared birds and the barks of sensitive dogs drown out the entire area. It is almost as if she is truly an animal. When she is given a pet kitten, she takes it back and exchanges it for a bird. The bird dies from fright weeks later.

When she meets Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) downtown in the city, she falls desperately and hopelessly in love, but the depression of her own fear of unleashing the cat within prevents her from coming in close contact with her own boyfriend--and eventual husband.

Left untouched by his own wife, Oliver eventually turns to his co-worker Alice Moore (Jane Randolph) for satisfaction (only lightly hinted at by the film), which ends up sparking a terrifying anger and hatred within Irena. Hounded by a curious psychiatrist (Tom Conway) and feeling like an outcast around her own husband, Irena's inner cat is indeed released and wreaks brief havoc upon those around her.

We never see the cat, and we never see Irena's transformation into another species. But, as I said before, it's much better--and certainly more effective--this way, as the suspense and mystery of the film propels it towards repeat viewings. The movie is even a bit like "Ginger Snaps," in a way, only it's certainly more moody and suspenseful. And there aren't any fake-looking dog puppets in this version of the tale.

It's always pleasant to watch classic movies late at night on a Friday or Saturday night. No one cares about them anymore--cheap straight-to-video movies air on television earlier than the classics. But these are the staples of every existing genre--specifically horror, when it comes to films like "Cat People." These types of films should be appreciated much more than they have been in the past, say, sixty years.

"Cat People" is an amazing achievement with a distinct sense of classic horror and a good dose of suspense. If you like horror--or if you don't--this is a must-see film, and it is certainly one of the most memorable cult horror classics of all time, led by some great performances and a very talented director behind the camera. What a treat. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

I just wanted to come back and hear the calliope
WALKING DISTANCE is probably the best episode ever produced. Gig Young acts out Serling's prose so perfectly that he speaks for every man that ever wished he could go home again. It is a very moving episode. Bernard Herrmann's score intuitively picks up the emotion and heartfelt sincerity that Serling wrote into this story. This was Rod Serling's, Bernard Herrmann's and Gig Young's finest work for any medium. I think it is the finest piece of work ever put on film. KICK THE CAN is thematically similar and also very moving. It examines what it means to grow old and if one must give up the very things that makes us who we really are. It too is a very heartfelt episode, sincere and remains one of the best.

Timeless and Forever.
Long ago when Television was young there were indeed programs of quality and value. One of the great icons of the era was for sure Rod Serling. Mr. Serling has been gone now since 1975...but his vision and talent and taste for the ironic live on in " Twilight Zone" episodes.

In "Walking Distance" Martin Sloan( Gig Young) gets to look back on his life in a very special way. A shock to himself when he sees himself, as a boy, carving names into a post on a gazebo..( a gazebo that could have been possibly in Serling's home town of Binghamton New York.

The quagmire of time and space are now imposed on Martin Sloan..and this unique teleplay is one of the best 26 minutes you might see on Television. The montage scene on the merry go round...the field is at first tilted...then corrects itself with a return to Mr. Sloan's reality..Frak Overton, Byron Foulger and Ronnie Howard round out the singular cast.

If this were all not enough, Bernard Herrman lends a most meloncholy score to the whole proceedings. This is what happens when great artists combine talents to produce something timeless.

Some " Wisp of Memory" indeed!

This tape has Serling's classic episode "Walking Distance"
In Rod Serling's classic episode "Walking Distance," Martin Sloan (Gig Young) leaves his car at the gas station and walks into his hometown, where suddenly everything is just as it was when he was a child. In fact, he encounters his younger self (Michael Montgomery), and has to come to terms with the fact that he has not been happy with his life for a long, long time. The episode, directed by Robert Stevens, is one of Serling's best evocations of nostalgia, with a cast that includes Pat O'Malley and young Ronnie Howard. "Kick the Can" was George Clayton Johnson's final script for the series, and was the episode adapted by Steven Spielberg in "Twilight Zone: The Movie." Charles Whitley (Ernest Truex) and his friend Ben Conory (Russell Collins) are residents of Sunnydale Rest, a home for the aged. Charles becomes convinced that the secret to being young is acting young, and one night he begs the others to join him for a game of kick-the-can. Everyone agrees to join in the game, except Ben. Because this is the Twilight Zone, this is a tragic mistake and one that Ben will regret the rest of his life. This is an okay episode, but not a classic like the first one on this tape.

Short subjects as timeless as their medium...
This is another fine package in the series, two classics that have obvious but effective stories to tell. "Walking Distance" is about Martin Sloan, successful in business but not successful in that walk of life that all men try sooner or later: trying to go home again. "Kick the Can" is an enormously moving and engrossing piece with Charles Witley dilivering the goods as an old man who refuses to die in Sunnydale Rest. He is a man who knows that he will die in this world if he does not escape...into the Twilight Zone. This is one you should see.

The Human Side to the Twilight Zone
Rod put a lot of humanity into these two episodes of the Twilight Zone. The first story deals with a man's return home to his childhood trying to find his younger self that he left behind. The second story deals with people in their senior years who play a game of "Kick the Can" and discover that being young and old is very closely linked, and not seperate. Even if you don't like science fiction, watch these two Twilight Zone stories, they are human stories. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

An Enchanting Movie
This is my favorite movie of all time. In todays movie market it is so rare that we find a movie that the whole family can enjoy, and this is one of our favorites! I've let all my friends watch it, and they love it too. I'm thinking about buying a few copies for Christmas presents.

A Vision of America That Never Was
There is a rural vision of America that is seen only in Hollywood or comic books. In this America, the majority of the inhabitants are the good, decent, sort who value family, tradition, and honor. The miscreants who intrude on this vision make no lasting mark on the lives of the good countryfolk. In STARS IN MY CROWN, director Jacques Tourneur depicts a post Civil war small town whose inhabitants look to their trusted elderly doctor (Lewis Stone) to care for their bodies and to an equally trusted parson (Joel McCrea) to care for their souls. What is startling is Tourneur's use of a rarely used device in film, the omniscient narrator (Marshall Thompson), who as an adult reviews his life and his earlier boyish self, well played by child actor Dean Stockwell. Despite the frequent use of this narration, the pace never drags nor does it intrude heavy-handedly.

The plot revolves around the twin tragedies of a typhoid epidemic that sweeps through the town killing indiscriminately and the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan as it tries to intimidate a proud black man (Juano Hernandez) into selling his valuable land for peanuts to the local Klan bigshot (Ed Begley). Into this maelstrom lies a subplot of the antagonism between the doctor son of the town's much respected physician (Charles Kemper) and the Parson (McCrea). Through the typhoid outbreak, the viciousness of the Klansmen, and the general slow-paced life of the villagers are the thoughts of the mature narrator often commenting on himself and the passing scene.

Most of the film is really a kaleidoscopic peek into a past that, outside the media, never really existed. The tragedy of typhus is real enough, however, as the audience feels the pain of the loss even when the survivors bravely shake their heads at their acceptance of the inscrutable will of God. The climactic confrontation between the parson and the Klan does not ring true as director Tournreur tries to make the viewer believe that beneath the white sheets of the Klan beats a heart that can be reached by shame. Still, movies like STARS IN MY CROWN reach the audience in such a way as to once again show the potency of the screen to make tragedy more human and evil more amenable to being touched by humanity.

Family All The Way!!!
I absolutely love this video. I have only had it for a short time and we have already watched it many times. This show is about a man who just becomes a preacher and enters a new town. His first sermon is in a saloon. Yes!Of course he gets laughed at but watch and see how he gets everyone quite.
Heart touching, fun, different.If you are looking for good clean family movies,try this movie.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS MOVIE !

McCrea Classic a Family Must-See!
'Stars in My Crown' is over 50 years old, yet in it's humor, it's message of brotherhood, and it's depiction of small-town Western America at a time when religion was the true center of everyone's lives, this film has rarely been equaled!

The story is told through the observations of young John Kenyon (sensitively portrayed by Quantum Leap's Dean Stockwell, with Daktari's Marshall Thompson voicing Kenyon as an adult), who lives with Soldier-turned-Minister Josiah Dozier Grey (Joel McCrea, in one of his finest performances) and his wife, Harriet (Ellen Drew). Grey is kind, warm, and totally sincere, with a penchance for telling funny stories with a Message, rather than being 'preachy'...in short, the kind of Parson who can win hearts, as well as souls!

Grey's congregation includes some of Hollywood's finest character actors, including Lewis Stone (Judge Hardy) as a crusty old doctor, James Mitchell (Days of Our Lives) as his doubting physician son, Alan Hale (The Adventures of Robin Hood) as a Civil War buddy with a large family (including 'Matt Dillon' James Arness!), Amanda Blake (who would costar with Arness in 'Gunsmoke') as the schoolmarm, Arthur Hunnicutt (The Big Sky) as a local character nicknamed 'Chloroform'(!), Oscar-winner Ed Begley as a rich mine owner, and, in a remarkable performance, Juano Hernandez as 'Famous Uncle Prill', a Black farmer who experiences with dignity the racism of the time.

Director Jacques Tourneur, best-known for his gothic classic 'Cat People', shows patience and restraint, allowing the story to build under its own steam, which gives the climaxes (a typhoid epidemic and a Klan near-lynching) an emotional wallop. McCrea's scene with the incensed Klan members foreshadows Gregory Peck's confrontation with the lynch party in 'To Kill a Mockingbird', and is truly unforgettable.

'Stars in My Crown' is a rich, wonderful film that your family will cherish. It is on the short list of my favorite films, and is one that you can enjoy for years to come!

A real picture
This is a real view of another world. There may always have been this dichotomy, two worlds, two Americas. There was a reference that came to my mind regarding C.S. Lewis regarding Logres and Britain - two Englands in effect. The great dichotmy is the subject of relatively few works of art, and this is not one of them. This is simply a view of a time in the real world where the Americans had good preachers, and by golly, this one's a cracker. He just turns up in a saloon bar and preaches. If you don't think this is possible, I have to tell you this has been done by a few brave men, Arthur Blessett, David Wilkerson, and a few nameless wonders. The man in the movie, the preacher, is quite a character, loves his wife, fights an outbreak of typhoid, suffers terribly in this fight, and prevails, and finally rescues some wonderful black fellow from being lynched. At this point the movie is just too much and I suspect far too sentimental for most folks. I don't care, I loved this.

I like the movie because it reminds me of some very real people who I knew as a boy who are no longer here, but, as you might say, are now in glory - and of an America that sadly, no longer exists, but I sincerely believe, did once. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

"I've met a lot of funny ones in bars and nightclubs."
"The Leopard Man" is set in a small New Mexico town. In an attempt to upstage a popular flamenco dancer, nightclub performer, Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) rents a black leopard. Unfortunately the stunt goes out of control and the leopard escapes. Soon a young girl is found mauled to death, and it seems that the leopard is the culprit. A posse is formed, but the body count starts rising.

"The Leopard Man" is based on Cornell Woolrich's novel "Black Alibi." Woolrich--a hard-boiled detective writer--is considered one of the great writers whose novels were made into popular film noir. The film capitalizes on the use of black and white by emphasizing darkness and shadows. There are several masterful scenes in which reflections from water and light illuminate fear on the victims' faces. The film was extraordinarily gripping, and even though very little blood is seen, the tension prior to each kill builds to an almost unbearable crescendo. Part of the film's strength is found in the poignant portrayals of the victims. The film was relatively short--only 66 minutes long--but well worth watching--displacedhuman

Memorable But Neglected Lewton Classic
The escape of nightclub performer's leopard is followed by a series of mutilations--but are these the work of the leopard or of a serial killer stalking a small southwestern town? Although not one of producer Val Lewton's better known films, director Tourner endows the story with considerable atmosphere, and the result is a moody and intriguing film that holds it own with the more celebrated CAT PEOPLE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.

Like other Lewton films, THE LEOPARD MAN relies more upon what it suggests than upon what it actually shows. This film is particularly effective in building suspense in a series of scenes that show various characters walking--a saucy Spanish dancer strolling along the street, a frightened teenager making a night-time trip to the grocer, a young woman rushing through a cemetery at night. The cinematography is elegant in its simplicity, and the sound design is quite remarkable. Hard to find, but Lewton fans will find it worth seeking out.

evil isn't from outside
A promotor of variety hires a tame little panter in order to enhance the show of his girlfriend in a little village far from the big cities of the USA, but the panter is frightened by the jealous, irresponsible harassment of a local Mexican dancer and scapes. There's an ambiance of superstition and an appeal to the supernatural, and a series of murders with mutilation, but the "leopard" is as much doubtful responsible of only the first of a serie of these cruel killings, and the promotor soon suspects there's nothing of extraterrestrial evil, and with his experience over rarified nigth clubs, he thinks a madman is the true killer hidden between the people. The film is made with little means but has talent enough for interesting everyone and is much better than terror movies of today by suggesting much and showing very little.

Low budget thrills
One of a series of low-budget horror films produced by the legendary Val Lewton for RKO in the mid-1940's. This is not the best of the lot, which includes, among others,"I Walked with a Zombie", "The Seventh Victim", "The Cat People", all of which are arguably superior to "Leopard Man". Nevertheless, the entire series may add up to the single best horror series in all of American cinema. Mood, atmosphere, literate scripts, and spine-tingling suspense, characterize all these films, including "Leopard Man". (Notice in this film the really creative use of sound to add suspense to key scenes, such as the girl's lonely walk through the countryside, and the dancer's late night walk home. Perhaps no one other than Orson Welles with his radio background, understood the dramatic effect of sound upon the visual medium of film.)

The story itself concerns an escaped leopard menacing a small New Mexico town, where a series of mysterious killings may or may not be its work.There are several really riveting scenes in which the black and white photography and fluid camera work of celebrated director Jaques Tourneur achieve a high level of both suspense and genuine artistry. For these scenes alone the movie is worth the price. Unfortunately, the overall result is uneven, brought down by spotty performances, particularly from male lead Dennis O'Keefe, a shaky script with a few holes in it, and an unconvincing ethnic town caused no doubt by budget limitations. Nevertheless, for viewers tired of graphic slasher films, this is a great opportunity to see how horror can be achieved through atmosphere and imagination which after all is a lot scarier than blood and guts. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

the best movie
it was a good movie i would reccamond it for other people.

A copy of airplanes fly into "The Twilight Zone"
Airplanes taking trips into "The Twilight Zone" is obviously the common denominator for these two first rate episodes from the celebrated television series. "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" stars William Shatner as poor Bob Wilson, who has left a sanatorium only to take a plane flight where he keeps seeing a gremlin trying to sabotage the engine. Of course, no one wants to believe him. Written by Richard Matheson, who wrote the original short story, "Nightmare" was directed by Richard Donner, who went on to be a film director of some note. "The Odyssey of Flight 33" might be a notch below classic status but it is still a solid "Zone" episode. The story by Rod Serling, directed by Justus Addiss, is of a plane that picks up a freak tail wind that sends it back in time. John Anderson as Captain Farver leads the excellent cast that makes this rather far-fetched idea utterly believable. Serling made a point of finding out what real pilots say in the cockpit, which certainly helps the story along. But Shatner's performance is what you will remember from this tape.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE
These are two of the best episodes from this great TV series. In one episode a commercial airliner Captained by veteran actor John Anderson goes back in time in THE ODYSSEY OF FLIGHT 33. Writen by Rod Serling this modern-moody episode is both memorable and entert