While I will not say this is in any way superior or even close to the brilliance shown in Cat People, The Curse of the Cat People is definitely a fine, different, almost magical film in its own right. It has virtually nothing to do with the original film other than have the same words in its title, the same characters - Kent Smith and Jane Randolph and Simone Simon as some kind of angelic ghost. The story concerns the child of Smith and Randolph - now married and moved to Tarry Town, Washington Irving's setting for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Here we get to know and understand the troubles of their daughter Amy. She dreams and has no friends. Amy is played by Ann Carter to perfection for a girl of this young age. She creates a sense of melancholy for her character that resonates throughout as she is alone and soon befriended by the spirit of Irena - no longer a dark force but one of kindness and goodness(?). Well, beyond that the story isn't about much else but rather how the little girl acts and reacts to her childhood fears and loneliness and with her parents. No cat people here. No murder. No chases(in the classical sense at least). What about the suggestion employed so wonderfully in the original? It isn't here either, but is replaced by an almost fantastical, magical quality, turning ordinary scenes into visions of fantasy. The scenes in the woods with Amy playing with Irena are very effective as is the whole snow scene near the film's end. The acting is solid with Julia Dean as a weird elderly woman living with her daughter standing out. The Curse of the Cat People is said to be Val Lewton's creation in many ways. A retrospective of his childhood fears and memories. Lewton employs the usual Lewton standards, and directors Robert Wise and Gunther von Fritsch are very capable behind the camera lens. The absence of Jacques Tourneur; however, at least for me, is clearly evident. But this really was not meant to be his kind of film. This is definitely something unique and personal for Lewton and tells an emotional tale of one young girl's journey into finding out some things about life. Is it a horror movie? A fantasy? What is more horrifying than being alone and friendless and ridiculed by those around you at the tender age of six?
Review of The Curse of the Cat People
