Summary
DeWitt Bodeen's thoughtful script is actually a nuanced study of the dangers of sexual repression, especially Oliver getting chastity-belted by not sealing the deal with luscious Irena. (This theme probably eluded World War II-era censors, although the original's essential purity was missing amid the ramped-up sexuality and gore of Paul Schrader's 1982 R-rated remake.) Director Jacques Tourneur's inspired work also quickly put him on the auteurist map, with several jolts sustaining Cat People's enduring rep: the whooshing hydraulic brakes of a bus during [Alice]'s nocturnal walk; Alice being terrorized in a pool ([Jane Randolph]'s swimsuit defines early-1940s hubba-hubba); and an eerily lit sequence with Alice and Oliver under attack amid an office of light tables and T-squares.
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Cat People
Cat People. (RKO; 73 minutes; unrated; 1942). Budget-beating producer Val Lewton extracted the utmost from RKO's B-movie unit, cr...
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