Cat People (1942)
Stars: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith
Runtime: 73 minutes
Synopsis: Irena, a Serbian immigrant residing in the United States, lives with the belief that she will turn into a cat person if she gets intimate with her husband.
- Performances: 6/10
- Screenplay: 7/10
Why? When the movie was released in 1942, it was first bashed by a lot of critics. Despite its criticism, it performed really well at the box office and as a result stayed in theaters longer than originally intended. This allowed critics to watch it a second time and, apparently, a lot of them went back and gave it a positive review. You may find the movie weird, slow, and sometimes hard to relate to like I did at first, but as soon as the credits start rolling (figuratively, obviously), the themes become more and more apparent and you start to understand Tourneur's vision. A lot of aspects, however, do feel dated and affected my overall liking of the film like for example the characters' chemistry and the dialogue, but the more I think about the subject matter, the more I appreciate its subtlety and delivery. In order to fully appreciate this classic, you have to let it grow on you and maybe watch it a second time.
- Costumes/Makeup: 6/10
Why? Nothing to say. The costumes reflected the characters' personalities without truly defining them.
- Editing: 7/10
Why? The move was made in 1942, a time where today's technology was not available and where editing was a difficult and time consuming process. And it shows. Some scene transitions are sudden, and the movie did feel a bit longer than its 73-minute runtime. However, it's credited with coming up with the Lewton Bus technique (named after producer Val Lewton) which is still used to this date. It consists of building up tension gradually only to have it all released with the use of something innocent that only sounds like a threat (in the case of this movie, it's a bus, hence the name).
- Cinematography: 8/10
Why? The use of shadows in "Cat People" was interesting. They acted as the real monsters in the movie, and gave it a sense of reality aligned with its themes.
- Score/Soundtrack: 6/10
Why? Scores played a huge part in movies back in the days, and it's rare to find a classic with bad music in it. But in the case of this particular film, and while it's definitely not bad, I did find it disappointing, especially considering the fact that it could've added a lot to the watching experience. I thought it lacked presence and personality, two defining characteristics of a good score.
FINAL GRADE: 7/10
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