This week a did an old vs new take on a perennial Halloween classic, the Cat people.
The first the films is one of Val Lewton‘s films directed by Jacques Tourneur. Telling the story of Irena(Simone Simon), a Serbian immigrant who has just arrived in New York where she finds work as a fashion illustrator. She practices her drawing at the local zoo where she is drawn to an exquisite black leopard.
During one of her sessions, she meets the handsome Wilbur (Kent Smith), who she quickly falls in love with and marries. However, there’s a catch she believes she cannot have any contact at all for fear something terrible will happen.
This was a very interesting film. It has a wonderfully subtle, but overwhelming, feeling of repressed sexuality. I especially like the rivalry between Irena and Alice, Wilbur’s coworker and later lover. In fact, the best part though is the wonderful chilling example of less is more scene of Irena hunting Alice (Jane Randolph). We never see the transformed cat and it is terrifying.
From the original I moved my way to Paul Schrader’s 1982 remake. In this version, Irena (Nastassja Kinski) has just moved to New Orleans where she reunites with her with her brother Paul. (Malcolm McDowell) At first, things seem good. That is until a Black Leopard is brought to the New Orleans zoo after it was caught mauling a prostitute. By a strange coincidence, Paul is nowhere to be found.
This version went in multiple different directions than the original to the point that it was enough it’s own film that when it directly quotes some of the best scenes from the original come as a surprise.
Of the two, I still like the original better. Where the original has an almost subliminal sexual tension, in this movie… it’s just gratuitous.
