Cat People
Starring: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Writer: DeWitt Bodeen
Producer: Val Lewton
Cat People is a 1942 American supernatural horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced for RKO by Val Lewton. The film tells the story of Irena Dubrovna, a newly married Serbian fashion illustrator obsessed with the idea that she is descended from an ancient tribe of Cat People who metamorphose into black panthers when aroused.
Trivia
- In March 1942, producer Val Lewton ended his working relationship with independent producer David O. Selznick to work for RKO Radio Pictures' Charles Koerner, becoming the head of a new unit created to develop B-movie horror feature films.
- Cat People had a budget of around $135,000, which was significantly less than Universal spent on Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), but more than the $97,000 that the poverty row studio PRC spent on The Devil Bat (1940).
- Lewton selected most of the film's main crew, including director Jacques Tourneur and writer DeWitt Bodeen, who all worked on the treatment.
Filming Locations
- Among the rest of the crew was the composer of the score Roy Webb and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, who were seasoned veterans at RKO. Principal photography commenced on July 28, 1942, at RKO's Gower Gulch studios in Hollywood.
- Additional photography took place at the Royal Palms Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where the swimming pool sequence involving a character believing she is stalked by a panther was shot.
Previous Showings
9 Runs • 6 Festivals
Original Billings: 1 run (February 20, 1943)
Original Run: February 20, 1943 (Saturday - Tuesday)
All runs on record (9):
- February 20, 1943 (Saturday - Tuesday)Simone Simon, Kent Smith
- March 6 - 8, 1991w/ The Curse of the Cat People
- November 1 - 3, 2000Horror 2000w/ The Seventh Victim
- February 7 - 9, 2007Film Noir, Val Lewton, 1930s musicals and more!w/ Crossfire
- May 5 - 6, 2007w/ The Curse of the Cat People
- January 22 - 24, 2011Winter 2011 Early Bette Davis, Val Lewton and morew/ I Walked with a Zombie
- August 21 - 23, 2013Summer 2013w/ The Curse of the Cat People
- March 31 - April 2, 2017The Films of Val Lewton, every Fri-Sat-Sunw/ I Walked with a Zombie
- September 12 - 13, 2024Film Noir plus Val Lewtonw/ The Woman in the Window