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Author
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Topic: CAT PEOPLE (1942) Super 8mm Sound 600 feet
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Brian Paul Cook
Film Handler
Posts: 54
From: Champaign, IL 61820
Registered: Feb 2010
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posted May 04, 2010 03:58 AM
I wish I could say what company put together this really excellent condensation of the 1942 Val Lewton RKO classic CAT PEOPLE, but there is no clue on the film and the box that it came in was blank. Whoever they were, they did a remarkable job of making scene choices for inclusion in this version, and then smoothly linking them together in an almost seamless edit. It opens with Simone Simon's wedding party and the appearance of the stunningly bizarre Elizabeth Russell who recognizes Simon as one of her own kind...a cat person, calling her "Sister?" I mention this because it is representative of the kind of care and expertise that went into this little 30 minute cutdown. This scene could have easily been overlooked and discarded,deemed too 'subtle' to move the film along briskly. Instead they saw it for what it was... a tip-off to the cast and the audience of the strange proceedings that would follow. Each and every scene selected for this version captures the moodiness, classiness, and subtlety of the feature. When it ended I was hard pressed to clearly recall the missing footage. The picture and sound quality are also very good, making this an excellent choice for addition to anyone's collection.
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Brian Paul Cook
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Brian Paul Cook
Film Handler
Posts: 54
From: Champaign, IL 61820
Registered: Feb 2010
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posted May 05, 2010 12:36 AM
Doug asked me to write more about what scenes are included in the digest. This was (for me at least) difficult to do without describing the scenes and revealing the content. So I apologize for it's lengthiness. Here is the uncondensed version of that elaboration:
Scene 1.Opening wedding banquet featuring Jack Holt and Alan Napier among others offering various comments about Irena's troubled marriage. This scene establishes most of the film's characters including Oliver, her husband, and Alice, Oliver's beautiful assistant. Then the 'cat woman' makes her appearance and upsets Irena by calling her "sister?"Irena becomes very upset and the festivities break up.
2. Dropped off in front of Oliver's (Kent Smith), Irena pleads with Oliver to give her time to work through her morbid feelings of evil, and her inability to consumate the marriage.
3. Irena visits the black leopard in the zoo where the animal keeper tells her that the Bible says that he is the worst beast of all... "like unto a leopard, but not a leopard".
4. Irena is painting in her studio and humming the tune the zoo keeper was humming. She becomes obsessed with the small bird in a cage which hangs over her desk. She not so playfully opens the cage and begins to torment the bird until he drops dead. Or maybe he is just sleeping. The moody and mournful CAT PEOPLE theme comes up here on the soundtrack as she places the body of the bird in a small box and takes it to the leopard in the zoo.
5. She confesses to Oliver that she was driven to take the bird to the leopard, she couldn't stop herself. Oliver is now convinced that his betrothed has a serious problem and needs professional help. Oddly, Irena agrees if it's the best help they can find.
6. Cut to Tom Conway as Dr. Judd having a session with Irena who is sprawled out on the traditional psychiatrists couch. In this scene Dr. Judd repeats to Irena what she has told him and thereby tells the viewer exactly what has led up to Irena's condition and why she believes that if aroused she will turn into a wild animal... a giant cat.
7. Irena returns home to find Alice lounging with Oliver and discovers that Oliver has told Alice about Irena's secrets and her seeing Dr. Judd. She is, needless to say, angry at both of them, but obviously more disturbed by Alice. She asks her to leave.
8. Irena travels to the zoo again and finds the key left in the leopard's cage door. When she returns it to the zoo keeper, she turns to find Dr. Judd has followed her. He intimates that she has a desire for death, and that maybe the leopard is her instrument of death. She dismisses Dr. Judd, refuses to see him again, and tells him her soul is damaged and not her mind, making it impossible for him to help her.
9. Meanwhile at the YMCA? swimming pool, Alice is taking an after hours swim in a very dark pool. When a leopard growls and dark shapes appear on the walls of the pool house she screams until the attendants appear and Irena in human form appears on the side of the pool, explaining she is looking for Oliver. When she leaves, Alice discovers that her bathrobe has been torn to shreds.
10. In the only disconnected cut in the entire digest, Oliver, Alice, and Dr. Judd are waiting for Irena to return home, apparently to give here a good talking to. Having grown tired of waiting, they leave and split up. Oliver and Alice go back to his architectural office to work. This place is also very dark, and becomes suddenly darker complete with the shadows of a beast on the walls and the threat of death at the jaws of a wild animal when Oliver grabs a T-Square (drawing instrument) and uses it like a cross, commanding Irena to leave them. Immediately she disappears. When they carefully exit the building, they smell Irena's perfume in the lobby. While they go for a quick drink, Dr. Judd plans to put the moves on Irena when she returns.
11. Oliver and Alice try to call Dr. Judd to warn him of the now quite possessed Irena and he hangs up on them.
12. They rush over, but not before Judd kisses Irena and she becomes a leopard. The shadows on the wall suggest she has become a beast and is going to kill Dr. Judd. He manages to stab her several times with his cane/sword before he dies.
13. Oliver and Alice arrive to find the body and evidence that Irena has been mortally wounded. They surmise that she has returned to the zoo and go after her.
14. The wounded Irena opens the leopard's cage door and stands in front of the opening. The panther springs out of the cage, killing Irena on the way, making his escape but is run down by a police car. Oliver and Alice find Irena's body and the CAT PEOPLE theme comes up under an on-screen quote from an old proverb about death and beasts. Oliver and Alice walk off into the fog,bringing to a close this amazingly complex and carefully layered editing of the feature—a really great digest version by any standard.
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Brian Paul Cook
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Panayotis A. Carayannis
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 969
From: Athens,Greece
Registered: Jul 2008
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posted May 06, 2010 03:52 PM
Paul, I know,as I am the happy owner of all four of the features. The quality of none is perfect.Mostly they are hard to focus. Thankfully,as they are all around the 70 minute running time,they were released complete in 4x400. And that is my frustration with the english companies (Mountain, Walton, Powell, early Derann etc), to find out what features are complete and what not! Others of similar length, like SON OF KONG and THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE were chopped by two or three minutes. Still others,(KING KONG,MACBETH, THE LAST COMMAND,RUN OF THE ARROW etc) were issued complete at first and then in 4x400 versions, most commonly found today. And still others, longer ones, like A TALE OF TWO CITIES and A STOLEN LIFE were issued in 6x400 reels, but the reels held only 15 minutes of film,making up a running time of approx.90 minutes!
So, if you are a completitionist, be careful!
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Panayotis A. Carayannis
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 969
From: Athens,Greece
Registered: Jul 2008
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posted May 29, 2010 01:20 PM
In addition to the GHOST SHIP, my CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE,which is in its original Heritage boxes, is also a C&C print. THE CAT PEOPLE , complete with the RKO logo,comes from a british print,as it is preceded by the BBFC card. THE BODY SNATCHER,has on all the leaders,badly scratched, a name like "Bob Shackler",which I believe is the name of the 8 mm company owner,but I can't remember which one. I am sure that DeMaio was only a distributor. Its owner was Carl DeMaio.
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