Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Movie Review: Cat People

This is a classic movie from 1942, supposedly one of the most risque of movies from that period about a woman who believes she will turn into a cat if she gets kissed by a man.

Let me be frank and upfront, it's not very good. The best thing about this film is, in fact, the screenwriters name, which is DEWITT BODEEN. Isn't that great? Sounds like a film noir character.

Basically, the moral of this stroy is that foreigners are weird - the supposed "hero" of this story runs into a woman from Serbia at a zoo where she is drawing the Panther again and again (as a chat up line he tells her off for littering. smooth!) she and he fall in love and five minutes later are married. They can't consumate their marriage though and this is where the script does some wonderfully prudish dancing around of the issue - her psychiatrist tells her how she describes that her transformation into a vicious cat will occur if her husband "kisses her and takes her into his arms", meaning I guess, tries to get it on with her.

Hayes code is in full effect here and it makes for some laughably unromantic romance.

I must admit I was expecting two different possibilities for this film and was surprised when it took the middle way and ended up being neither a silly horror movie or a thriller about a crazy woman. The main lady in it, played by Simone Simon (honestly! another great name) is very good actually and I was rooting for her all the way through, simply because the film is so obviously racist.

We have a token black character playing a waitress who offers her customers "Gumbo" and wonders why noone wants it and has apple pie instead (draw your own conclusions) and the beliefs of the Serbians are frequently described as ridiculous and stupid, while the christians line up to explain how they can help her.

All this would make for some decent tension and nostalgic fun at the expense of dated attitudes, but in fact its all a little bit dull, dragging despite its hour and ten minutes running time. The best sequence is one in a swimming pool where the nice, american girl is terrorised by the horrible foreigner. The rest is so far, so meh.

The whole "foreigners are weird" angle reminded me strongly of the "prejudice is good" moral in Will Smith's "I, Robot" - especially since by the three quarters of an hour mark, our down home apple pie eating American hero has decided he loves the nice down home apple pie eating American woman instead of his wife. It's all nice and cosily sewn up at the end thanls to the psychiatrist, so our "hero" by the end has done precisely nothing but get married then regret it.

The only word I can use for this film is "PANTS". Looking at my recent ratings I'd better see a good film soon or I'll go mad!

excuse for a cute picture:



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