For Samhain, forget Freddy, Jason or The Human Centipede. I’m going vintage all the way. Jacques Tourneur’s 1942 classic for RKO, Cat People, is still a stylish, strange little gem. Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is a Serbian illustrator who believes she’s descended from panthers, as she turns into a cat when she’s sexually aroused. This would make any marriage a problem (where does the litter tray go?) but thankfully, her rather bland new husband Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) fancies his co-worker Alice (Jane Randolph) so… problem solved… Or so it would seem.
Sure, there are plot holes everywhere (why did they marry so soon?) the obligatory xenophobia (she’s weird, Irena, because she’s not American like us) and a really unethical psychologist, as was the fashion in forties cinema, but any flaws can be forgiven because the film has a charm and atmosphere akin to the best film noir. Simon is really rather good as the superstitious, paranoid Irena and the Expressionist -inspired cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca is absolutely beautiful, particularly the creepy pool scene. It’s like a Hitchcockian fever dream at times, and good fun. Avoid the remake.
Hit The North 
film actors in the 1940’s seemed so elegant. and yeah, where *does* the litter tray go?
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Ha ha, I know! It’s such a bizarre film, but it still works. 😾
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