First, I should tell you that if you are interested in
seeing this film strictly for its cat-related content, you should watch the
first couple of minutes, during which we see a black cat in a tree, and then
you should go do something else. As it turns out, The Curse of the Cat People does not have anything to do with cats
and does not have much to do with the earlier film Cat People.
What’s wrong with having an imaginary friend?
This 1944 movie was produced by Val Lewton and stars Simone
Simon, Kent Smith, and Jane Randolph. The story centers around Amy Reed,
daughter of Oliver and Alice, whom you may remember from Cat People. Six-year-old Amy isn’t like all the other children.
Instead of playing with the others, she spends a lot of time imagining different
things, chasing after butterflies…things like that. That seems perfectly normal
to us, but it is driving her father nuts, as it reminds him too much of his
first wife, Irena, who was from a village of “cat people” and who ended up dead
because of it. Okay, sometimes Amy confuses make-believe with reality, but she
is only six.
Anyway, Amy is having trouble making real friends, so—and
this is where things get a little weird—she ends up befriending the ghost of
her father’s first wife. She also befriends an aging actress who lives with her
grown daughter (but who she insists is not her daughter) in the neighborhood’s
requisite spooky house. (The house includes a taxidermy wildcat with a bird in
its mouth, so technically that is two cats in the film.)
The almost scary parts
Honestly, we kept waiting for the Big Scary Thing to happen
in this film, for the giant cat to scratch Amy and curse her to become a cat
person…but it never quite rises to that level. This is not to say that there
aren’t spooky parts: the scene where the old actress tells Amy the story of the
Headless Horseman, for example, and the later scene when Amy runs across a
snow-covered bridge hearing loud hoof beats behind her are kind of spooky.
Our verdict
We expected The Curse
of the Cat People to have something to do with cats, or at least to have
something more to do with Cat People
than it does. In that respect, we found it disappointing. Taken on its own
terms, though, it is an enjoyable film. It touches on themes of the real vs.
the imagined and how a father’s fears affect his daughter. There is some
mother-daughter stuff in there too, between the old actress and her daughter,
but we thought that story wasn’t as fully explored as it might have been, and we
still are not sure why the actress insisted her real daughter was dead (more
reality vs. imagination, perhaps?).
I am withholding one paw because of this movie’s almost
complete lack of cats or cat-related material. Otherwise, we think The Curse of the Cat People is worth
watching, though we did not enjoy it nearly as much as Cat People.
A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives
either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great
movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie
on her back...and Miss C does
not do that!
The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you
purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for
our kibble account.
Mom isn't a fan of scary movies so I can't watch it either. Great review though! Love, Cody catchatwithcarenandcody
ReplyDeleteA movie without cats? Now THAT'S scary ;)
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't sound too bad despite the lack of cats :)
ReplyDeleteI love creepy, scary B&W movies so I might check it out anyways!
ReplyDeleteWe never heard of that movie, so we probably will not be watching it
ReplyDelete