Directed by Jacques Tourneur • 1942 • United States
Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith
The first of the horror films producer Val Lewton made for RKO Pictures redefined the genre by leaving its most frightening terrors to its audience’s imagination. Simone Simon stars as a Serbian émigré in Manhattan who believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves (Kent Smith) will turn her into a feline predator. Lewton, a consummate producer-auteur who oversaw every aspect of his projects, found an ideal director in Jacques Tourneur, a chiaroscuro stylist adept at keeping viewers off-kilter with startling compositions and psychological innuendo. Together, they eschewed the canned effects of earlier monster movies in favor of shocking with subtle shadows and creative audio cues. One of the studio’s most successful movies of the 1940s, CAT PEOPLE raised the creature feature to new heights of sophistication and mystery.
Up Next in ’80s Remakes (and Their Originals!)
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Breathless
Directed by Jim McBride • 1983 • United States
Starring Richard Gere, Valérie Kaprisky, Art MetranoRemaking Jean-Luc Godard's French New Wave landmark (itself an homage to American gangster films) was surely one of the more audacious cinematic gambits of the 1980s, but director Jim McBride (DAV...
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Breathless
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard • France • 1960
Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel BoulangerThere was before BREATHLESS, and there was after BREATHLESS. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspi...
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D.O.A.
Directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton • 1988 • United States
Starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, Charlotte RamplingTime is running out for university professor Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid). He has just twenty-four hours to unravel the bitter truth surrounding his own poisoning. In his despe...
