USA, 1943
59m (some US television prints), 66m, 1810.5 metres, 7 reel
35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono, English
An American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur.
Plot Summary
New Mexico: Nightclub performer Kiki Walker uses a leopard in her act to upstage a rival. But the animal is startled and escapes. Over the next few days, a number of bodies turn up, all horribly mutilated, apparently killed by the escaped cat. Kiki and her manager frantically try to track down the cat before it can kill again, but some come to a startling realisation – the culprit may not be the leopard at all…
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Jacques Tourneur
Copyright MCMLXIII [1943] RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. presents
Produced by: Val Lewton
Screen Play: Ardel Wray
Additional Dialogue: Edward Dein
From the novel, “Black Alibi” Cornell Woolrich
Assistant Director: William Dorfman
Director of Photography: Robert de Grasse
Edited by: Mark Robson
Music by: Roy Webb
Musical Director: C. Bakaleinikoff
Recorded by: J.C. Grubb
RCA Sound System
Art Directors: Albert S. D’Agostino, Walter E. Keller
Set Decorations: Darrell Silvera, Al Fields
Cast
Dennis O’Keefe (Jerry Manning)
Margo (Clo-Clo)
Jean Brooks (Kiki Walker)
Isabel Jewell (Maria)
James Bell (Dr Galbraith)
Margaret Landry (Teresa Guadalupe Maria Delgado)
Abner Biberman (Charlie How-Come)
Tula Parma [real name: Tuulikki Paananen] (Consuelo Contreras)
Ben Bard (Chief Robles)
Dynamite [the leopard] *
Alternative Titles
El hombre leopardo – Spain
L’home lleopard – Spain (Catalan)
L’homme-léopard – France
Leopardimies – Finland (television)
Leopardmannen – Sweden
L’uomo leopardo – Italy
Links
Extracts included in
78/52 (2017)
Monsterama Sci-Fi Late Night Creature Feature Show Vol. 1 (1996)
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein no.4 p.7
- Castle of Frankenstein no.14 p.48
- Kine Weekly no.1904 (14 October 1943) p.125 – review (by anonymous)
- Metro no.116 (1998) pp.51-52 – illustrated credits, review (by Fiona Villella)
- Motion Picture Herald vol.151 no.6 (8 May 1943) p.1303 – review (by R.P.)
- Radio Times vol.232 no.3008 (4-10 July 1981) pp.6-7 – illustrated article (Tasteful terror, elegant unease by Geoff Brown)
- Today’s Cinema vol.61 no.4940 (8 October 1943) p.15 – review (by C.A.W.)
- We Belong Dead no.29 (Autumn 2021) pp.30-31 – illustrated article (<em>Ansel’s asylum for the psychotronic No.3</em> by Ansel Faraj)
Books
- Anatomy of the Slasher Film: A Theoretical Analysis by Sotiris Petridis p.6
- Aspects of Fantasy: Selected Essays from the Second International Conference on the Fantastic in Literature and Film by William Coyle (ed.) pp.95-106 – essay (Children of Horror: The Films of Val Lewton by J.P. Telotte)
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.82
- Caligari’s Children: The Film as Tale of Terror by Siegbert Solomon Prawer p.34
- A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series by Ken Hanke pp.145-146; 152-153
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.57
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.233, 241, 374
- Feature Films, 1940-1949: A United States Filmography by Alan G. Fetrow p.268
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.226
- Horrorshows: The A-Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio and Theatre by Gene Wright p.220-221 – credits, review
- Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces of a Lost Decade by Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Charlie Ellbé and Kristopher Woofter (eds.) pp.21n3, 28-33, 36-41, 42n1, 61, 121, 150, 152, 193, 282
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.256 – credits
- The RKO Features by James L. Neibaur p.145 – credits, synopsis
- RKO Radio Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1929-1956 by Michael R. Pitts p.175-178
- Serial Killer Cinema: An Analytical Filmography by Robert Cetti p.251
