USA, 1944
70m
35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono, English
An American fantasy film directed by Gunther V. Fritsch and Robert Wise.
Plot Summary
Amy, the young daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed, is having problems telling reality from fantasy and finds making friends difficult. Instead, she finds comfort in an imaginary friend, her father’s dead first wife Irena, and ageing actress Julia Farren who has fallen out with her own daughter.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Gunther V. Fritsch and Robert Wise
Copyright MCMXLIV [1944] RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. presents
Produced by: Val Lewton
Screen Play by: DeWitt Bodeen
Assistant Director: Harry D’Arcy
Director of Photography: Nicholas Musuraca
Edited by: J.R. Whittredge
Music by: Roy Webb
Musical Director: C. Bakaleinikoff
Recorded by: Francis M. Sarver
Rerecorded by: James G. Stewart
RCA Sound System
Gowns by: Edward Stevenson
Makeup Artist: Mel Berns
Art Directors: Albert S. D’Agostino, Walter E. Keller
Set Decorations: Darrell Silvera, William Stevens
Cast
Simone Simon (Irena Reed)
Kent Smith (Oliver Reed)
Jane Randolph (Alice Reed)
Ann Carter (Amy Reed)
Eve March (Miss Callahan)
Julia Dean (Mrs Julia Farren)
Elizabeth Russell (Barbara Farren)
Erford Gage (Police Captain)
Sir Lancelot (Edward)
Alternative Titles
Il giardino delle streghe – Italy
Kissaihmisten kirous – Finland
A Maldição da Pantera – Portugal
Maldição do Sangue de Pantera – Brazil
La maldición de la mujer pantera – Spain
La maldición de la pantera – Spain
La maledicció de la pantera – Spain (Catalan)
La Malédiction des hommes-chats – France
Links
Sequel to
Cat People (1943)
Extracts included in
Monsterama Sci-Fi Late Night Creature Feature Show Vol. 1 (1996)
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein no.4 p.7
- Castle of Frankenstein no.8 p.42
- Cinefantastique vol.29 no.4/5 (October 1997) pp.72-79, 125 – illustrated article (The Sound of Screaming by Frederick C. Szebin)
- Empire February 1999 p.126 – review (by Kim Newman)
- Focus on Film no.7 (1971) pp.53-56 – article
- Journal of Children in Popular Culture vol.12 no.1 (Fall 2021) pp.40-53- article (Amy and Her Friend: Exploring Gothicism in The Curse of the Cat People by Michael Howarth)
- Kinematograph Weekly no.1950 (31 August 1944)
- Legend no.18 (Summer 1995) p.33 – soundtrack review
- Literature/Film Quarterly vol.25 no.4 (1997) pp.291-299 – illustrated article (The Transformation of Woman: The “Curse” of the Cat Woman in Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People, its Sequel, and Remake by Linda Rohrer Paige)
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.11 no.129 (September 1944) p.102
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.46 no.550 (November 1979) p.238
- Motion Picture Herald vol.no.8 (19 February 1944)
- New York Motion Picture Critics Reviews vol.1 no.1 (20 March 1944) pp.450, 451 – credits, review
- Radio Times vol.232 no.3008 (4-10 July 1981) pp.6-7 – illustrated article (Tasteful terror, elegant unease by Geoff Brown)
- The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal vol.7 no.3 (Summer 1987) pp.47–51 – article (At the Movies: Classics Revisited – Cat People and The Curse of the Cat People by Lyn Davis Genelli and Tom Davis Genelli)
- Sight and Sound vol.9 no.3 (March 1999) p.61 – video review (Video: Retail by Geoffrey Macnab)
- Sight and Sound vol.9 no.11 (November 1999) pp.20-22 – illustrated article (Bring back the cat by Kim Newman)
- Today’s Cinema vol.63 no.5076 (25 August 1944)
- Total Film no.34 (November 1999) p.106 – illustrated review (Cat People/Curse of the Cat People by Tom Dawson)
Books
- 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.84-85
- Caligari’s Children: The Film as Tale of Terror by Siegbert Solomon Prawer pp.34-35
- A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series by Ken Hanke pp.148-149; 153
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.120
- Feature Films, 1940-1949: A United States Filmography by Alan G. Fetrow p.101
- Frightfest Guide to Ghost Movies by Axelle Carolyn pp.50-51
- Ghosts and Angels in Hollywood Films by James Robert Parish pp.70-71 – credits, synopsis, review
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis pp.75-76
- House of Psychotic Women by Kier-La Janisse pp.267, 434
- The Mummy on Screen: Orientalism and Monstrosity in Horror Cinema by Basil Glynn p.124
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.83 – credits
- The RKO Features by James L. Neibaur p.61 – credits, synopsis
- RKO Radio Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1929-1956 by Michael R. Pitts pp.67-71
- Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Film Sequels, Series, and Remakes by Kim R. Holston and Tom Winchester pp.74-75
- The World of Fantasy Films by Richard Myers p.29
Other sources
- BFI Southbank Guide October-November 2017 p.59 – illustrated listing
