Jacques Tourneur’s “Cat People” (1942) is one of those black and white horror movie discoveries that only added to my lifelong movie obsession.
Here is an unabashed B-movie, one of many from Hungarian producer Val Lewton, that suggests so much from its pulpy title and delivers, in place of cheap thrills, a suggestive, highly psychological, and thoughtful exploration of human character.
Lewton made other films with Tourneur (“I Walked With a Zombie” is among their most famous), but the sinister, dreamlike feel of “Cat People” has me revisiting it at least once a year. I’ve subjected my film classes to it every semester, with most students balking at the film’s subtlety, while others would connect to it on a deeper, more personal level.
Tourneur’s “Cat People”...