Nifty Thriller from the 40s: Jacques Tourneur's The Leopard Man
Written: Aug 14 '02 (Updated Nov 14 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A lot.
Cons: Jacques Tourneur directed at least three that are even better.
The Bottom Line: One of the few Val Lewton-produced thrillers is worth a look.
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| WilliamJones's Full Review: Leopard Man |
The Leopard Man is an under-appreciated, almost-forgotten 40's B horror picture that many critics—even fans of producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur—have passed on. Although there's general agreement that it contains at least one brilliant sequence, the conventional wisdom is that it's a "flawed" work.
Tourneur, himself, chimed in with the critics: "It was too exotic, it was neither fish nor fowl: a series of vignettes, and it didn't hold together."
Some folks seem to be bothered by the film's loose structure (the film drops its lead players for a time and picks up new ones along the way). Our natural tendency is to reject that which is different and—while it puts those who admire it in the awkward position of running counter to the film's director—Tourneur, as well, may have been reacting to this tendency. While it's not the director's best film—I'll reserve that spot for one of the following: the film noir Out of the Past, Curse of the Demon, or Cat People—it's still noteworthy in that it's one of only a handful of Lewton-produced films between 1942 and 1946.
How important are these films? Of Cat People, director Martin Scorsese, in his film guide "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies," has stated the film is "arguably as important as Citizen Kane, in the development of a more mature American cinema."
The plot of The Leopard Man, based on the novel "Black Alibi" by Cornell Woolrich, concerns an escaped leopard that terrorizes a small New Mexico town. A number of women are killed, although in typical Lewton "less is more" style, we never see any of the actual killings. We can assume (based on what we do see) that a panther is responsible for the first death, but subsequent killings are problematic.
Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) and Clo-Clo (Margo) are competing nightclub performers. It's a tough town for blondes like Kiki, the men preferring the Latin glamour that Clo-Clo offers. The rivalry between the two is beautifully illustrated in the movie's terrific opening scene—where what we hear is as important as what we see.
We're introduced to Clo-Clo by the sound of castanets as the camera slowly makes it way out of the darkness, toward the light from her dressing room. She's seen briefly, back to the camera, practicing a dance, castanets clicking away. But the sound of the castanets is quickly drowned out by another sound—the sound of Kiki, in a similar dressing room, pounding on the wall (the opening line: "May sound like music to her; I can do better with my teeth in a cold shower").
This compact little scene, which quickly gets to the point, works extremely well. Information is cleverly conveyed—without overly relying on dialog—in a small amount of screen time (the movie clocks in at a very short 66 minutes).
Kiki's manager Jerry (Dennis O'Keefe) soon arrives with a black leopard on a leash (this is the same panther that appeared in Tourneur's Cat People). The idea is that Kiki will saunter into the nightclub with the cat while Clo-Clo is performing in an effort to upstage her. This publicity stunt backfires, however, when the animal escapes after Clo-Clo antagonizes it with her castanets.
Soon the bodies start piling up.
The movie's best sequence (which I won't divulge in great detail) occurs early on as a frightened senorita is sent on a late-night errand by her demanding mother. Harlan Ellison, in his book An Edge in My Voice describes the sequence at length and calls it "a fine example of cinema terror in its most natural, unsullied incarnation."
It's a memorable sequence with a stunning finale—once seen not likely to be forgotten—and it's all accomplished with admirable, low-cost effects.
The rest of the movie, while perhaps not up to the early excitement, raises the notion that the cat might not be responsible for subsequent deaths—that it might be the work of a serial killer. And we're given a couple of examples of the type of man who might perpetrate such a crime: Bluebeard in France or Jack the Ripper in London. Like Cat People, the movie toys with the idea that leopards and people are interchangeable, synonymous (even the title tells you that) and that the cat is the personification of force and violence.
The Leopard Man is a modest B movie that is really better than a lot of so-called "A" pictures. You know the type, the attention-grabbing hot air stuff that win lots of awards.
While the acting is strictly second-rate, it actually sort of works to the film's advantage (a big-name star would somehow go against the grain, would gobble up too much space). Here sounds and images come to the forefront and we're struck by the artistry behind the camera.
Our imaginations work overtime as a myriad of possibilities can exist in the deep shadows. Some directors understand this. Those guys who made The Blair Witch Project certainly did. And John Carpenter did as well in Halloween (but then didn't in his remake of The Thing). For my money, the best scenes in the former are the ones where we slowly and cautiously peek around a hedge, and...there's nobody there.
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: William Jones
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