"The Leopard Man" *** 1\2 (out of ****)Continuing on my decision to review horror films in preparation for Halloween here is another classic Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur collaboration.
"The Leopard Man" was released in 1943 and was the last of the three films the director and producer worked on. After this film Tourneur was promoted by RKO studios to "A" list films.
It is up for debate what is the team's best film. You could make a convincing case for each one of their works. "The Cat People" is probably the most popular and influential. Though "I Walked With A Zombie" has such a lyrical, classic feel to it. And "The Leopard Man" may be their most mature film.
Watching "The Leopard Man" again, to prepare for my review, I was once again struck by the same thing. The film makes amazing use of lighting and sound design. It is truly a lesson in filmmaking. All amateur directors should watch this film. I also want to point out, people should not be put off because these are "B" movies. Don't think these films are of lesser value. That may be true of some "B" pictures, but, I assure you, the Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur films are masterful.
I reviewed the film on amazon.com originally. I made a point in that review that I would like to repeat here. I mentioned the final scene in Roman Polanski's "Rosemary Baby". Remember how afraid Mia Farrow was to look at her baby. How all the others in the room gloated how the baby had red eyes and resemble its father (you know who!). We never saw what the baby looked like, yet, we were afraid just the same. It was the power of suggestion. It was the unknown which scared us.
In "The Leopard Man" a leopard terrorizes a small New Mexico town, but, the beauty of the film is violence is never shown on-screen. We see the victim's faces as the leopard or what we think is a leopard approach them and the fear on their face. They scream for their lives but Tourneur moves the camera away at the moment of the actual attack. We only see events through shadows on walls.
Publicity man Jerry Manning (Dennis O' Keefe) creates a stunt for his client, Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks). Kiki works at a club where Latin dancer Clo-Clo (Margo) is the headliner and gets all of the attention. Jerry wants Kiki to walk in on Clo-Clo's performance with a leopard hoping it would disrupt the act and keep all eyes on Kiki. But through fear the leopard breaks away from Kiki and escapes.
Watching the film again I realized my original perception was wrong. I remember Jerry and Kiki being the stars of the film but now I see the film centers on Clo-Clo. She is the first image we see on-screen and what connects us to all the characters. After her performance Clo-Clo walks home. While she does she stops to talk to a gypsy fortune teller (Isabel Jewell) and a young girl, Teresa (Margaret Landry). When Clo-Clo passes her, the film shifts its focus and is now on Teresa, this happens repeatedly.
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT
The sequence with Teresa is actually my favorite in the movie. She is our first victim. Teresa is sent by her mother to buy some cornmill but she is afraid to go out because of the leopard. The mother won't hear of it. She wants Teresa to go buy it before her father comes home for dinner.
The scene when she is attacked is perfect. Pay attention to the use of lighting. The way Teresa is always in shadows. Listening to the sound design. All we hear is the sound of the wind. Nothing is out there. Teresa is alone with her thoughts and no one to protect her.
At one point she has to walk under a bridge. All we see are the whites of her eyes while Tourneur throws audio surprises at us.
SPOILER END
Tourneur has us spend time with the victims before they meet their fate. I like this device. Many years later it would be used in "Scream". We learn a little about their background, their hopes and dreams. It helps the viewer establish a connection with the characters. We become involved in their lives and don't want to see harm come their way.
The film was based on a novel written by Cornell Woolrich entitled "The Black Alibi" and adapted to the screen by Ardel Wray, who wrote "I Walked With A Zombie". The masterful cinematography was done by Robert De Grasse, who worked on a lot of films with Ginger Rogers. He shot "Kitty Foyle", and two Fred Astaire and Ginger films, "Carefree" and "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle".
In my review for "I Walked With A Zombie" I said the film really wasn't scary. But "The Leopard Man" does make more of an attempt. I can't promise it will scare you but the film creates a lot of tension. It is suggested perhaps it is not a leopard doing the killings but instead a man.
This I think is part of a larger statement the film wants to make. The film has some psychological undertones. The message seems to be about man and animal and how man has evil, killer instincts. The two are not so far apart.
The only problem I have with the film is the way it comes to its conclusion. I thought there wasn't enough set-up to lead us in the right direction. Also the scary scenes comes to and far between. Perhaps this was done for budget reasons but the film focuses more on characters than chills. That's not a bad thing mind you but sometimes I felt we could use more attempts at scares while keeping the character involvement going.
Dennis O' Keefe gets top billing but I wonder how many people have heard of him. He was actually a good actor but never seemed to become "A" list. Viewers might know him from the film "T-Men". He also has a role in "Topper Returns".
Horror film fans and even those who don't like to be scared I think we find something to like about "The Leopard Man". Horror fans will pay attention to the details and craft which Lewton and Tourneur give the film while non-horror fans will appreciate the movie is not a bloody gore fest.
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