The Leopard Man

I'm sorry but this is really boring, however great its reputation. Established a long-standing precedent of attempts at "quiet horror" that avoid doing anything violent, distasteful, or interesting in any way

I was going to rate it one point lower for every word ending with -ita and each sound of the castanets but that would be about -190.

This is the least impressive film I've seen by Tourneur. In fact, skip it. It's nowhere near as good as that same year's I Walked With a Zombie.

The thick, moody atmosphere is achieved beautifully through Tourneur's assured direction combining with Robert de Grasse's expert use of light, shadow and smoke, but as with other Lewton pictures, this is all it has in its locker; the mystery story is undercooked and predictable, without enough meat on its bones to offer much more than a fleeting distraction.

The Leopard Man gets off to a pretty good start and the early train bridge scene is great, but it's pretty much downhill from there. It's boring and the characters are of no interest (SPOILER! I was so happy when the woman who constantly clicked her castanets was killed).

Tournier was a highly skilled director, but he wasn't able to transform this weak script into something truly special. As expected, the atmosphere is strong and the photography is excellent; the foreboding use of shadow has few equals in his time, and he always creates interest in the frame, even when the pace begins to drag. The characters aren't as interesting as the ones in previous collaborations with Lewton though, and the subtext isn't as meaty, but there are several noteworthy scenes.

When there is only tense silence and almost the entire image is swamped by shadows, its irresistible as a horror film. As for the rest of it though, its merely shoe leather, engaging as much as it can, but never more than a standard mystery story. It would have been even more fascinating too if, instead of the American characters, we saw the tale from the population of the town, especially actress Margo, whose castanets are going to be the one thing I remember from this for a long time.

I thought the most interesting thing about this was the portrayal of the killer at the end - not mad or sadistic, but just a bit pitiful and driven by a compulsion that he has no control over. Reminded me of Peter Lorre's character in M. The rest of the film is decent enough. The murders are set up nicely, with the focus on building tension rather than the murder itself, although the overall story is fairly weak. The identity of the killer was very obvious.

Good cinematography to create a spooky mood. But the film lacks character exposition at the outset, leaving us not knowing enough about each of them to care when they find themselves in danger. Watching a bunch of randos get killed just isn't interesting enough.

A bit silly, but nevertheless a fun film film with great use of light and shadows.

Lewton does what he always does: creates some suspense by NOT showing, instead of showing; &, given a title by the studio, builds a "horror" drama around it, while touching on bigger ideas like the problems of society or life & how much control we have over it. But the banal & simplistic "insight" here is that we have very little control even if we don't realize it & that could be the theme of any slasher w/out the pretention & an unsurprising killer who gets haunted & comes clean for no reason.

This may have gotten a higher score than it deserved, as I may have been somewhat biased by watching "Curse of the Cat People" just prior to this, and got excited by ACTUAL or at least implicated, cat murder.

It goes without saying that the photography is marvelous. Tourneur knows that, to be effective, the creepy atmosphere has to be present throughout, even when nothing is going to happen. As such the film always keeps you guessing as darkness envelops it for long stretches at a time. Base instincts, human instincts and the appearances we put up to fit into society clash in various characters and make for a very gripping film. At barely over an hour it flies by, although it is a bit superficial.

I'm not sure I found the ending as effective as I'd hoped, but as a whole I did enjoy the film very much. And the castanets are awesome!

Producer Val Lewton returns to his trusty feline fright theme. The blood-under-the-door sequence, considered shocking in its day and much imitated since, still packs a punch in this nearly seamless, streamlined mystery chiller.

Above average B movie with quite a plot and genre twist.

Intriguing little b-movie that achieves a wonderful atmosphere. Kinda opiated or zombified filmmaking that in one way seems to capture what horror is about. It's less overtly frightening than like an unsettling dream, where confusion, or bewilderment, are palpable components that foster anxiety.

Score based on distant memory.

Tourneur is a horror master. Everything he touches has the best photography and atmosphere.

Effective minor piece in the Lewton horror gallery; poor plot countered by highly effective suspense sequences.

Star Rating: ★★★

78.50

78.500

Lewton and Tourneur take a simple thriller and elevate it with style. A small town is seized by paranoia in the wake of murder, and every corner is drenched in threatening shadows. Interesting that the film makes no pretensions of justice served, instead ending on a noirish note of vengeance.

Perhaps my favorite Val Lewton film. An obvious precursor to the slasher film.

watched: 2013, 2020

"There's a certain multi-cultural conflict that distinguishes the Lewton-Tourneurs." - Ed Gonzalez

The weakest of the three Lewton/Tourneur matchups, but not a horrible film. There are some tense scenes and some good direction. But mostly the story was too uneventful and thin, even for a Lewton film.

Not quite the movie I expected given Lewton/Tourneur's other horror output of the period, but I actually liked this more than the much more highly lauded Cat People. It's not a lot, but it's a solid little thriller. The first death scene is a great example of making it work when you don't have the resources to do the scene you'd probably like.

A wonderful lurking atmosphere in The Leopard Man (1943). Does have it's slow spots, but it definitely has that special something when it wants to. There are even jump scares using sound, which was not that normal back then. A real thrilling piece from Jacques Tourneur.

This probably wouldn't scare modern audiences, but it does create a creepy mood--like other Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur films. And like their other films there is solid filmmaking and other interesting elements--including interesting twists, themes of unseen forces that control us, etc. Among the older horror films, I find the Lewton/Tourneur films to be among the best made and most interesting.