Subtle horror marks beginning of Val Lewton's legendary RKO horror series, which his former boss David Selznick thought admirable ('..in every way a much better picture than ninety percent of the "A" product that I have seen in recent months...'). (Lewton was Selznick's story editor). The scenes without the leopard actually work best - the much quoted swimming pool scene, for example. But to distil the point, where Smith and Jane Randolph are trapped in the office by the leopard and he scares it off with a religious symbol, it's the following series of shots (artfully put together by Mark Robson) that are more unnerving: the pool of darkness underneath the table, a half open door, an open elevator door, a deserted lobby, a revolving door that's still revolving...
Also loved what I suppose became a staple of the genre, the fake shock - Randolph being followed, then the screech which is not an attack but merely the bus pulling up beside her (a comforting, friendly bus).
Loved also the attention to detail - the statue of King John, the leopard on the prow of the model ship. Written by DeWitt Bodeen and most ably crafted by Tourneur, Nick Musuraca and Roy Webb, with Al D'Agostino and Walter Kelly (art direction) and A. Roland Fields and Walter Keller (set decoration). With Tom Conway (dubious psychiatrist), Jack Holt, Alec Craig (zookeeper) and Elizabeth Russell (sinister woman in Serbian café).
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| It seems no accident to me that the shadow of King John's sword is at Kent Smith's neck |
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