The Leopard Man (1943)
Runtime: 66 minutes
Directed by: Jacques Tourneur
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, James Bell
From: RKO
A score filled more with castanets and its rhythms than probably any other film. Yesterday afternoon this was played on TCM; that was DVR’ed for viewing last night as besides the winning combo of producer Val Lewton & Jacques Tourneur, the 66 minute length was perfect for me.
The set-up is simple: during a nightclub act in a New Mexico town, a black leopard is introduced but basically due to pettiness, it is accidentally let loose and in the subsequent days, the leopard starts killing people… or does it? I heard it publicized elsewhere beforehand that a key plot point is the murderer possibly being someone on two legs, so I’ll mention it here also. After all, it is young women who are the victims…
As others have noted, it has the sort of shadowy atmosphere and dark moody cinematography you’d expect from Lewton/Tourneur, making it a chilling delight. All the death sequences are rather striking in how memorably they are presented. To echo another thought, the female characters in this movie are definitely more interesting than the male ones-even so, this was a fascinating watch due to all the castanets, the New Mexico setting allowing for both Native American & Hispanic flavor, and a genuinely interesting story ahead of its time—many have noted how it was a proto-giallo in several different ways. And yes, you do hear castanets quite frequently-one of the performers not only uses them on-stage, but also off it.
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