The Catman of Paris

The movie is great

Trailer—The Catman of Paris

The Catman of Paris(480P)

source: The Catman of Paris

If you watch closely to Lesley Selander's filmography, you'll notice ninety percent westerns, grade B and Z ones. So, this mystery costume drama taking place in Paris France is very very unexpected from this film maker. Obviously, anyone could think about CAT PEOPLE and DR JEKYLL...inspiration or rip-off. But Lesley Selander is not Jacques Tourneur. But for sure, I would have seen this film without the opening credits, I would have never bet a dime on Lesley Selander as the director, though this dude had no trademark at all; he was only a good technician, with the budget he was given to. This feature could have been any director's but Lesley Selander. It is short, but as most short films, there are many things happening and it seems to be one hour and a half long instead of sixty one minutes. But it is definitely worth watching for any moviegoer of gem digger.

Carl Esmond's latest book is selling out, and the government wishes it banned. Although Esmond insists it's fictional, the government thinks it's based on a secret trial. Meanwhile, a mysterious killer is murdering people in 1896 Paris, with all the marks of a giant cat. Is it a man who turns into a cat, as police prefect Fritz Feld thinks? Or is it Esmond, suffering from bouts of amnesia following his suffering from tropical fever? Republic Pictures took a look at the B horror movies that Val Lewton was producing at RKO and decided they could do that too. Although they ended up only producing a couple, this shows that Herbert Yates thought it was a good idea, and assigned top B western director Lesley Selander to direct, and spent on a good cast and a lot of money on costumes -- and still had a sequence in which carriages are racing through Paris; no sense in not playing to the studio's strength. It's certainly watchable, even if it is derivative. With Adele Mara, Douglas Dumbrille, and Gerald Mohr.

There is a scene in this film when "Marie" (Leonor Aubert) is in a coach, terrified, with the protagonist in this Jekyllian style thriller. She is shouting, pleading, imploring with this person - who transmorphs into a deadly cat - for him not to kill her. When she calls out for him to "say something to me" the entire cinema - maybe 50 people, all simultaneously called out "miaow". It was really an achievement of coordination and comedy timing that far surpassed anything creative being seen on the screen as this rather dreary murder mystery rubbed along. Carl Esmond is "Regnier", a successful novelist who discovers that his book is going to be censored. When the archivist carrying papers to the censor is found dead - mauled - he is suspected and off we trot on the most benign of mysteries that lacks just about everything - except, perhaps, an alluring eeriness of late 19th century Paris. The writing, directing and acting are wholly adequate, but the thing lacks any sense of menace or thrill - and at times it is little better than a darkly lit romance with a well telegraphed twist.

Carl Esmond plays a French author who has just returned from somewhere, where he had a bout of something. Every so often he blacks out, but before he does, we get a shot of a frozen wasteland, lightning, a buoy, then a black cat. None of this makes sense unless you are on weed. After each blackout, a cast member goes belly up. Personally, I think the victims just wanted out of this picture. After the first attack, Prefect of Police Fritz Feld, without a shred of evidence, immediately concludes the murder has been committed by a catman. Right. This guy makes Inspector Clouseau look like Sherlock Holmes. Inspector Gerald Mohr spends most of the film disagreeing with Feld, rolling his eyes, and generally smirking. I think he read the script. Adele Mara, as Esmonds' fiancée, becomes a fancy feast for the catman, which is too bad because I was just beginning to enjoy her cleavage. Then Esmond takes up with Lenore Aubert, who manages to almost sound like a French person, unlike everyone else in the cast. Esmond spends most of the film trying to figure out if he is indeed the killer. At one point, he says to Aubert, in resignation, "I am the catman." To which Aubert replies "I am the walrus." We don't get to see the catman until about five minutes left in the film. During the wait, we are subjected to some astrologist telling us the history of the catman, how he appears every time Jupiter aligns with Mars (or something to that effect) and how he was present at historical events throughout time. This guy made me yearn for Criswell.

Charles Regnier is the author of 'Fraudulent Justice' which looks to become a bestseller. But it is potentially an embarrassment to the French Government. A man is carrying some secrets documents from the Archives of the Ministry of Justice when he is killed. His body has been clawed to ribbons as though he had been attacked by a powerful cat. The documents he was carrying go missing so it would seem that the murderer didn't want those papers scrutinized for some reason. Suspicion falls upon Regnier as he was unaccountably out all night at the time of the murder. He is in the habit of leaving social gatherings on his own complaining of a headache. He sees visions of a storm and then the sight of a black cat appears. He seems to be suffering from amnesia brought on by a tropical fever he had contracted on his travels. He is accused of learning secret rituals he has discovered in India and Tibet. A favorite of a number of 1940s B-mystery fans Douglass Dumbrille portrays the friend of Charles Regnier. There is a very good horse and carriage chase sequence but a confusing fight scene earlier in a cafe had been poorly executed. This is a reasonable mystery involving transmutation that has number of atmospheric moments. And the reproduction poster for this film with the killer's blue hand threatening the neck of a beautiful female victim has become collectible among horror film poster fans.

Spoken like a true Frenchman. This is the story of an author who is suspected of being the title killer. He spends all of the movie talking and talking and talking until you just want someone to put a silver bullet in his head. But unfortunately that never happens. The movie has a cool premise and even a halfway decent makeup job on the "catman," but very little time in this is spent on that. Most of it is the lead character whining about everything especially his love life. I honestly hate the guy. This movie stinks. Cool poster though.