Here's an
interesting TV-movie, originally aired december 11 on ABC, 1973. The Cat Creature was made mostly because producer Douglas S. Cramer wanted to make an
old-fashioned, occult-themed thriller in the same vein as The Cat People and
similar stuff from the forties and seventies. He hired Robert Bloch as a writer
and Curtis Harrington as director and a very competent cast with Meredith
Baxter, Stuart Whitman and David Hedison in the bigger parts and with a lot of
great supporting actors - but more on them later.
After a
real estate appraiser is found clawed to death in the villa of a rich
collector, super-cop Stuart Whitman is on the case. He contacts Egyptologist
David Hedison, because the dead dude was specializing in Egyptian artefacts and
soon they're noticing how people is starting to die around them, and everything
seems connected to a golden amulet stolen from the estate. ...and the presence
of a black, nasty, angry cat near every victim doesn't bode well...
The Cat
Creature is a by-the-numbers TV-movie, but it's also extremely cosy, perfect
for a lazy morning. The wonderful cast is inspired - especially Gale
Sondergaard, the talented and colourful actress who became a victim for the
McCarthy-fascism, who also got a little comeback here and worked up to her
death in the middle of the eighties. She had a successful Hollywood-career, but
after getting fucked by the American paranoia she and her director-husband Herbert
J. Biberman moved to more liberal New
York
Lorre Jr.
wasn't really Peter Lorre's son, but he looked a bit like him and when he wanted
to break into acting he changed his name to Peter Lorie Jr, which both Lorre
and his people objected to. But lucky for Eugene Weingand (his real name),
Peter Lorre died months after and he quickly changed his name to Lorre Jr. and
claimed he was the son - and therefore got a few parts here and there. What a
guy!
Curtis
Harrington is even more interesting. Considered one of the founders of Queer
Cinema (he worked with Kenneth Anger, among others) and very interested in the
occult, he became some kind of specialist on cheap, colourful genre movies,
some of them made for TV. He also made a trio of name-themed movies, Whoever
Slew Auntie Roo?, What's the Matter with Helen? and How Awful About Allan. He
did some jobs for Roger Corman also but later turned mostly to TV. I prefer to
remember him for the insanely cheesy but awesome Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell!
Anyway.
It's not a perfect movie by any means, mostly because it had some troubles
during production. Shortly before shooting was going to begin, Harrington told
Bloch the script is twelve pages too long. Bloch carefully shorted it to fit
the TV-format, but after shooting was done Harrington discovered that the movie
needed twelve pages more! Now Bloch had to write new scenes, who would fit in
with the now already filmed shorter script, and that resulted in a less
coherent story and a bit more episodic feeling.
3 comments:
"Here's an interesting TV-movie, originally aired december 11 on ABC, 1973. The Cat Creature was made mostly because producer Douglas S. Cramer wanted to make an old-fashioned, occult-themed thriller in the same vein as The Cat People and similar stuff from the forties and seventies."
Not bad set of influences.....something for networks like Showtime, Silver, HBO etc to think about......they have bigger resources, budgets and what not.....could do some great similiar stuff.
"The wonderful cast is inspired - especially Gale Sondergaard, the talented and colourful actress who became a victim for the McCarthy-fascism, who also got a little comeback here and worked up to her death in the middle of the eighties. She had a successful Hollywood-career, but after getting fucked by the American paranoia she and her director-husband Herbert J. Biberman moved to more liberal New York and started to worth in theatre instead of the shallow film industry."
If you get the chance ninja, watch Trumbo (2007) a doc about Dalton Trumbo who got blacklisted during the 50´s and actually won an oscar during his blacklist, but couldn´t accept it.
"John Carradine shows up in a cameo"
A classact.....he was good, I´m glad his sons followed in his footsteps, and I miss David.
"But lucky for Eugene Weingand (his real name), Peter Lorre died months after and he quickly changed his name to Lorre Jr. and claimed he was the son - and therefore got a few parts here and there. What a guy!"
Whatever works.....hahahhahahah
"Curtis Harrington is even more interesting. Considered one of the founders of Queer Cinema (he worked with Kenneth Anger, among others) and very interested in the occult, he became some kind of specialist on cheap, colourful genre movies, some of them made for TV."
Some of the titles mentioned on IMDB sounds like fun, I might have to check up on this guy.
Strange that he went into mainstream considering his avant garde background, most of them don´t go into that direction.
"Harrington told Bloch the script is twelve pages too long. Bloch carefully shorted it to fit the TV-format, but after shooting was done Harrington discovered that the movie needed twelve pages more!"
Some producers.......never know what they want....
"It's still a good production and worth seeking up for you fans of old TV-movies."
I might do that, thanks ninja, great review.
Megatron
I love Curtis Harrington, both his persona and his work. Especially his early film NIGHT TIDE. Perfect low-budget cinema and an unusual restrained performance from Dennis Hopper. Thanks for the review!
Watched this last night and completely agree with your review. A fun little flick for a lazy evening.
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