KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Pluskylang Great Film overall

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Leofwine_draca An atmospheric chiller from the Val Lewton stable, directed by Jacques Tourneur (the man who brought us the truly incredible NIGHT OF THE DEMON), which sadly overdoes the subtlety of the story to the point of boredom; but as with all of the Lewton-produced horrors of the 1940s, this is intelligent and suspenseful entertainment, which displays some excellent use of black and white photography and plenty of creepy moments as damsels in distress encounter malevolent big cats and greater evils in the middle of the night. There is also at least one great, horrifying moment, namely the set-piece in which the blood seeps under the door.Unfortunately the rest of the film is a little lacking, with a bare minimum of action and a reliance on subtlety throughout in terms of story, menace, death, and action. Ironically for such a subtle film this fails as an admirable whodunit, because the identity of the killer is perfectly obvious directly from his first appearance on the screen. The acting is generally of a high order, but again the actors and actresses are bound to give restrained, somewhat uninteresting performances, apart from the guy playing the killer who has a great performance to hand. Aside from the aforementioned highlight, the horror is kept to a bare minimum, but fans who can sit through the talky dialogue bits may find the heavy atmosphere and film noir appeal to their liking. More patient viewers may also find this film of a greater interest, but I definitely prefer my horrors more explicit and on-screen in films from this decade. Bring back Boris Karloff!

classicsoncall When RKO Pictures hired Val Lewton to produce a series of horror flicks, they'd throw him some spare change and expect a good story. For this one, the studio came up with a hundred fifty thousand dollars and a title which Lewton managed to turn into a combination horror/mystery/murder thriller. He had to be creative since the budget didn't allow him to actually create any monsters. Through the use of shadows and imagery, Lewton was able to play on the viewers' fear of the unknown and create horror in what one imagines in place of what is actually seen.Perhaps the best example of this is the tortured walk young Teresa Delgado is forced to make to buy cornmeal by her demanding mother. On the way back from the grocery store, Teresa struggles with her thoughts on how to proceed home, while the play of light and shadow on the railroad trestle as the locomotive screams overhead provides a fascinating example of the cinematographer's skill. Then, as the face of the black leopard appears to her, Teresa is overcome with a fear that creates panic, ultimately ending in a scene in which blood is seen oozing underneath the door sill of her home, as she is unable to make her way inside.What bothered me about the story as it unfolded was the lack of concern the authorities might have shown for those who I felt most complicit in the first victim's death. The Mexican dancer Clo-Clo (Margo) incited the rather docile looking animal to break free in the night club, while the mother of Teresa had some culpability by being obstinate about the cornmeal. That Clo-Clo herself became a victim later in the story did little to negate my feeling that it was her initial action that put an entire village at risk.The story takes a decidedly different turn once promoter Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) begins to doubt the missing leopard is the cause of subsequent victims. There again, a better fleshed out story might have given more prominence to the psychological angle at play with the character of museum curator Galbraith (James Bell). Yet when you consider the limited budget and time constraints producer Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur worked under, the finished product turned out to be a fairly decent and compelling thriller.

Scott LeBrun "The Leopard Man" tells the story of Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe), a press agent in a small New Mexico town who convinces entertainer Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) to use a supposedly tame black leopard in a publicity stunt. It gets scared, gets loose, and some time later kills local girl Teresa Delgado (Margaret Landry). That's not the end of things, however, as more unfortunate young women fall victim to what COULD be the leopard, but could also easily be a deranged human.As far as producer Val Lewtons' suggestive, low budget genre films go, this isn't one of the best ones but it definitely has its moments. Ultimately, it's a little too obvious and predictable, and the resolution is kind of weak, but focusing on mystery aspects may have never been a priority for Lewton, director Jacques Tourneur, and screenwriter Ardel Wray (who adapts Cornell Woolrichs' story "Black Alibi"). What we get in their place are some engaging character vignettes and philosophical musing on the way that people are manipulated by fate; how little they may be in control of their actions. As with the rest of the Lewton filmography, the atmosphere is the absolute best component, especially in the beginning quarter which is incredibly frightening. When Teresa is killed by the leopard, we don't see it but hear it on the other side of a door, and see a small pool of blood seep under the door, mute testimony as to what happened.The actors are all earnest and likable, with fine work by O'Keefe, Brooks, and the saucy and sexy Margo in the lead roles. Isabel Jewell (playing the fortune teller), James Bell (as the zoologist and leopard expert Dr. Galbraith), Abner Biberman (as Charlie How-Come, the leopards' owner), and Ben Bard (in the role of the police chief) comprise a solid supporting cast. Brandon Hurst has a nice role as a cemetery gatekeeper.Overall, a good if not great black & white chiller, certainly worth a look for fans of the other Lewton productions.Seven out of 10.

JohnHowardReid The Leopard Man proved a bit disappointing on a first viewing. Dennis O'Keefe isn't exactly our idea of a swizzy leading man and the leopard itself looks pretty harmless too. Also the support cast is not much, and some of the action scenes, while they have plenty of atmospheric build-up, fade out before the punch. Even the climax, which should have been visually very exciting with all the hooded figures marching around, seems a bit flat. On a second viewing, however, we can really appreciate the atmosphere and ambiance of the piece, de Grasse's sharp, moody, shadowy lighting, Tourneur's extremely fluid camera-work and Roy Webb's innovating music score with its intriguing use of castanets as a leitmotif for the Margo character. The film was obviously all made on the back lot; but as an example of skilled film-making on a very limited budget, The Leopard Man would be hard to beat for its slick production values and gripping atmosphere. We can appreciate all the more the clever way the film is constructed — it's really four stories deftly condensed into only 66 minutes. The film actually seems to run longer because it covers so much territory, — though the additional dialogue, whilst reasonably adroit, does tend to slow scenes down by making them more talky. Still it's good to see James Bell in a major role. In fact all the players have grand opportunities — and the film is so attractively lit, it is always a pleasure to watch — if you don't mind three genuinely frightening sequences!