Film Review
The Shadow of the Cat is one of
Hammer Films' lesser known horror offerings but one that is definitely
worth rediscovering. One reason for the film's comparative
obscurity is that it was nominally made not by Hammer but by a company
(BHP) that had been created to take advantage of a sponsorship deal
offered by ACTT (the Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied
Technicians). The film was made at Hammer's Bray Studios with
Hammer's staff and, to all intents and purposes, counts as a Hammer
film. It doesn't take a genius to work out that it belongs to the
same stable as
Taste of Fear (1961) and
The
Nanny (1965), two of Hammer's other joyrides into creepy psychological
horror.
The film marks the beginning of director John Gilling's fruitful
association with Hammer. Gilling would later helm two of the
studio's most highly regarded horror classics -
The Reptile (1966) and
The Plague of the Zombies
(1966) - and the somewhat less successful
The Mummy's Shroud (1967).
For
The Shadow of the Cat,
Gilling takes a well-worn concept and turns it into a
compelling, fiendishly suspenseful thriller, which is marred only by
the absurdity of its plot and a paucity of interesting, well developed
characters.
Hammer regular André Morell (recently famous for playing
Quatermass in
Quatermass and the Pit
on BBC television) heads a pretty undistinguished cast and has no
difficulty dominating the proceedings as a vile, cat-loathing fiend who
delights in manipulating others. Morell's is the only performance
that can be described as compelling, but Gilling's stylish direction
makes up for this. The film is atmospherically photographed in
moody black and white, conveying a stifling sense of paranoia as the
bodies start piling up.
The cat's weird point-of-view shots (which appear to have been
achieved using a distorting mirror) and Mikis Theodorakis's portentous score, raging
with the ferocity of a thunderstorm in places, add greatly to the
sense of spine-tingling menace that pervades the old
house-cum-abattoir. Is the ubiquitous moggy to blame or is it
merely the consciences of the guilty protagonists that lead them to do
such idiotic things as go running into lethal bogs or clamber onto
parapets in the dead of night? If the film has a fault it is that
the cat takes too active a role in the demise of its enemies, rather
than having, as its title would imply, a more shadowy presence.
That aside,
The Shadow of the Cat
has much to commend it, an enjoyable retread over familiar terrain.
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Anxious to get his hands on his wife Ella's fortune, Walter Venable
murders her in cold blood with the help of his servants Clara and
Andrew. The killing and subsequent burial are witnessed by Ella's
pet cat, Tabitha, who immediately starts to annoy his mistress's
murderers. Convinced that the cat intends to avenge his wife's
death, Walter invites three relatives to his house to help destroy the
irritating pet. They must also find a will which Ella made before
her death in which she makes her niece her sole beneficiary. When
Andrew and Clara die in mysterious circumstances, Walter is sure he
will be next...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.