FAQ

Six-year old Amy Reed (Ann Carter) spends her time daydreaming and making imaginary friends with butterflies rather than children her own age, much to the chagrin of parents Oliver (Kent Smith) and Alice (Jane Randolph). However, when Amy's newest 'friend' starts to resemble Ollie's deceased first wife Irena (Simone Simon), who also had problems imagining herself as a descendent of a group of 'cat people,' her parents know that something must be done to curb their daughter's imagination.

The Curse of the Cat People is a sequel to Cat People (1942) (1942), which was based on The Bagheeta, a short story by Val Lewton. American screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen wrote the screenplay for The Curse of the Cat People. It has many of the same characters from Cat People, but the storyline is completely different, and there are no cat people in it.

Alice explains "the curse" to Miss Callahan (Eve March), Amy's teacher: "It's almost as though there is a curse on us. I wouldn't care if it were directed at me, but it seems to be directed at Amy. I sometimes think Irena haunts this house."

No definite number of years is given in the movie. However, it may be assumed that Ollie and Alice married shortly after Irena's death and that Amy was born a year later. Since Amy is now six years old, the elapsed time may be calculated to be about seven or eight years.

No. Amy is Ollie and Alice's daughter. Alice emphatically states early in the movie that Amy is her child, and a mother would know that. Ollie corroborates by affirming that Amy has Alice's eyes.

Because Amy "mailed" the invitations by posting them in a notch in an old tree. She remembered a story that Ollie had told her when she was three years old about the notch being a "magic mailbox."

The Reeds live in Tarry Town, New York, which is why Mrs Farren tells Amy the story of the headless horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which was set in Tarry Town.

Do do, l'enfant do is the name of the lullaby that Irena sings to Amy.

Il est né, le divin Enfant is the name of the Christmas carol sung by Irena.

Julia Farren's (Julia Dean) "caretaker" is her daughter Barbara (Elizabeth Russell), and so she is credited "Barbara Farren" in the cast list. However, Mrs Farren insists that her daughter Barbara died when she was six years old and that "that woman" is an imposter. This ambiguity as to whether "that woman" is Mrs Farren's daughter or an imposter may have been fostered because the actress who plays Barbara Farren is the same actress who appeared in The Cat People in a bit part as another cat woman who recognizes Irena as her "sister". [Russell often played bit parts in movies directed, produced, or written by Val Lewton, e.g., Youth Runs Wild (1944) (1944), The Seventh Victim (1943) (1943), and Bedlam (1946) (1946), and there has never been any indication that the parts she played in these movies were meant to be tied together.] Towards the end of the movie, Barbara casts some light on the ambiguity when she indicates that something may have happened to her mother, an accident or an illness or a mental breakdown perhaps, during which she was "out of her mind." Presumably, this incident is what makes Mrs Farren believe that her daughter is dead and that her now grown-up daughter is an imposter.

Mummers are masked and/or costumed actors who perform skits and plays at festivals, public houses, or even door-to-door during such times as the Christmas season. Mumming was a tradition throughout the British Isles and Ireland during the medieval times. The skits were often in rhyme and often featured St George as a central figure. Learn more about mummers and mummers' plays here.

After Ollie punishes Amy for claiming to see Irena in the garden and Irena appears to have deserted Amy, Amy goes looking for Irena. It is wintery cold, and Amy wanders into the woods. She hides when she thinks she hears the sound of the headless horseman's hooves, but it's only an old car. Ollie and Alice have noticed that Amy is missing, and a search party sets out to look for her. It begins to snow, and Amy is in danger of freezing in a snowbank. When she hears the dogs barking and sees flashlights through the trees, Amy fears the worse and continues to run until she comes to the Farren house. She pounds on the door, and Mrs Farren lets her in. When the storm causes the lights to flicker, Mrs Farren tries to hide Amy upstairs in order to protect her, but climbing the stairs causes her to suffer a heart attack and die. Barbara Farren, already full of hate and jealousy towards Amy, accuses Amy of stealing her mother's last moments from her and approaches Amy with the intent to kill. Amy begins to call out "My friend", and Irena's figure becomes superimposed over Barbara. Amy goes to her and gives her a hug. Barbara's fingers tighten around Amy's neck then suddenly loosen just as the search party reaches the house. Ollie scoops up his daughter and carries her home. As they stand on the porch, Ollie promises to be Amy's friend from hereon. He asks her whether she can see Irena in the garden. Any looks, and there stands Irena. When Amy replies "Yes", Ollie pretends that he can see Irena, too. Ollie and Amy go in the house, and Irena slowly fades away.

This film has a genuine dual interpetation; it can either be a supernatural event or the exploration of a child's imagination. Everything has a natural explanation. That is, almost until the end, when Ollie says, 'I see [Irena] too.' Amy smiles, they both go inside, BUT......the image of Irena that Amy "sees" and that Ollie pretends to see remains after they both go in the house. Then Irena slowly fades out. There is no way to pass this off as a subjective vision, cause there is no one in the shot to have subjective visions. If the camera is to be believed, Irena was really there all the time, and we have been watching a ghost story, not a psychological drama.