The Shadow of the Cat

This Hammer film has a unique story while boasting the typically good to great Hammer assets of editing (which is especially well done this time) and production and of course acting. The copy I saw was a very poor dub of a dub and a good version would rate higher. I'm not sure if this was a Scope movie or not, though many of Hammer's Black and White films were and the full frame version I saw looked cropped. Originally the cat was supposed to be shown only as a shadow, this might have in the long run been more effective, or at least explained the title, though it's the shadow of guilt it still refers too. I can't think of another Hammer film quite like this as far as plot or structure. It starts with a very good longish pre-credit sequence and has typically effective music throughout. Director John Gilling is under-appreciated and this film is unique in his output.

It is fast paced, stylish and fun, actor Andre Morell does a great freak out job. It can be a problem with films where most of the characters are bad guys to keep interest, but this group sweats in fear and celebrates their own misdeeds in a way that makes them engaging. You want them to die but you also somehow sympathize with the inevitable cruel nature of their fate.

Some nice shots of cat's glowing eyes by the way as well.

"Shadow of the Cat" is a modest and often overlooked Hammer horror production, but simultaneously also an underrated and genuinely creepy gem that is guaranteed to deliver a compelling plot, a moody gothic atmosphere, competent performances from a bunch of Hammer regulars and more than a handful of silly but nevertheless sinister murders committed by (or at least initiated by) a vindictive cat named Tabitha! Moments after her beloved heiress Ella Venable read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" to her, Tabitha the Cat witnesses how poor Ella gets murdered by her husband Walter and two household staff members. The faithful housecat promptly makes it clear that she will avenge her heiress and terrifies the culprits so badly that they must call in the help of more vicious family members. While six (!) people are desperately trying to annihilate the evasive cat, the good-hearted niece Beth begins to suspect that aunt Ella's disappearance and the sudden fear for the otherwise friendly animal might have something to do with a missing testament. Sure, it requires a large dose of "suspension of disbelief" to accept how unnaturally petrified these people are of a simple cat, but George Baxt's screenplay is clever and John Gilling's direction is professional enough for the film to remain suspenseful. Gilling made some of Britain's best and most nightmarish horror films, by the way, like "Plague of the Zombies" and "The Flesh and the Fiends".

This horror film from the other side of the channel is for me the best horror film of the sixties, and among the best of all times. The trade mark of John Gilling, the films that comes first in my mind when I think about Gilling, and certainly not his first adventure and crime movies, though excellent. Gilling has never been better than here. This movie inspired an AVENGERS series - 60's - episode: THE HIDDEN TIGER, especially the cat scenes using subective camera, very very impressive, unforgettable. Andre Morell awesome for this little golden gem. In the US, eight years later, you also had a film which the topic and story telling were very close to this one: EYES OF THE CAT.

Although supposedly made under the name of BHP Productions for contractual reasons, there is no doubt that what you are watching is a Hammer film. Everything about it reflects the Hammer trademarks of the era. The lighting, the music, the photography, the use of the exteriors at Bray (Hammer's first and most fruitful home) and the ever-present Black Park (a green lung in urban Slough that Hammer turned into everything from a Swiss mountain stream to a tropical river filled with piranha fish) - nothing is out of place. The plot is typical Grand Guignol - a rich elderly woman is murdered by her relatives for her money. They might get away with it too, except her pet cat takes exception to the plot and decides to exact revenge. While not thought-provoking by any means, the film moves confidently and swiftly along. Director John (Plague of Zombies, The Reptile) Gilling papers enough shocks over the holes in the plot to keep it interesting and the cast (led by Barbara (The Gorgon) Shelley and Andre Morell) do their jobs efficiently and entertainingly. The movie, though, belongs to Tabitha... Oh, and do you get the significance of the widow's reading of Poe's "The Raven" at the start of the film? Creepy stuff!

This is such a curious work. Its producer Jon Pennington seemed to be attracted to unusual themes, the year before he made "Faces in the Dark" another story with a haunting ironic final outcome. He also seems to have been fond of working with the much exiled political activist and great Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis ~ an unusual choice for both movies. In fact, if you took the exciting Theodorakis score for 'Cat'...with its eerie grinding base and shrill stings (perfectly bringing to mind the quick movements of a panicked cat) this film would lose much of its considerable atmosphere. The pounding (near symphonic) main title, played over the image of an old dark country manor at the turn of the century sounds reminiscent of a ghostly steam locomotive, this makes the setting appear doubly creepy and hammers home the seriousness of the nasty crime that's just been committed.

People rave about the directorial touches but director John Gilling, while he does a most capable job, had such superb assistance from several important professionals...Veteran director of photography: Arthur Grant ('Quartermas and the Pit '67) works wonders with stark, super sharp B/W images in various difficult indoor situations as well as wide open spaces. The remarkable look of the indoor settings were stylishly created by two hard working gents, Art Director: Don Mingaye ('Phantom of the Opera' 61) and Production Designer: Bernard Robinson who, also in '61, is known for the super atmospheric 'Scream of Fear'. The editor: John Pomeroy (who has also been known to direct) cuts tricky scenes together with much flourish. Then there's veteran sound recordist: Ken Cameron capturing all the verbal dramatics and atmos. Writer, American born George Baxt weaves individual nuances into each of his greed-driven characters - that just seem to keep coming out of the rotting woodwork. This is an A1 team at work behind the camera.

In retrospect, it might perhaps be a pity that director Gilling decided to change Baxt's original script, where the cat was intended to be seen only in 'shadow' (a form of psychological metaphor). Then again, others will argue there are some fine shots of this impressive feline used to good advantage, so maybe it's not easy to decide what may have been better (although I like Baxt's thoughts) Some Cat lovers will be delighted, others won't be overly impressed. Some won't buy the idea of a cat causing such panic, but this bunch of characters are murderers under close investigation, living on their guilt ridden nerves in an era where superstition was rife. They are also struggling with a haunted 'collective', bad conscience.

The entire cast are rather amazing at what they have to convey, such a gathering of stalwart British ensemble players. Any lesser performers may not have been convincing within some of the more difficult to grasp situations. It seems this was originally intended as a Hammer studios film but I've found some of the smaller Hammer productions can at times look a little cheap. The quality production values of this film suggest that Independent producer Jon Pennington may have invested his own larger budget for this odd little work. Two years ago my sister purchased a DVD of 'S. O. T. Cat' from a seller in the UK who claimed his was the only DVD available. It had annoying permanently 'burnt into the image' subtitles! At last, we can now get this new Final Cut release DVD, which features one of the best 'Stills Gallery' extras I've ever seen --sections of the full original music score are synchronized to wonderfully edited images from the feature--

Congratulations Final Cut for this rare quality product. Look for it while you can! It may not please everyone but those who view it as a product of its day, and within the limits of its very well used budget, could be pleasantly surprised ... Anyone seen Tabitha? Purrrr.... KenR.