Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Lewton Back In Fang and Claws


The Leopard Man (1943) Brings Out The Beast In Showmen


Two Lewton Thrillers Combine For Chicago First-Run
Horror films were considered as good as means used to exploit them, a title the most critical element, thus B units told by memo that their next would be called Cat People, or I Walked With A Zombie, or The Leopard Man. Arthur Mayer could decorate his Rialto front before seeing the product or receiving the print, provided a title said it all. Art supplied to Mayer, from which he scissored best images and then enlarged the lot, told all that was necessary for sidewalk passers to know, in this case a leopard man preying on women “For A First Time On Any Screen.” Such had been good enough selling for stage melodramas and freak shows, the product stripped-down to barest essentials so a Rialto premiere could prosper, and venues down the line would know better how to promote product labelled The Leopard Man. Chillers by the 40’s looked more urgently toward novelty, as in what your fiend does that no fiend has done before. The Leopard Man played many situations with Captive Wild Woman, which was Universal’s idea of a captivating title at least, and no matter if the picture was good, fair, or stank. Critics singling out any horror film for praise seemed perverse to extreme, which was why Val Lewton stood out like a rose in a thorn patch. Signing mainstream pics would not have done him half so good as single-handed uplift of this lowliest genre. Trouble was Rialto’s mob and others of simple appetite being left behind as Lewton’s product fell short, then shorter, of what lurid displays promised.






The Lewton series for RKO was stair-steps that went down, each new one earning less than the last. Trouble too was cost creeping up as the series went along. B pictures could not sustain like this, being a category where you needed to know close to a penny what your merchandise would bring back. Cat People would be the only true sleeper of the Lewton lot, that is in terms of being an unexpected critical and commercial success. Next to The Body Snatcher, it would be the largest grosser of the group. There was profit, if less of it, for The Leopard Man, thanks most likely to exploitable elements. There was no supernatural card in the deck, as here was horror more psycho-sexual than where monsters loomed large, so yes, you could say this was a “First Time On Any Screen.” Ads argued that a leopard man, serially killing helpless women, was a force driven not by bloodlust, but plain lust. I’m a little surprised The Leopard Man didn’t gross better than it did. Maybe word-of-mouth hobbled it. The Motion Picture Herald’s reviewer (5-8-43) saw clouds gather at a preview screening, “There were perhaps a half-dozen or more walkouts during the unreeling. Noticeably lacking to this reviewer was the tenseness among the audience that generally pervades the screening of a horror thriller.” Scare pics almost never met heights of breathless advertising, customers accustomed enough to that, but there were creep goals that had to be met for value in your quarter, those walkouts certain to tell friends that The Leopard Man dropped its ball.






Censorship was what took juice out of gothic fruit. The Code was just pitiless where horror films were submitted, and why would studios spend chips arguing on monster behalf considering low priority the stuff had to begin with? The Leopard Man was a mystery draped in horror’s cloak. Val Lewton and director Jacques Tournear devised stalk scenes to justify a chiller label, whole of The Leopard Man hanging on one/two segments to haunt dreaming even of  those otherwise let down. Whatever the limits of what he showed, Lewton could always fall back on all colors of his dark, which a PCA couldn’t very well ink out. Most Lewton payoffs occur where we don’t see, or barely can, as in long walk for an adolescent girl who gets home only for the door to be locked against her, helpless pounding no good to gain entry and prolonged enough so the leopard behind will catch up. It’s a classic sequence for which The Leopard Man is best remembered today. What happens after is more conventional business (though not necessarily so in 1943) of human agency behind “leopard” murders and ultimate unmasking of the killer.








The Leopard Man would enjoy the most extensive revival of any Val Lewton film thanks to service as a second feature for 1952 engagements of King Kong. The combo was a summer phenomenon driven by TV saturation. King Kong was, of course, what customers came to see, but The Leopard Man went with it in virtually all situations, and like Kong would earn more than in its original release. Many a moppet sat through The Leopard Man for no reason other than to gorge on Kong a second time. Example of the pair filling seats was a June 1952 week, plus four holdover days, at the RKO Palace in Cleveland, Ohio (ad at right), where Kong/Leopard "did a better business than any first-run film the Grand has played in the last few months." Lines down a city block brought complaint from merchants that youngsters (60% of attendance, said Variety) were blocking entrance to neighboring shops. Ads like the RKO Palace's told the story ... The Leopard Man was mostly there to clear seats for a next run of the show crowds came for, but Lewton's thriller got massive trickle-down, as did others of his backlog that returned during the 50's. A meaningful boost lay in fact that RKO made safety prints of The Leopard Man for a first time on this occasion, hundreds of them to service saturation dates for the double bill. Many of these prints would stay in circulation for years to come. Afterlife of The Leopard Man was further enhanced by release to television in 1956, its reputation burnished the more when historians took it up with other Lewtons from the early 70's forward (Joel Siegel's 1973 book, Val Lewton: The Reality Of Terror a major step toward that direction).

3 Comments:

Blogger MDG14450 said...

The Leopard Man is a favorite. I can--and have--watched it any time it pops up. While possibly not the best strategy for "just a chiller," I love how much personality (and screentime) it gives bit/background characters like the fortune teller, Clo-Clo, Charlie How-Come, etc. Makes it rewatchable long after you know who the killer is.

12:48 PM  
Blogger mmoaks14 said...

Jean Brooks makes quite the entrance in that black(?) evening gown with the leaf pattern (featured in one of your promo stills), it's certainly the best she ever looked on film.

3:48 PM  
Blogger CanadianKen said...

Seeing your welcome piece on "The Leopard Man" made me think back to some words I wrote about Jean Brooks in a blog post almost ten years ago.

"Most definitive and haunted of Val Lewton’s heroines, which is saying something. Brooks’ eyes, her voice, her essence - all marked her as some sort of hushed embodiment of existential sadness. A troubled personal life – echoes of which undoubtedly resonated in her onscreen persona - seems to have been one of the factors that kept Jean Brooks from the stellar career she deserved. A loss for all of us.
Key year:1943–with two Lewton masterpieces - THE SEVENTH VICTIM and THE LEOPARD MAN."

I think I'll rewatch one of them tonight.

1:05 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024
  • April 2024
  • May 2024
  • June 2024
  • July 2024
  • August 2024
  • September 2024
  • October 2024