Cat Girl
Cat Girl is a 1957 black-and-white British-American crime and horror film,[1] produced by Herbert Smith and Lou Rusoff, directed by Alfred Shaughnessy, that stars Barbara Shelley, Robert Ayres, and Kay Callard. It was an unofficial remake of Val Lewton's Cat People (1942). American International Pictures released the film in the U.S. as a double feature with The Amazing Colossal Man.
Cat Girl | |
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Film poster | |
Directed by | Alfred Shaughnessy |
Produced by | Herbert Smith Lou Rusoff |
Written by | Lou Rusoff |
Starring | Barbara Shelley Robert Ayres Kay Callard |
Cinematography | Peter Hennessy |
Edited by | Jocelyn Jackson |
Production company | Ingsignia Films |
Distributed by | American International Pictures (U.S.) Anglo-Amalgamated (U.K.) |
Release date |
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Running time | 76 minutes |
Country | United States United Kingdom |
Language | English |
It was the first of two cat-related films starring Shelley, the other being The Shadow of the Cat (1961).[2]
Plot
Leonora Johnson (Barbara Shelley) is a woman who returns to her ancestral home and is told she will inherit money, but also that there is a family curse: being possessed by the spirit of a leopard in spite of her disbelieving psychiatrist Dr. Brian Marlowe (Robert Ayres).
Cast
- Barbara Shelley as Leonora Johnson
- Robert Ayres as Dr. Brian Marlowe
- Kay Callard as Dorothy Marlowe
- Ernest Milton as Edmund Brandt
- Lilly Kann as Anna
- Jack May as Richard Johnson
- Patricia Webster as Cathy
- John Lee as Allan
- Edward Harvey as Doorman
- Martin Boddey as Cafferty
- John Watson as Roberts
- Selma Vaz Dias as Nurse
Production
The film was the first Anglo-U.S. co-production from American International Pictures. They put up $25,000 of the budget and a script by their regular writer Lou Rusoff in exchange for Western Hemisphere rights.[3]
The script was originally entitled Wolf Girl.[4]
References
- Binion, Cavett. "Cat Girl". AllMovie. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
- Interview with Barbara Shelley accessed 26 March 2014
- Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland 1996, p. 109
- Gary A. Smith, The American International Pictures Video Guide, McFarland 2009, p. 37
External links
- Cat Girl at IMDb
- Cat Girl at Turner Classic Movies
- Cat Girl at AllMovie
- Cat Girl at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Complete movie at AMCTV (certain territories only)
- Review of film at Cinemafantastiqueonline.com