A Sombra do Gato

While working from a script requiring more suspension of disbelief than the plot can easily sustain, and wrought with some leaps of logic, an entertaining movie nonetheless. This UK Gothic thriller takes place around 1900. Its greatest strengths are sincere, solid acting on the part of everyone, a brisk pace, and comfortable reliance on effective, familiar genre conventions. A fun viewing for fans of UK thrillers and horror flicks (although definitely of the former genre, not the latter), or of Barbara Shelley or Andre Morrell.

Shadow of the Cat is a Poe-esquire horror film that focuses on a sinister animal - the domestic cat. The film begins with a reciting of the Edgar Allen Poe poem 'The Raven', and from there we begin to focus on the title animal. There is nothing about this film that officially suggests it has anything to do with Hammer studios, but the feel of the film is very much like Hammer and the fact that John Gilling - the man behind two of the best Hammer horror films, Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile - is the director means that it has something of an affinity with the studio. The plot focuses on the common Gothic horror theme of a family and an inheritance. The family here is the Venable family, and the story starts properly when a rich old woman is murdered by her relatives because they're after her inheritance. The only witness to the crime was the lady's pet cat, and while normally anyone committing murder in this way would get away with it scot-free, this particular cat takes exception to the murder of its owner and sets about exacting its own revenge.

The plot is, of course, pretty far fetched, but it's handled well and John Gilling never lets it descend into the realms of ridiculousness when it comes to people being murdered by the cat. The cat itself looks sinister enough, and while it doesn't have the same menace as, say, the murderous moggy in Lucio Fulci eighties impression of The Black Cat, the acting from the feline side of the cast is mostly fine. The thick Gothic atmosphere is the film's main asset, and John Gilling achieves this through the black and white cinematography as well as the decor of the central location and many of the events that transpire. The film is very short at around seventy five minutes, but this doesn't matter too much as Gilling makes his point and doesn't let too many sub-plots interfere with that. Of course, this sort of story is rarely going to give way to a truly GREAT film, as there isn't enough of it; but the film moves along nicely for the duration, and the events that build up to the ending ensure that the film does what you would expect of it. Overall, I doubt too many people will be disappointed with this and any fan of British horror will want to check it out.

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.

After spending a typical evening reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" to her cat, poor Ella Venable (Catherine Lacey) is brutally murdered. With the cat as the only witness to the deed, the three miscreants responsible believe they've committed the perrrfect crime.

Not so fast!

It seems that kitty has a few tricks up her fuzzy sleeves, resulting in mayhem for the three cantankerous coconspirators.

Enter Ella's niece, Elizabeth (Barbara Shelley), who is so nice that she makes Pollyanna look like Mrs. Blaylock from THE OMEN! Also, a copper is under foot, snooping for clues.

As more relatives of the odious variety arrive, it's not certain just who will survive Ella's furtive feline!

THE SHADOW OF THE CAT is a highly entertaining ball of yarn. It's ghastly fun to watch the criminals reduced to jelly at the paws of the titular tabby! The POV, kitty-vision shots are particularly cool.

Andre Morell, Freda Jackson, and Andrew Crawford are all wonderfully wicked in their roles. Highly recommended for lovers of horror with a sense of fun...