Le spectre du chat

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...

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!

The Shadow of the Cat is directed by John Gilling and written by George Baxt. It stars Conrad Phillips, Barbara Shelley, André Morell, Richard Warner, William Lucas and Andrew Crawford. Music is by Mikis Theodorakis and cinematography by Arthur Grant.

Tabitha the house cat witnesses her mistress being murdered by her scheming family and sets about enacting revenge...

Out of BHP Films, which is basically Hammer Films using an alias due to a technical legality, The Shadow of the Cat is a delightfully eerie entrant in the pantheon of Old Dark House movies.

The picture kicks off with the brutal murder of an old dear, the setting a moody mansion full of shadows, murky rooms, rickety floors, nooks and crannies, and this while Tabitha the cat watches intensely. From here we meet the roll call of family and house servants, the majority of whom are nefarious, and as the paranoia builds amongst the guilty, their reasons for dastardly doings evident, Tabitha goes about her cunning assassinations.

Of for sure it's bonkers in plotting, but Gilling (The Plague of the Zombies/The Reptile) was a very astute director, and he manages to wring much suspense and unease from the story, whilst he's not shy to play up some humour and even adds some decent shocks into the bargain. Cast are on good form, playing it just the way it should be played, and the Bray Studio surrounding areas once again prove to be a useful location for such horror shenanigans.

Aided by Grant's (The Tomb of Ligeia/The Curse of the Werewolf) beautiful black and white photography, Gilling proves masterful at atmosphere. Naturally we have the requisite thunderstorm, but it's the oblique angles and looming shadows that really fill the mood with impending dread. While the use of a stretch screen technique to portray the cat's POV (Catovision?) is a nice trick that works very effectively.

It's a hard film to get hold of, but there are decent sources available to view it (the Onyx Media International double DVD with Cat Girl is a good transfer that does justice to the photography). It's still under seen and little known due to its lack of availability. Which is a shame, because for fans of Old Dark House creepers there's good fun to be had here. 8/10