Cat People (1942 Film) - Plot

Plot

At the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, New York City, Serbian-born fashion designer Irena Dubrovna makes sketches of a black panther. She catches the attention of marine engineer Oliver Reed, who strikes up a conversation. Irena invites him to her apartment for tea. As they walk away, one of Irena's discarded sketches is revealed as a panther impaled by a sword.

At her apartment, Oliver is intrigued by a statue of a medieval warrior on horseback impaling a large cat with his sword. Irena informs Oliver that the figure is King John of Serbia and that the cat represents evil. According to legend, long ago the Christian residents of her home village gradually turned to witchcraft and devil worship after being enslaved by the Mameluks. When King John drove the Mameluks out and saw what the villagers had become, he had them killed. However, "the wisest and the most wicked" escaped into the mountains. Oliver buys her a kitten, but upon meeting her it hisses. They go to the pet shop to exchange it as they enter the animals go wild in her presence. The shopkeeper says that animals can sense things about people.

It gradually becomes clear that Irena believes she is descended from them, and that she fears that she will transform into a panther if aroused to passion. While she was growing up, the other children had called her mother a cat person and her father had died mysteriously.

Despite her odd beliefs, Oliver persuades her to marry him. However, during the dinner after their wedding at a Serbian restaurant, a woman walks over and asks Irena if she is "мојa сестрa" (moya sestra, "my sister"). Fearing something evil within her and dreading what could happen, Irena avoids sleeping with her husband. He persuades her to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Louis Judd, who tries to convince her that her fears are of a more mundane nature. When she discovers that Oliver has confided their marital problems to his attractive assistant, Alice Moore, she feels betrayed. At work, Alice confesses to Oliver that she loves him.

One night, Irena sees Oliver and Alice seated together at a restaurant. She follows Alice as she walks home alone through one of the Central Park transverses (a very recognizable stone wall that is typical of the crosstown routes along the park). Alice becomes increasingly uneasy, sensing an unseen someone or something behind her. Just as she hears a menacing sound, a bus pulls up, and she hastily boards it. Soon after, several sheep are killed. The bloodied pawprints leading away turn into imprints of a woman's shoes.

Later, when Alice decides to take a dip in the basement swimming pool of her apartment building, she is stalked by an animal shown only by its shadow. She jumps into the pool, using the water to keep the creature at bay. When Alice screams for help, Irena turns on the lights and claims to be looking for Oliver. Alice emerges, wondering if she had imagined the whole thing, until she finds her robe torn to shreds.

After a talk with Dr. Judd, Irena tells Oliver she is no longer afraid, but it is too late; Oliver has realized that he loves Alice and is getting a divorce. Later, at work, he and Alice are cornered by a ferocious animal. Thinking quickly, he grabs his T-square (which is in the shape of a cross) and tells Irena to go away.

After it leaves, Alice calls Dr. Judd to warn him to stay away from Irena, but he hangs up when the woman shows up. Attracted to her, he makes the fatal mistake of kissing her. She transforms into a panther and kills him, though he manages to wound her in the shoulder with the sword concealed in his cane. Oliver and Alice arrive a few minutes too late. Irena slips away, back in her human shape, and goes to the zoo. There, she opens the panther's cage and allows herself to be killed.