The first production from Val Lewton's famed unit at RKO which started the world because it was a horror film, but one which was heavily literary and relied on suggestion rather than effects to get results.
It's also very adult: lonely Serbian Simone Simon (very winning, a cutey, but still lonely and scary) marries decent dull stick (Kent Smith) but won't sleep with him because she's afraid of turning into a cat and killing him. Full on! In 1942!
The two stalking sequences are justly famous but there are other fine scenes, too, notably the love scenes between Smith and the other woman (Jane Randolph) and the ones involving the creepy shrink (Tom Conway). Extremely well directed, shot and written; the acting is fine, too.
Followed by I Walked with a Zombie.
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