The Leopard Man (1943)

Another excellent film from Jacque Tourneur, once again teamed up with producer Val Lewton (this would be their third success in the span of just two years), The Leopard Man is a whole mess of different movie genres jumbled into one, and it's a fascinating subversion of everything you might expect from the title.

Let's start with that title anyway. There IS a leopard. It's used by a man who wants to create some publicity. Unfortunately, the leopard is frightened and runs away, which leads to people searching for the creature. The more time goes by without the leopard being found, the more deaths occur. Most people assume that the deaths are caused by the wild animal, but some start to think about other possibilities.

Dennis O'Keefe plays Jerry Manning, the promoter who could arguably be referred to as the titular character, but there's also the owner of the leopard (Charlie, played by Abner Biberman), as well as anyone who may be opportunistically using the situation to act on some murderous impulses. Kiki (Jean Brooks) is a nightclub performer, but she may also become a victim of the "leopard", as could Teresa (Margaret Landry), Consuela (Tuulikki Paananen), Clo-Clo (Margo), and a fortune teller named Maria (Isabel Jewell). There are also some other male characters, but they all feel much more like suspects than potential mauled bodies.

Tourneur shows his usual talent for beautifully framing most of the main scenes, and once again shows how much more effective it can be to not show the audience what might be lurking in shadows, or even just outwith the edges of the screen. The script by Ardel Wray (adapting the material from “Black Alibi”, by Cornell Woolrich, from page to screen) is very good, although slightly disparate and episodic in nature throughout the first half. The main ideas are developed nicely though, and there are some great dialogue exchanges between characters. Nothing here ranks alongside the best work from the film-makers involved, but it has a consistent level of quality throughout.

O’Keefe and Brooks are decent nominal leads, easy enough to tag along with and root for, but the fun here comes from the wonderful variety of supporting players, whether they are in one scene or most of the movie. Biberman and Jewell were my personal favourites, but everyone manages to make a surprisingly strong impression, no matter how much screentime they have.

Although seemingly very easy to dismiss, especially while the plot seems very straightforward in the opening scenes, this turns into a real little gem of a film. I wouldn’t hold it up as a classic, not even a minor one, but it’s easy to enjoy, easy to appreciate, and easy to squeeze into your viewing schedule (with a runtime of approximately 66 minutes).

7/10

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Prime Time: Dishonored Lady (1947)

Here's a strange bit of personal trivia to start things off today. Although I had heard of Hedy Lamarr over the years, and I MAY have first heard the name utilised in Blazing Saddles, I had never seen her in a movie. I could be forgetting something, it happens, but I really think that this is the first film I have watched featuring her in a main role. And I couldn't have made a better choice. Well, that's very debatable when considering sheer cinematic quality. But it's less debatable when you consider the plot details here, and pair that up with the reputation of someone who is credited with a frequency hopping radio system that is used today in WiFi, Bluetooth, and more.

So . . . what's it all about? Why am I so happy to have started with this? Well, it's all about Ms Lamarr, who plays a woman named Madeleine Damien, heading off to start a new life with a new identity. This is all for the sake of her mental health, and can you guess what has caused her to have such a problem? She's being viewed with disdain because she has been seen as someone who doesn't mind partying, and doesn't need to just stick to partying with one guy. Yes, the more things change, the more things stay the same. Dishonored Lady is a noir film revolving around the core idea that Hedy Lamarr is slut-shamed into starting a whole new life. Anyway, it works out well. She meets the lovely Dr. Cousins (played by Dennis O'Keefe) and the future looks bright. But her past isn't quite ready to stay in the past, and those who knew Madeleine before cannot believe that she has changed all that much. There's an attempt to ruin her happiness, there's a fair bit of alcohol, and there's a dead body, one that leads to an embarrassed Madeleine having to bear witness to a trial that seems more concerned with her lifestyle choices than any actual motivation for murder.

Based on a play, and adapted for the screen by Edmund H. North (who also happened to write one of my favourite films of all time, The Day The Earth Stood Still), Dishonored Lady is a simple and effective little thriller that also ticks some of the boxes to qualify as a noir. You get the moral shadiness, and that's without considering how '40s audiences may have viewed the central character, you get various people scheming to get results, and the corpse turns up just in time for the third act to step everything up.

Director Robert Stevenson handles everything well, making the most of his cast to easily further move away from any potential staginess in the material (and, kudos to North, there is plenty done in the adaptation to add some cinematic quality to everything). It's not flashy or overly complicated, Stevenson is a professional who keeps this focused on the main character, her journey and her big dilemma.

Lamarr is fantastic in her role, and I'll be seeking out more of her movies whenever I remember to make the time for them, and O'Keefe does well as the nice and proper love interest. John Loder and William Lundigan have two vital supporting roles, they do fine, while Morris Carnovsky has to be the exposition for a couple of main scenes in which he portrays the doctor who has tried to help Lamarr move on from her "unhealthy" past. And Margaret Hamilton is good to see in a small role, playing a landlady who likes her tenants but doesn't like the turn of events when the police come calling.

I can see people dismissing this easily enough. It's never all that gripping, it's essentially a love story interrupted by a bit of drama (as opposed to a noir with some chemistry between the leads), and there aren't enough big names padding out the cast list. It just all worked for me, thanks to the parallels you can make between attitudes of yesteryear and attitudes of today, and thanks to the central performance from Lamarr.

8/10

There doesn't seem to be any decent disc release for this, which is a great shame. Surely some major Lamarr retrospective boxset is out there, or due at some point.