The Leopard Man (1943)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Leopard Man (1943) – J. Tourneur

Val Lewton’s productions use minimal means to create scares out of shadows and The Leopard Man is no exception.  A young girl walks alone to buy corn meal in the New Mexico night.  The soundtrack is silent except for her footsteps and the wind rustling the trees.  Suddenly tumbleweed rushes by out of nowhere.  We are afraid for her because a dangerous leopard is on the loose after escaping from a nightclub publicity stunt gone wrong.  The young girl does die and this event initiates a series of murders.  But is the cat really the culprit? Although there are a number of suspects, under Jacques Tourneur’s direction, this never really turns into a B-picture mystery where a detective sorts through the clues to build up to an announced solution but instead the film remains spookier and more existential.  There is a heavy coldness here where the chilly fingers of death could be just around the next corner, stalking their prey and taking the soul away offscreen, leaving only remains.