Cat People (with Miriam Bale)

For October’s B-Movies issue–just in time for spooky season–we’re casting an eye back toward RKO darling Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People (1942), one of the studio’s most successful forays into low-budget, low-runtime horror. Joining us is film critic and curator, and Artistic Director of Indie Memphis, Miriam Bale. Listen as we historicize our love for Cat People back to Martin Scorsese’s endorsement (“psychosexual!”) in A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), lament the scourge of work wives, and admire this film’s timeless restraint (while appreciating the comparative verve of Paul Schrader’s remake).

Further reading: Geoffrey O’Brien on Cat People’s insightful ambiguity and Karina Longworth on Val Lewton’s work at RKO.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s trek through cinema’s b-roll, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and honor us with a quick review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Thanks for listening; we’ll see you in the dark.