cinematography Nicholas Musuraca
music Roy Webb
editing Mark Robson
production design Walter E. Keller, Albert S. D'Agostino
costumes Renié
with Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway
Jane Randolph, Jack Holt
producer Val Lewton
production RKO
While sketching a panther at the zoo, Serbian fashion artist Irena Dubrovna meets American Oliver Reed. She invites him to her apartment for tea. A few months later, they are married. Irena is a strange and lonely woman with no friends. She has a fascination with panthers, but animals don’t seem to like her very much. Irena is haunted by a tale from her country that tells how the people of her village were witches, devil worshippers, and, under strong emotions like jealousy or anger, could change into panthers. She refers to them as the "cat people." Oliver takes it as a folktale, but Irena takes it for real, so real that she refuses to sleep with her husband because she believes that she might kill him. Oliver suggests that Irena see a psychiatrist, so she goes to see Dr Louis Judd, who was recommended to Oliver by his co-worker, Alice Moore. When Irena returns home after the first session, she finds Oliver and Alice seated on the couch, talking about her. Irena gets angry when Oliver reveals that he has told Alice about her problem.
