Eye For Film >> Movies >> Cat People (1942) Blu-Ray Review
Jacques Torneur's handsome 1942 film is beautifully rendered in this Blu-ray edition, allowing viewers to enjoy its stylish noir visuals to the full. It's accompanied by a rich slate of features, which are unfortunately let down by an awful navigation system. Think your TV has just stopped working? Don't worry - those two minutes of blackness are just what you get whilst the next feature is loaded. If you're in a bright room or have poor eyesight, you may need to stand closer to your TV to read the menus, which are written in pale or slender text over stills, sometimes placing that text on a white background.
As for the features themselves, there's some really good stuff here, including a piece on producer Val Lewton and a handsomely illustrated discourse on the cinematography. Detailed commentary by film historian Gregory Mank means almost every viewer will discover something new. If you haven't seen the film before, just don't watch the trailer first, because it will supply you with rather more information than you want. The contrast between trailer and film, however, is interesting, illustrating the quality of the restoration work.
Reviewed on: 28 Sep 2016