When RKO Pictures hired Val Lewton to produce a series of horror flicks, they'd throw him some spare change and expect a good story. For this one, the studio came up with a hundred fifty thousand dollars and a title which Lewton managed to turn into a combination horror/mystery/murder thriller. He had to be creative since the budget didn't allow him to actually create any monsters. Through the use of shadows and imagery, Lewton was able to play on the viewers' fear of the unknown and create horror in what one imagines in place of what is actually seen.
Perhaps the best example of this is the tortured walk young Teresa Delgado is forced to make to buy cornmeal by her demanding mother. On the way back from the grocery store, Teresa struggles with her thoughts on how to proceed home, while the play of light and shadow on the railroad trestle as the locomotive screams overhead provides a fascinating example of the cinematographer's skill. Then, as the face of the black leopard appears to her, Teresa is overcome with a fear that creates panic, ultimately ending in a scene in which blood is seen oozing underneath the door sill of her home, as she is unable to make her way inside.
What bothered me about the story as it unfolded was the lack of concern the authorities might have shown for those who I felt most complicit in the first victim's death. The Mexican dancer Clo-Clo (Margo) incited the rather docile looking animal to break free in the night club, while the mother of Teresa had some culpability by being obstinate about the cornmeal. That Clo-Clo herself became a victim later in the story did little to negate my feeling that it was her initial action that put an entire village at risk.
The story takes a decidedly different turn once promoter Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) begins to doubt the missing leopard is the cause of subsequent victims. There again, a better fleshed out story might have given more prominence to the psychological angle at play with the character of museum curator Galbraith (James Bell). Yet when you consider the limited budget and time constraints producer Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur worked under, the finished product turned out to be a fairly decent and compelling thriller.
Perhaps the best example of this is the tortured walk young Teresa Delgado is forced to make to buy cornmeal by her demanding mother. On the way back from the grocery store, Teresa struggles with her thoughts on how to proceed home, while the play of light and shadow on the railroad trestle as the locomotive screams overhead provides a fascinating example of the cinematographer's skill. Then, as the face of the black leopard appears to her, Teresa is overcome with a fear that creates panic, ultimately ending in a scene in which blood is seen oozing underneath the door sill of her home, as she is unable to make her way inside.
What bothered me about the story as it unfolded was the lack of concern the authorities might have shown for those who I felt most complicit in the first victim's death. The Mexican dancer Clo-Clo (Margo) incited the rather docile looking animal to break free in the night club, while the mother of Teresa had some culpability by being obstinate about the cornmeal. That Clo-Clo herself became a victim later in the story did little to negate my feeling that it was her initial action that put an entire village at risk.
The story takes a decidedly different turn once promoter Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) begins to doubt the missing leopard is the cause of subsequent victims. There again, a better fleshed out story might have given more prominence to the psychological angle at play with the character of museum curator Galbraith (James Bell). Yet when you consider the limited budget and time constraints producer Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur worked under, the finished product turned out to be a fairly decent and compelling thriller.