The Leopard Man (1943) User Reviews

Memorable But Neglected Val Lewton Classic

[gftbiloxi · 8/10 · 2 May 2005]

The escape of nightclub performer's leopard is followed by a series of mutilations--but are these the work of the leopard or of a serial killer stalking a small southwestern town? Although not one of producer Val Lewton's better known films, director Tourner endows the story with considerable atmosphere, and the result is a moody and intriguing film that holds it own with the more celebrated CAT PEOPLE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.

Like other Lewton films, THE LEOPARD MAN relies more upon what it suggests than upon what it actually shows. This film is particularly effective in building suspense in a series of scenes that show various characters walking--a saucy Spanish dancer strolling along the street, a frightened teenager making a night-time trip to the grocer, a young woman rushing through a cemetery at night. The cinematography is elegant in its simplicity, and the sound design is quite remarkable. Hard to find, but Lewton fans will find it worth seeking out.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Another huge success from that genius Val Lewton!

[The_Void · 8/10 · 18 May 2005]

After their success in 1942 with the fabulous 'Cat People', the star team of producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur would team up twice the year later. First for the compelling and brilliant 'I Walked With a Zombie', and second for this film; The Leopard Man. For the movie, the two filmmakers re-cast the star of their first success, the big black leopard, in this movie, who once again plays a big black leopard. The screenplay this time round makes far better use of the animal at the centre of the film, which allows the impressive creature to make a much bigger impression on the movie, and it also gives the film a unique edge over other horror movies, as there aren't a great deal that can build around a leopard. In fact, one thing that struck me about this movie was it's similarity to the 1980's remake of Cat People, and I wonder just how much influence that film took from this production. Anyway, the story here is deliriously simple and it follows a leopard that has escaped from a nightclub. After a few deaths, the cat is blamed...but is there more to this scenario than meets the eye?

Just like Val Lewton's earlier and later productions, The Leopard Man is notable for it's breathtaking atmosphere, which is once again up there with the greatest ever seen in cinema. The use of shadows and lighting is impressive, and when you combine this with Jacques Tourneur's incredible ability to stage a scene amidst this atmosphere; you've got a recipe for a truly great horror movie. This movie isn't as full of great scenes as Cat People was, but there is still some really good stuff on display, including my favourite scene which sees someone mauled behind a closed door. I'm not a big subscriber to the idea of 'less is more', but the scene I just mentioned goes to show just how well it can work if utilised properly. If the film had directly shown the killing, it would have uprooted the atmosphere and the terror of the movie on the whole wouldn't have been as astute. As it happens, The Leopard Man has got it spot on. But then again, would you expect anything less from a Val Lewton production?

"Cards mean different things at different times."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 1 November 2015]

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.

My favorite Lewton-Tourneur film

[MichaelCarmichaelsCar · 4 August 2004]

I think 'The Leopard Man' is the most memorable and frightening of the three Lewton-Tourneur collaborations. While it may be more straightforward than 'I Walked With a Zombie' or 'Cat People,' it's more atmospheric and more effective because its chills are predicated on agoraphobic horror. 'I Walked With a Zombie' was confined to a tropical island setting, while 'The Leopard Man' takes place in a New Mexico border town, on the edge of town, so that we travel along the desolate and wide open spaces of the sleepy Southwest at nighttime.

Early in the film, a young Mexican girl is sent on a late-night errand by her mother to buy some tortilla. Being that the shop is closed, she must traverse the sandy expanse between town and the nearest open shop. During this trek, she must pass under a bridge, and the shadows and sounds that stalk her are terrifying. Recalling this scene, right now, gives me goosebumps.

Horror is the most cinematic of all genres, because it works directly on the viewer's emotions and fears, using atmosphere, sound, and montage as its tools. Most horror films are either exploitative or slick and empty, unfortunately, but to watch 'The Leopard Man' is to encounter the full potential of the horror genre, as Tourneur paints with shadows and not entrails. Forgive its plot holes and its lunkheaded denouement, because the journey there is a hair-raising walk in the dark.

Dramatic and Suspenseful Low-Budget Horror Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 28 July 2013]

In New Mexico, the agent Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hires the leopard of the sideshow performer Charlie How-Come (Abner Biberman) as a publicity stunt for his girlfriend Kiki Walker (Isabel Jewell) in her show in a night-club. However, her jealous rival Clo-Clo (Margo) frightens the animal with her castanets and the leopard flees from the night-club.

When the mother of the local Teresa Delgado (Margaret Landry) forces her to go late night to buy cornmeal in a distant store and the girl is killed by the leopard. Manning joins the hunting party organized by the Police Chief Roblos (Ben Bard) and the expert Dr. Galbraith (James Bell) to hunt down the animal.

Then the youth Consuelo Contreras (Tula Parma) is slaughtered in the cemetery and Manning suspects that the girl was murdered by a man. Then Clo-Clo is murdered with the same characteristics looking like a leopard attack. When the animal is found murdered in the countryside, Manning is sure that the deaths are the work of a serial-killer.

"The Leopard Man" is a dramatic and suspenseful low-budget horror movie with a gloomy cinematography and a predictable story. There are weird situations, like the dark humor of Teresa's little brother playing with the shadows or Clo-Clo rattling her castanets like a snake, or the dark procession in the end, and it is worthwhile watching this B-movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem-Leopardo" ("The Leopard Man")

Taut little B-movie

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 6 May 2002]

Slimly-plotted but handsomely-produced second-biller about an escaped leopard in a small dirt town in New Mexico that may be the cause of several horrific deaths...or maybe not! Intriguing premise given stylish film-noir treatment. Performances are solid, and Jacques Tourneur's crafty direction allows viewers to see just enough before fading to black. Val Lewton produced, giving the proceedings his customary spooky polish; Roy Webb's background score is predictably dramatic, though the intermittent use of dead silence is even more effective (and the castanets were a nice touch). Story tails off near the end, but film is still a minor gem. Fantastically atmospheric and fun. Based on the book "Black Alibi" by Cornell Woolrich. *** from ****

New Mexico After Dark

[telegonus · 9/10 · 12 October 2001]

A far better than average early film from the Val Lewton unit, The Leopard Man is as much murder mystery as horror picture. It is set in a New Mexico town where there are some weird goings on, including, among other things, big cat attacks. The photography is exceptional, moving from subjective to documentary-style objective without drastically altering the tone of the picture. What horror there is comes more from a sense of dread than anything that actually happens; also from the eerie feeling that certain places are unlucky, that some people are bound to die simply because of where they are. How true.

The star players are somewhat dull, but the supporting cast is quite good. And the merging and sometime colliding of the Anglo, Hispanic and Indian cultures is nicely presented. There is a sense of primitive feeling, of old religion, throughout the film, implied rather than stated, that is beyond the grasp of the hyper-rational lead players. We can catch this mood in fits and starts, but like the major characters, it eludes our grasp. Jacques Tourneur's direction is masterful every step of the way; and he uses music sensually yet emphatically, and the result is a fine-tuned film. It's major flaw is the revelation of the culprit, yet once Tourneur accepted the script's limitations he works superbly within them. The best thing about the movie is that its most crucial events happen mostly off-screen, leaving a good deal to our imaginations. And the minimalist script leaves a great deal in the dark, and even after the picture's florid, almost surreal climax, the air of mystery lingers. There are loose ends for sure, but Tourneur's polite, civilized touch dresses them up to appear profound and suggestive rather than threadbare, and the result is a pleasing conclusion that does not quite give the whole thing away; and we are left wanting to know just a little bit more. Tourneur was a true master.

Beautiful darkness!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 16 May 2005]

Perhaps not as mysteriously beautiful as "Cat People" or not as nightmarish as "The Body Snatcher", but still this Val Lewton production equally is a solid horror milestone that should be viewed by everyone who wants to learn about the roots of atmospheric horror. The screenplay, adapted from the Woolich novel "Black Alibi", is simple ...yet powerful enough to provide the film with a good 60 minutes of pure tension. Soon after a leopard, hired from a traveling circus for a publicity stunt, escapes from a fancy nightclub, horribly mutilated bodies begin to turn up in a Mexican border town. Is the animal really tearing everyone on its path to pieces or is someone abusing the town's mass-hysteria to satisfy his/her own urge to kill? Director Jacques Tourneur once again proves himself to be a master in creating an unbearably tense atmosphere. His excessive use of shadows and darkness turns the sets into ominous places while the constant unnatural sounds keep you alert for possible animal-attacks! Who needs a budget when you've got this much talent and style? "The Leopard Man" is an excellent film, one to watch preferably in series with "I walked with a Zombie" and "Curse of the Cat People".

Black Terror.. White Fangs

[sol-kay · 9/10 · 13 April 2004]

****SPOILERS**** Dark and creepy film based on the Cornell Wollrich novel "Black Alibi" about a leopard on the loose in the desert and towns of New Mexico. With deep and disturbing psychological overtones that strikes more fear in the hearts of those in the movie and audience then the big cat itself.

Publicity agent Jerry Manning, Dennis O'Keefe, trying to spice up his client Kiki Walker, Jean Brooks, nightclub act gets her a black leopard from a local carnival to upstage her rival at the club Spanish dancer Clo Clo, Margo. On the first night of Kiki's act with the big cat the leopard gets startled by an angry Clo Clo who put her hand-clickers almost in it's face. The noise made the cat break away from Kiki as it disappears into the night.

With the local police as well as the towns people looking for the escaped black leopard it later crosses the path of young Teresa Guadalupe who's outside going to the store to get corn meal for her mother to make dinner. Terrified with fear at the sight of the almost demonic-looking black cat Teresa drops the bag of corn meal that she has and runs for her life with the leopard hot on her tail.

Getting to her house her mother doesn't let poor Teresa in because she didn't have the corn meal and thought that her story about her being chased by a big cat was just an excuse for her to let her in the house. A moment later there's a terrifying scream and then all is eerily quiet. Realizing that something is terribly wrong Teresa's mother runs to open the door she sees a stream of blood oozing under it, the cat killed little Teresa.

Terrifying movie that plays with ones nerves like a violinist pays with the strings of his violin. With sounds and shadows instead of special effects and really packs a wallop by doing it. There's three scenes in the movie where someone is killed including the one with Teresa and everyone of them brings the tension to such a hight where your nerves are at the point of breaking down. You just can't wait for the nerve racking scene to finally end where at the same time the director of the movie, Jacques Tourneur, keeps you totally in the dark to what's happening off screen.

Tourneur direction shows how the mind can be easily tricked and manipulated by an imaginative film maker with nothing more then lights sound & shadows. And thus brings far more shocks and jolts to his audience back in 1943 then what the best state-of-the-art special effects can do in a movie today.

Even though "Leopard Man" touched upon a lot of psychological aspects of the human, as well as animal, mind it pre-dates the movie "Spellbound" which many consider the first major Hollywood film about the subject by two years.

The films dark and eerie ending in the darkening New Mexican desert amid a black hooded precession to commemorate the 17th century slaughter of the towns original inhabitants, by the Spanish Conquistadors, was one of the most creepiest sights I've ever seen in a movie.

Someday you'll try on my coffin and I hope it fits you just perfect.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 13 August 2010]

Horror producer supreme Val Lewton teams up for the third and last time with director Jacques Tourneur to bring us The Leopard Man. Set in New Mexico, the story sees Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hire a black leopard as a publicity stunt for his night-club performing partner, Kiki (Jean Brooks). Her rival, Clo Clo (Margo), is not impressed and promptly scares the animal into running away into the night. Pretty soon there is a panic looking as the cat appears to be mauling people to death. However, Manning & Kiki, driven by guilt, join the hunt for the rogue animal - but Manning is starting to believe the killings are not of the animal's doing...

Based on the book "Black Alibi" written by Cornell Woolrich, The Leopard Man's only crime is that it's not as great as its two predecessors, Cat People & I Walked With A Zombie. Rest assured, though, this is still a quality Lewton/Tourneur production. As a story it's simple and straight, with a running time of just over one hour keeping it lean and devoid of pointless waffle, but the piece positively thrives on its atmosphere - dealing as it does in murky shadows and unease inducing periods of silence. It also boasts a number of sequences that linger long in the memory, be it blood seeping under a door, the bend of a tree branch, or the dark under belly of a railway bridge, for such a short sharp shock of a movie there's so much to enjoy. The work of cinematographer Robert De Grasse (Vivacious Lady/The Body Snatcher) is top class and worthy of indulgence from the film noir loving crowd.

What you don't see is more effective on account of the eerie sense of dread that Messrs Lewton/Tourneur/De Grasse have built up. A fine film and proof positive that classic spookers could be made from relatively small budgets. 7/10

Leopard On The Loose.

[AaronCapenBanner · 5/10 · 21 October 2013]

Jacque Tourneur directed this thriller about a Leopard that escapes from a nightclub after a jealous performer lets it loose to ruin the debut of a new act. The nightclub owner(played by Dennis O'Keefe) tries to find it, but it seems to be responsible for a series of brutal killings(including a young woman on her way home, the best sequence in the film) There is other evidence pointing to another guilty party, proving the Leopard's innocence. Can the leopard be found and saved in time, and is there a real "leopard man" on the prowl? Unusual film has some atmosphere but a muddled story that never makes much sense; the least of the nine horror films produced by Val Lewton.

Spooky scenario...

[poe426 · 10/10 · 4 February 2005]

In an age when serial killers are deified, what Val Lewton and company wrought so long ago must seem tame, indeed; quaint. But THE LEOPARD MAN is anything but a tame little "murder mystery": it's a spooky psycho-sexual story about a serial killer feeding (as is the serial killer's wont) on the innocent. Cornell Woolrich (whose novel BLACK ALIBI was the impetus for this film) was definitely ahead of the curve on this one and the Lewton approach (to suggest rather than to show; to imply rather than indulge) fits, if you'll pardon the allusion, like a glove... Woolrich and Lewton were both on the same wave length, and THE LEOPARD MAN comes highly recommended.

Decent old school horror from Val Lewton.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 31 October 2015]

"The Leopard Man" tells the story of Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe), a press agent in a small New Mexico town who convinces entertainer Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) to use a supposedly tame black leopard in a publicity stunt. It gets scared, gets loose, and some time later kills local girl Teresa Delgado (Margaret Landry). That's not the end of things, however, as more unfortunate young women fall victim to what COULD be the leopard, but could also easily be a deranged human.

As far as producer Val Lewtons' suggestive, low budget genre films go, this isn't one of the best ones but it definitely has its moments. Ultimately, it's a little too obvious and predictable, and the resolution is kind of weak, but focusing on mystery aspects may have never been a priority for Lewton, director Jacques Tourneur, and screenwriter Ardel Wray (who adapts Cornell Woolrichs' story "Black Alibi"). What we get in their place are some engaging character vignettes and philosophical musing on the way that people are manipulated by fate; how little they may be in control of their actions. As with the rest of the Lewton filmography, the atmosphere is the absolute best component, especially in the beginning quarter which is incredibly frightening. When Teresa is killed by the leopard, we don't see it but hear it on the other side of a door, and see a small pool of blood seep under the door, mute testimony as to what happened.

The actors are all earnest and likable, with fine work by O'Keefe, Brooks, and the saucy and sexy Margo in the lead roles. Isabel Jewell (playing the fortune teller), James Bell (as the zoologist and leopard expert Dr. Galbraith), Abner Biberman (as Charlie How-Come, the leopards' owner), and Ben Bard (in the role of the police chief) comprise a solid supporting cast. Brandon Hurst has a nice role as a cemetery gatekeeper.

Overall, a good if not great black & white chiller, certainly worth a look for fans of the other Lewton productions.

Seven out of 10.

One Suspenseful Scene - That Was It

[ccthemovieman-1 · 3/10 · 2 November 2006]

This film is part of the Val Lewton Horror Collection, released on DVD a short time ago. Each disc contains two feature films. This one was with "The Ghost Ship." I found the latter far more entertaining than this movie.

I first saw this movie in the mid '90s, was not that impressed, but gave it another look when I acquired the Lewton set. On the second viewing, I lost interest halfway through and stopped it.

After a great start, with an extremely suspenseful scene with a woman outdoors alone on a dark street with a panther loose, but after this dramatic part the film bogs down big-time....down to a crawl at times. If only the second half had kept that early momentum up.

There are a lot of nighttime scenes, as was the case with a lot of Lewton's atmospheric films. Since I still own it, I'll give it another look. Who knows? Maybe the third time will be a charm.

beautifully directed but not much of a script

[cherold · 6/10 · 28 January 2005]

Typically atmospheric thriller from Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur is beautifully photographed and visually detailed with some interesting throwaway images, my favorite of which I think of as the "smoking madonna." It's a shame that so much talent is wasted on such a mediocre script.

The early part of the film, which establishes the premise and contains some very stylish, suspenseful scenes, is excellent, but as the predictable story begins to take over the movie suffers. The movie is worth watching because it is so artfully done, but I'd give it about a 6/10 because the script holds it back.

Locked In, Locked Out

[tedg · 22 May 2005]

If you want to understand movies, among other necessities you have to understand horror, how a story told in movies pictures can terrify you as badly as any nightmare.

You have to spend time, therefore with these guys, Tourneur and Woolrich. This is classic stuff and a real lesson because the important things are done excellently and the unimportant — it seems deliberately — done poorly.

The unimportant part of the movie is the story and everything that supports it. A leopard escapes and is blamed for three deaths. The story grinds to an offhand and dramatically weak conclusion.

The important part is the deaths. Three deaths, one girl and two women.

The first case is perhaps the most chilling because the storytelling is so tight. We haven't met these characters before and won't subsequently. They are there only for the killing. A little girl is sent out in the dark to get a minor grocery by her bitchy mother. She is afraid of the dark and needs to go much further than planned. On the way home, she encounters the beast and is terrified. The cinematic horror comes from us knowing what the mother does not. The girl pounds on the door, pounds for her life and the mother refuses.

The second case is more long form: the victim is introduced with amazing efficiency. We learn a huge amount about her in a few minutes. This is a creature that we understand: the character development is far better than anything else in the movie. She goes a graveyard to meet a clandestine lover of a lower class. She gets locked and encounters the beast. She similarly pounds the door in horror and this murder inherits all the terror of the one before.

The final case is quite different. It involves a character we know, at least we have encountered her in the "main" story. Her sound has permeated the entire movie. The horror of her death isn't portrayed as in the other two cases, and there are lots of details about this death (like the lipstick) that don't add up.

Long before this, we've suspected the truth about the murders, but this shift in narrative signals that the characters will come to a similar revelation.

This business about showing us things the characters don't know isn't all that old. It developed well before these guys got it. But they knew how to use it. Its not a good film, but important in the history of horror.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Early Serial Killer film

[meddlecore · 6/10 · 8 October 2015]

The Leopard Man is a Tourneur/Lewton collaboration from RKO, adapted from the book Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich (the most prolifically adapted crime writer of his time). It was made on a budget of $150,000 and is thus quite short- running only 66 minutes. It's notable for being one of the first serial killer films.

Everything starts when a show producer rents a leopard from a local sideshow act in order to boost the entertainment value of his production. When one of his performers walks on stage with the cat on a leash...it gets spooked by the crowed and runs off.

With the cat on the loose, the whole town goes into a panic and is afraid to leave their homes. One adolescent girl, however, is sent by her mother to fetch a bag of cornmeal. Unfortunately, fate crosses her path with the leopard- who gets spooked by a train and attacks her.

A short while later, a young woman goes to rendezvous with her lover in the local cemetery, only to be attacked and killed by what seems to have been a leopard as well.

The producer isn't so certain this time around though. Things just don't add up. So he goes to speak with the cat's owner- who concurs with his speculation. They think a man is responsible for this...and that the leopard is being framed.

However, the local museum curator- Galbraith- fashions himself an expert, and remains adamant the leopard is to blame (convincing the police). Despite the protests put forth by the producer and owner of the cat.

Ironically, it's the murder of the leopard that helps them conclude and confront the killer for who he really is.

There's an odd sense of moralism spun into this film- but i couldn't tell if this was included for indoctrination purposes; or whether the filmmakers were subtly trying to undermine something they were forced to include. A couple examples being: the warning from the young girls mother, before she wanders off to the cemetery (and get's killed for it). And the producers admission that he has met some sketchy individuals in and around night clubs and bars.

Other than that, with it's short runtime it manages to keep you engaged in the mystery throughout- making it an entertaining little picture.

It's not terribly scary or anything, but there are some moments of tension. The best part about this film are it's transitions from plot element to plot element. It has a really nice flow.

I suppose it's also pertinent to note the misleading trailer- which made it seem like the killer was going to be some sort of leopard-man hybrid. It's not.

While not the most memorable film or anything, it's entertaining enough.

6 out of 10

How a Catwalk Leads to Murder

[BaronBl00d · 8/10 · 8 November 2005]

Dennis O'Keefe and Jean Brooks decide to elevate their act in New Mexico by having Brooks walk on-stage with a black leopard. The Mexican castanet dancer, Clo Clo(deliciously played by Margo), mashes the castanets menacingly at the cat, it flees, and a panic spreads amongst the people of the little village. Soon, one girl dies, then another, and another...and evidence points that a cat did it and later to something completely different. The Leopard Man is one of those rare films that is very effective with shadows and fog without showing anything. We never see any of the deaths happen "on-stage" so to speak. The imaginations of the viewers are enlisted to conjure up what might be the scene of each murder. Director Jacques Tournier and producer Val Lewton probably team up for their best collaboration. This film is laced with moody atmosphere, great pacing, quality performances, and a script worked over by the camera that enforces theme and symbolic meaning throughout. I found this film haunting, eerie, and poetic in its own way. O' Keefe, James Bell, Margo, Brooks, and the entire cast give credible turns and enforce our ability to accept what is going on.Some scenes are quite memorable: the young girl walking back home from the store is a classic scene of terror, the cemetery scene, and the procession of the monks allowed Tournier to work his magic with the lens. Tournier was always able to tell so much story with so little dialog. Though some might find the ending a bit of a letdown, I thoroughly enjoyed The Leopard Man.

THE LEOPARD MAN (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 29 October 2006]

Apart from its classic murder sequences (particularly the first with its bloody pay-off), this one has an original, audacious structure (criticized at the time because it was not understood) with the narrative following minor characters every once in a while and veering off into seemingly unrelated subplots - a half-century prior to Tarantino's would-be seminal PULP FICTION (1994), but also Luis Bunuel's THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974)!!

Dennis O'Keefe is a wonderful lead as the sleuth figure; in fact, the film is actually more of a thriller since the murders do not have a basis in the supernatural (as was the case with the previous two Lewton/Tourneur collaborations). Though Jean Brooks is ostensibly the heroine, Margo is given more screen-time and her role is a lot more interesting: her performance as the doomed artiste - frequently resorting to her fortune-teller friend Isabel Jewell, who unfailing turns up the death card! - is quite moving. James Bell underplays his pivotal role as the museum curator/animal expert (which is similar to the brief doctor part he essayed in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE [1943]); also fine is Abner Biberman as the owner of the escaped leopard, who blacks out during his frequent drinking binges and thinks he may be the murderer.

The small-town atmosphere is brilliantly captured on a studio set (marred only by some corny elements in the script intended to accentuate the local color, such as the over-use of Margo's castanets - to the point where they even become a motif - or the birthday song delivered to the second victim of the titular creature…but, especially, the infuriatingly stupid mother of the little girl - who bullies her innocent and fearful daughter to an early grave!); the 'outdoor' climax, then, is given an added touch of strangeness by taking place in the midst of a procession headed by a group of caped villagers!

Curiously, both the Leslie Halliwell and Leonard Maltin film guides give the running-time as a mere 59 minutes; however, the two times I've watched the film, it's always been by way of the full-length 66-minute version! William Friedkin's Audio Commentary is a good listen, despite his tendency to describe the on-screen action (though almost always accentuated by his own interpretation of events); this was his favorite among the Lewton horrors - and, in fact, it's very much underrated among fans but, personally, I loved it immediately!

I loved this one!

[zetes · 10/10 · 11 October 2002]

Well, for the most part, anyway. In a rural part of New Mexico, actress Kiki Walker is competing for attention with a local castanets dancer. Kiki's manager brings her a leopard on a leash so she can show the dancer up during her performance. Her rival one-ups her by snapping the castanets right in the leopard's face, which drives it wild. It breaks free from its mistress' grasp. As it flees from the night club, a waiter raises his hand: three bloody claw-marks from trying to stop the wild beast. The meat of the film is made up mostly from three tragedies resulting from the leopard - or do they? Okay, so the "or do they?" part isn't great, but those three tragedies are three of the best sequences in film history, no doubt. The first concerns a young girl forced by her mother to buy cornmeal in the middle of the night. Her younger brother meanly teases her by making leopard-shaped shadow puppets on the wall. The second involves a young girl who has gone to the graveyard to put flowers on her mother's grave, and also to meet with her lover. When she doesn't find him there, she becomes depressed and doesn't hear the groundskeeper's warning that he is locking the gate. The third happens to the castanet player, whose fortune teller turns up the ace of spades for her several times in a row without fail. An expert expresses the belief that the leopard could not have caused all of these events, so the film becomes, unfortunately, a whodunit. The answer is obvious immediately, even if it's not believable. Fortunately, the direction is so excellent, as well as the set pieces, that even with such a weak solution, the film is a near-masterpiece. 9/10.

Great use of limited budget

[dave13-1 · 7/10 · 9 February 2008]

The Leopard Man is a master class in efficient scripting and filming on a budget. Despite being 70 minutes long, it has a large ensemble of characters from different areas of a small New Mexico town - English and Spanish, rich and poor, entertainers, police, scientists - all involved in some way in a story about an escaped leopard who may be hunting humans. A mood of fear and foreboding is economically created with plays of light, sudden noises, eerie music, and unseen objects moving in the shadows. The animal attacks occur in darkness and behind doors, but are filmed in such a way as to be suggestive of greater violence than if they had been shown explicitly, and this is very effectively scary. A remarkable film.

Not very Plausible

[jjwolverine · 4/10 · 6 November 2020]

This film let me down on a few points. Why would a woman untrained in handling a wild animal bring a leopard into a crowded nightclub on a leash? Why would another performer startle the animal so that he broke free in the nightclub? Another woman goes to the town cemetary, which is entirely walled in, and is told that the cemetary will close in a few minutes. She walks to the other side of the cemetary and stands there. The caretaker blows a whistle--twice--and she looks up but makes no move to leave or even call out that she's still inside. Horror of horrors, she gets locked inside! What did she think was going to happen? Elsewhere in town a mother sends her teen-aged daughter out at night to buy cornmeal when there are people being murdered, supposedly by a wild leopard. The girl comes home screaming and pounding on the door begging her mother to let her inside because something is after her. The mother tells her to be quiet and continues to cook while her daughter screams for her life. Finally, the mother goes to unlock the door, only it's too late. I could go on, but really, what kind of people behave like this? The movie was also slow-paced, and the actors were flat. The screaming teen-ager was the most believable character in the film

Another dark masterpiece of suggestion from the Tourneur/Lewton team

[bmacv · 8/10 · 12 October 2002]

Is Jacques Tourneur the laziest director ever? He let the audience do all the work. At least he did when making little suspense programmers under producer Val Lewton, who headed RKO's second-feature unit in the wartime 1940s. Hamstrung by parsimonious budgets, they racked their brains for ways to make their movies look good and pack a wallop. Their solutions proved inspired, resulting in a string of classics – The Cat People, The Leopard Man, I Walked With A Zombie – that still rank among the moodiest, most memorable fright-films ever made (with different directors, Lewton oversaw The Seventh Victim and other distinctive works in the same vein). With The Leopard Man, Tourneur was handed a script that showed little promise; when he was finished with it, it shone with his distinctive black magic. That magic was to suggest rather than to show; to plant seeds in viewers' imaginations and let them grow.

In a sleepy New Mexico town that somehow supports a posh night club, publicity man Dennis O'Keefe gets an idea to promote an act by arranging for the star (Jean Brooks) to make a grand entrance with a big black leopard on a leash. The cat escapes – and soon the deaths begin.

First a girl sent out into the night to fetch cornmeal for mama's tortillas finds the corner store closed and must venture further afield. Tumbleweeds stirred up by the dry winds and trains hurtling over trellises are unnerving enough, but then something else starts its pursuit. She almost makes it back safely but the lock is stuck....

Next another young woman sets off in late afternoon for an assignation with her boyfriend at the cemetery. When he doesn't show, she loses track of time and improvidently finds herself locked in among the gravestones and statuary....

A posse sets out to find and kill the leopard, but O'Keefe begins to doubt whether the killer is in fact feline. It's in the resolution (based on a story by Cornell Woolrich) that the script ultimately disappoints, but the trip to it remains a dark ride. Those minuscule budgets didn't compromise the movie's decadently glossy looks, and the extraordinary Roy Webb's castanet-ridden score keeps the tension taut (one high, sustained, almost pianissimo chord hangs over the cemetery scene). The mistress of the castanets, a cabaret dancer called Clo-Clo, is an actress called Margo; the ace of spades keeps turning up in her fortune. Her performance lends The Leopard Man what little heart it shows.

Super-effective B-picture

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 25 December 2006]

This film had very modest pretensions, with a relatively low budget and second-string actors. Plus, at only 66 minutes, it's obvious that this was a "B-picture"--in other words, intended as the second and less expensive film on a double-feature. This isn't meant to insult the film, but to describe a style of film common mostly in the 1940s. Because of this, you really can't compare this film to A-pictures, but need to understand that despite the budget, this is an excellent film--though not as eerie or effective as other Val Lewton produced films such as THE CAT PEOPLE or I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.

The film starts with a publicity stunt gone awry, as in the process a black leopard escapes and the town is quite naturally scared. Over the next several days, three women are mauled and this is assumed to be the work of the escaped cat. However, the exact cause of the deaths isn't sure--is it due to the leopard or is it murder?! The film had decent though not especially inspired acting. However, the plot itself was the star, as it took several nifty twists and turns and the film was intelligently written from start to finish. A smart and effective film that's well worth your time.

Not as exciting as the title suggests

[Johan_Wondering_on_Waves · 5/10 · 20 April 2015]

Another reviewer remarked that the movie has one suspenseful scene which is obviously the first where the gypsy girl runs and gets chased by the loose leopard. I have to agree with that, this was the best scene of the whole movie. Well the build-up to the other two murders were quite good too and that's pretty much all the positive I can say about this movie. So the leopard didn't kill the other ladies but it was a man who tried to blame the loose leopard for it. His motive stays pretty vague, I don't think it gets revealed at all and for me he wasn't really convincing as the killer. Maybe my fault was to expect something along the lines of Cat People which came out 1 year earlier. But even if it was very different the plot of Leopard Man wasn't worked out as well the one in Cat People. also way too many characters are involved which hardly show chemistry so it's hard to care for them in the end.