.jpg "THE SHADOW OF THE CAT (1961)") |
| THE SHADOW OF THE CAT (1961) |
Who?
Director: John Gilling
Producer: Jon Penington
Screenplay: George Baxt
Cast: André Morell, Barbara Shelley, Conrad Phillips, Richard Warner, William Lucas, Andrew Crawford, Freda Jackson, Vanda Godsell, Alan Wheatley, Catherine Lacey, Henry Kendall, Kynaston Reeves, Vera Cook, Angela Crow, Howard Knight
How?
In 1960 George Baxt, Richard Hatton and Jon Pennington formed a production company - BHP. Baxt wrote a script which BHP took to Hammer, who initially refused it. However, after a change of mind they secured funding from Universal and The Shadow of the Cat became a Hammer production, although it was released under the BHP label. BHP's Penington took on production duties and, significantly, hired John Gilling to direct. Gilling had worked for Hammer as a writer from the late 1940s but had left on bad terms in 1951. Now directing, this was his first picture for Hammer again and he would go on to write and direct a number more during the 1960s. Gilling immediately set about changing Baxt's script somewhat, most notably with the addition of an actual cat. Among the cast Conrad Phillips, André Morell, Barbara Shelley, Freda Jackson and Vanda Godsell had all appeared previously for Hammer. Shooting took place at Bray Studios with the regular Hammer crew, including Bernard Robinson as production designer and Arthur Grant as director of photography. The film was released as a second feature to Curse of the Werewolf (1961).
What?
Ella Venable (Lacey) is confined to the attic of her rambling Victorian mansion by her domineering husband Walter (Morell). Although intending to leave all her estate to her niece Elizabeth (Shelley), Walter forces her to rewrite her will and then has his servant Andrew (Crawford) kill her. Walter, Andrew and the housekeeper Clara (Jackson) then bury her body in the woods, and report her to the police as being 'missing'. Ella's cat Tabatha, however, was present during the murder and burial and the three conspirators become increasingly concerned that the cat will somehow give them away and they become intent on catching it, but to no avail. Walter's brother Edgar and nephew Jacob have arrived, along with Elizabeth, and Walter eventually seeks the help of the two men in disposing of the cat - who agree, for a price. One by one, however, the conspirators succumb to fatal 'accidents', at which the cat is always present. Those surviving become increasingly obsessed with disposing of Tabatha, convinced that she is somehow exacting revenge for the death of her mistress.
So?
The Shadow of the Cat has occasionally been in a bit of a Hammer limbo - was it to be regarded as a genuine Hammer film or not? After all, 'Hammer' appears nowhere on the onscreen credits - it is a 'BHP' production. For this reason Shadow was often omitted from Hammer filmographies. But there can really be no doubt that Shadow is a bona fide Hammer picture - BHP merely provided a script for Hammer, who themselves arranged financing and distribution, and made the picture in their own studios, with their crew, and many of their actors. So Shadow is rightly recognised now as a true Hammer picture, in all but (onscreen) name. Regrettably, however, it is not one of Hammer's better pictures - although not through a lack of talent. Gilling was an excellent, if difficult, director, the cast were uniformly very good, and the crew were Hammer's gifted regular team. The problem, basically, was the story itself. Bax, had originally omitted any reference to a physical cat - the story was to be played out on a purely psychological level. Gilling, however, felt the story needed the actual presence of a cat and adjusted it accordingly. This, I think, is where the problem lies. Laying so much emphasis on the physical cat strongly implies the presence of the 'supernatural', whether intended or not. This ultimately is to the detriment of the picture.
But first, Shadow's good points, because it does have them - as can be seen immediately, for the film opens with a crackingly atmospheric murder and body disposal. Set to an apt voiceover of Poe's The Raven, Arthur Grant's moody b&w photography, Bernard Robinson's creepy Victorian mansion, Mikas Theodorakis' ominous score, and sinister performances from Morell, Crawford and Jackson as the murderous conspirators all combine to create an opening that promises much - which is why the film is ultimately a disappointment, because it fails to deliver. Only sporadically does Shadow live up to its prologue - as in Crawford's later swampy death. Which is a shame, because on the whole the cast do their best with what they have. Morell and his viciously avaricious family and servants are a delight to behold, Morell in particular because it is such an uncharacterstic part for him. And Shelley is the perfect foil of goodness to their circle of evil. But unfortunately what they have to work with storywise just doesn't gell. Shadow is not sure what it is or wants to be - a tale of the supernatural, or a psychological one? Trying to walk a line between the two, and keep the audience wondering, Shadow simply falls down and fails to satisfy on either score, appearing confused and illogical.
Much of the blame for this lies with the use of the cat - a normal tabby that, no matter how hard they try, simply fails to convince as either a deliberate or accidental force of revenge. Morell's quickly developed and ever-growing obsession with catching the moggy, speedily passed on to the others, seems comical in the extreme. What did he initially think it would do, go to the police? The constant efforts to imply the cat may be sentiently intent on revenge (the close-ups of its watching, the view through its eyes, its constant popping up) just don't work. Perhaps this was Gilling's way of getting us inside the tortured minds of Morell and co. rather than to suggest the supernatural but, if so, it was clumsy and mishandled. For Shadow is best seen as a psychological tale, one of ever-growing guilt and fear - a tale of the ever-present and pricking conscience and the frantic but futile effort to suppress and stiffle it. A tale of descent into madness. Morell and his cohorts' actions may be illogical and irrational but in being so do convey their frantic attempt to snuff out the only living reminder of the evil which they have committed, which can but lead to death through their loss of all rational sense of perspective. Perhaps the story might have worked better without the physical presence of the cat, but it is difficult to see how it could have been accomplished without a physical focal point of some kind. In any case, Shadow is a disappointment (in a highly creative period for Hammer) but enjoyable in its own gloomily atmospheric way.
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