The Cat Creeps (1946 film)

Last updated
The Cat Creeps
The-cat-creeps-movie-poster-md.jpg
Directed by Erle C. Kenton
Screenplay by
Story by Gerald Geraghty [1]
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byRussell Schoengarth [1]
Music by Paul Sawtell (uncredited)
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • May 17, 1946 (1946-05-17)
Running time
58 minutes [2]
CountryUnited States [2]
LanguageEnglish

The Cat Creeps is a 1946 American film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Noah Beery, Jr., Lois Collier, and Paul Kelly. [2] It follows a journalist and his photographer who attempt to research an unsolved death and locate a missing fortune, with the help of a black cat that appears to be possessed by the spirit of a dead woman.

Contents

Plot

Journalist Terry Nichols is hired by his boss, Sampler, to research a mysterious letter received by the Morning Chronicle from a Cora Williams, who writes that she discovered a $200,000 fortune and considers it proof of Eric Goran's murder, which was ruled a suicide fifteen years prior. Cora's relative, Walter Elliott, once a suspect in Eric's murder, is now running for the United States senate against Sampler's brother-in-law.

Terry is hesitant to take the job due to the fact that he is dating Walter's daughter, Gay, but agrees. Upon interviewing him, Walter insists to Terry that he had nothing to do with Eric's death, and afterward contacts his lawyer, Tom McGalvey, who suggests hiring detective Ken Grady, who investigated Eric's death before. Terry and his photographer, Pidge, stowaway on a boat to a remote island to visit Cora's mansion where the Elliots, Tom, and Tom's assistant Connie, have convened.

In the mansion, Terry and Pidge find Cora unconscious, alone with her black cat in the room. Gay attempts to reach a doctor but finds the boat they traveled on has caught fire, leaving them all stranded. Connie and Ken overhear a semi-conscious Cora mention money stored in a "little house." Connie, who suffers from ailurophobia, faints when she sees Cora's cat, and moments later, Cora dies. Ken questions everyone in the house, but the meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Kyra, Eric Goran's daughter, who claims she has arrived to confront Cora about her father's death.

Gay discovers Ken's business card with Cora's last words written on them. While attempting to compare the card's handwriting to Connie's, she is bludgeoned from behind. Shortly after, Connie, fearful she is a suspect in Cora's death, begins to make a confession before fleeing. She is discovered dead by Terry moments later. When Gay regains consciousness, she finds the card has disappeared, only for Ken to admit that he took it.

Terry covertly plants a thousand dollar bill near Cora's cat, staging the scene as though the cat has discovered the money. Kyra falls for the plot, and suggests the feline may be possessed by Cora and able help them locate the fortune. The group separate, each in search of the "little house" mentioned by Cora. Gay enters the basement in search of a dollhouse she owned as a child. As Ken descends the stairs to the basement behind her, an unknown assailant trips him, causing him to be impaled to death on a rake. The group suspect Walter of the crime. After they all leave the basement, the cat remains hovering above the dollhouse.

Terry subsequently finds Tom searching through the dollhouse for the money, and a fight breaks out between them. Tom eventually relents and confesses to having fronted a bootlegging operation with Eric years prior, which was run out of Cora's mansion. Seeking to abscond with the profits earned by the illegal business, Tom murdered Eric and staged his death as a suicide, but was unable to locate the cache of money, which Eric had hidden on the island. Ken and Connie, who had discovered Tom's murderous plot, subsequently blackmailed him. Terry proceeds to admit that Kyra is in fact not Eric's daughter, but an actress whom he hired to pressure the murderer in the hopes of revealing their identity. Shortly after, Pidge discovers the fortune hidden inside a birdhouse outside Cora's bedroom window.

Cast

Style

The authors of the book Universal Horrors noted that by the mid-1940s the popularity of horror films was apparently waning, noting that Universal kept making them despite the fact that their major stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi had left the company and other players such as Lionel Atwill, George Zucco and John Carradine had also left. [1] Retrospective sources such Hal Erickson stated that, despite the film being promoted as a "typical Universal horror film," it was "more of a crime melodrama". [3] The authors of Universal Horrors described the film as a "horror-whodunnit". [1]

Film scholar Michael Pitts describes The Cat Creeps as a reworking of Universal's 1941 film Horror Island . [4]

Production

The Cat Creeps went into production on January 3, 1946. [1] [5] George Robinson was the director of photography but was replaced by an uncredited Elwood Bredell towards the later stages of filming. [6] The crew of the film were advised by censors not to include the word "Witch" in the film as "there can be no possible confusion with the unacceptable word 'bitch'" and to avoid scenes of cruelty to the titular cat in the film. [6] The film completed production in 13 days, one day over schedule. [7]

Release

The Cat Creeps was distributed theatrically by Universal Pictures on May 17, 1946. [5] [6] [2] The film was double billed with She-Wolf of London . [7] The film is still under copyright because the copyright was renewed in 1973. [8]

Critical reception

From contemporary reviews, Jack D. Grant of The Hollywood Reporter found the film was "exactly what the tight-knitted mystery subject deserved. Nor are faults to be found with the casting or the suspenseful direction of the practiced Erle C. Kenton". [9] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times stated the film was "a routine little thriller, with feeble attempts at comedy" and that "the cat gives a pretty good performance but it gets mediocre support". [7] [9] Wanda Hale of The New York Daily News declared the film as "the least effective murder mystery that has been made in years" stating that the film "has the appearance of having been thrown together in about the same length of time" and that "the performances, if possible, are worse than the production". [9] Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. of the New York Herald Tribune found that "there is nothing either frightening or mysterious about the law-breaking in The Cat Creeps, and it is not quite silly enough to be laughable". [9]

From retrospective reviews, Hal Erickson of AllMovie described the film as "not a particularly distinguished [ crime melodrama]...Though blessed with an unusually strong supporting cast, The Cat Creeps is strictly B material". [3] The authors of Universal Horrors commented that the film was "forgettable" noting that "even today, the mention of the title prompts horror buffs to think instantly of the 1930 The Cat Creeps – a lost film which few if any of them have ever seen". [7] In 1962, Joe Dante included the film in his list of worst horror films list in Famous Monsters . [10] Dante stated the film was "shamefully un-mysterious mystery with supernatural overtones. Just another grade B murder-in-the-mansion potboiler". [10]

Home media

Vinegar Syndrome, in association with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, released the film on Blu-ray through their Vinegar Syndrome Labs sub-label on April 25, 2023. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Black Friday</i> (1940 film) 1940 American science fiction film directed by Arthur Lubin

Black Friday is a 1940 American science fiction horror film starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

<i>The Black Cat</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Albert S. Rogell

The Black Cat is a 1941 American comedy horror and mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Basil Rathbone. The film was a hybrid of style: being inspired by comedy "Old Dark House" films of the era as well as the 1843 short story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe. It stars Basil Rathbone as Montague Hartley, the head of a greedy family who await the death of Henrietta Winslow so that they can inherit her fortune. When she is found murdered, an investigation begins into who might be the culprit. Alongside Rathbone and Loftus, the film's cast includes Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford, and Bela Lugosi.

<i>The Invisible Ray</i> (1936 film) 1936 film

The Invisible Ray is a 1936 American science-fiction horror film directed by Lambert Hillyer. It stars Boris Karloff as Dr. Janos Rukh, a scientist who comes in contact with a meteorite composed of an element known as "Radium X". After exposure to its rays begins to make him glow in the dark, his touch becomes deadly, and he begins to be slowly driven mad. Alongside Karloff, the film's cast includes Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Frank Lawton, Walter Kingsford, Beulah Bondi, Violet Kemble Cooper, and Nydia Westman.

<i>The Ghost of Frankenstein</i> 1942 film by Erle C. Kenton

The Ghost of Frankenstein is a 1942 American horror film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Cedric Hardwicke, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi. It is the fourth film in the Frankenstein series by Universal Pictures, and the follow-up to Son of Frankenstein (1939). The film's plot follows the previous film's: Frankenstein's Monster and his companion Ygor are chased out of town. They go to another small town to encourage the younger son of Henry Frankenstein to continue his father's experiments, so that Ygor can have revenge against his enemies and his brain transplanted into the Monster's skull.

<i>House of Frankenstein</i> (film) 1944 film

House of Frankenstein is a 1944 American horror film starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine. Based on a story by Curt Siodmak, it was directed by Erle C. Kenton and produced by Universal Pictures.

<i>House of Dracula</i> 1945 film by Erle C. Kenton

House of Dracula is a 1945 American horror film released and distributed by Universal Pictures. Directed by Erle C. Kenton, the film features several Universal Horror properties meeting as they had done in the 1944 film House of Frankenstein. The film is set at the castle home of Dr. Franz Edelmann, who is visited first by Count Dracula and later by Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, who are trying to cure their vampirism and lycanthropy, respectively. Talbot is eventually cured, which leads him to discover the body of Frankenstein's monster in a cave below the base of the castle. Edelemann takes the monster's body back to his laboratory but finds Count Dracula has awakened and by attacking his assistants, he captures Edelmann and forces a reverse blood transfusion, which gives Edelmann a split personality and makes him a killer.

<i>The Mummys Hand</i> 1940 film directed by Christy Cabanne

The Mummy's Hand is a 1940 American horror film directed by Christy Cabanne and produced by Ben Pivar for Universal Studios. Shot in black-and-white, the film is about the ancient Egyptian mummy of Kharis, who is kept alive with a brew of tana leaves by The High Priest and his successor Andoheb. Meanwhile, archeologists Steve Banning and Babe Jenson persuade magician Solvani to finance an expedition in search of the tomb of Princess Ananka. They are joined by Solvani's daughter Marta, and followed by Andoheb who is also the professor of Egyptology at the Cairo Museum. Kharis is ordered to kill off expedition members Dr. Petrie and Ali, while Andoheb becomes attracted to Marta who he plans to kidnap and make immortal.

<i>The Raven</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by Lew Landers

The Raven is a 1935 American horror film directed by Louis Friedlander and starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. Billed as having been "suggested by" Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 poem of the same title, excerpts of which are quoted at a few points in the film, it was adapted from an original screenplay by David Boehm. Lugosi stars as a neurosurgeon obsessed with Poe who has a torture chamber in his basement, and Karloff plays an escaped murderer on the run from the police who Lugosi manipulates into doing his dirty work.

<i>The Mad Ghoul</i> 1943 film by James P. Hogan

The Mad Ghoul is a 1943 American horror film directed by James Hogan and starring Turhan Bey, Evelyn Ankers, and David Bruce, and featuring George Zucco, Robert Armstrong, and Milburn Stone. The film is about the scientist Dr. Alfred Morris and his assistant Ted Allison. Morris, who is obsessed with an ancient Mayan life-preserving process to the point of madness, has fallen in love with Allison's girlfriend, the concert singer Isabel Lewis. Morris decides to use Allison for his eternal-life experiments, transforming him into a zombie who slowly recalls his past life, but is unaware of his undead status.

<i>House of Horrors</i> 1946 film by Jean Yarbrough

House of Horrors is a 1946 American horror film released by Universal Pictures, starring Rondo Hatton as a madman named "the Creeper".

<i>She-Wolf of London</i> (film) 1946 film by Jean Yarbrough

She-Wolf of London is a 1946 American mystery and horror film directed by Jean Yarbrough. It stars June Lockhart and Don Porter. The film is set in London in the early 20th century, where a series of murders have recently occurred. An aunt then tells an innocent young lady that the blood of a werewolf runs in her family and that she is responsible for the deaths. The woman then immediately ends her engagement, leading to her partner to begin investigating the strange case on his own.

<i>Murders in the Rue Morgue</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 American horror film directed by Robert Florey, based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The plot is about Doctor Mirakle, a carnival sideshow entertainer and scientist who kidnaps Parisian women to mix their blood with that of his gorilla, Erik. As his experiments fail because of the quality of his victims' blood, Mirakle meets with Camille L'Espanye, and has her kidnapped and her mother murdered, leading to suspicion falling on Camille's fiance, Pierre Dupin, a medical student who has already become interested in the earlier murders.

<i>Jungle Woman</i> 1944 film by Reginald Le Borg

Jungle Woman is a 1944 American horror film directed by Reginald LeBorg. The film stars Evelyn Ankers, J. Carrol Naish, Samuel S. Hinds, Lois Collier, Milburn Stone, and Douglass Dumbrille. The film involves Dr. Carl Fletcher who is in court on the murder of Paula Dupree, who he explains has the ability to turn into an Ape Woman.

Shock Theater is a package of 52 pre-1948 classic horror films from Universal Studios released for television syndication in October 1957 by Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. The Shock Theater package included Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man as well as a few non-horror spy and mystery films. A second package, Son of Shock, was released for television by Screen Gems in 1958, with 20 horror films from both Universal and Columbia.

<i>The Secret of the Blue Room</i> 1933 film by Kurt Neumann

The Secret of the Blue Room is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas, and Edward Arnold. A remake of the German film Geheimnis des blauen Zimmers (1932), it concerns a group of wealthy people who stay at a European mansion that features a blue room that is said to be cursed, as everyone who has stayed there has died shortly after. Three people suggest a wager that each can survive a night in the blue room.

<i>The Great Impersonation</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by Alan Crosland

The Great Impersonation is a 1935 American drama film directed by Alan Crosland and starring Edmund Lowe, Valerie Hobson and Wera Engels. It was adapted from the 1920 novel The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim. It was made by Universal Pictures with some aesthetic similarities to the Universal Horror films of the 1930s. Two other film versions of the story were made with the same title in 1921 and 1942 respectively.

<i>Horror Island</i> 1941 film by George Waggner

Horror Island is a 1941 American mystery and horror film directed by George Waggner. It was based on the short story "Terror of the South Seas" by Alex Gottlieb. It stars Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Leo Carrillo, Eddie Parker, Dale Van Sickle, John Eldredge, Lewis Howard, Hobart Cavanaugh, Iris Adrian and Fuzzy Knight. Foy Van Dolsen plays the monstrous villain "Panama Pete", alias "The Phantom". The plot has assorted colorful characters going to a mysterious island to seek a pirate's hidden fortune.

<i>The Mad Doctor of Market Street</i> 1942 film by Joseph H. Lewis

The Mad Doctor of Market Street is a 1942 American horror film produced by Universal Pictures starring Lionel Atwill. The film was a low-budget project that utilized the studio's contract players and gave rising director Joseph H. Lewis an opportunity to demonstrate his versatility with little production money.

<i>The Strange Case of Doctor Rx</i> 1942 film by William Nigh

The Strange Case of Doctor Rx is a 1942 black-and-white murder mystery/horror B film by Universal Studios directed by William Nigh and starring Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Anne Gwynne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Samuel S. Hinds. Although Clarence Upson Young is credited with the screenplay, the actors mostly ad-libbed their lines. The plot involves the search for a serial killer who is targeting men who have been acquitted of murder. The film received poor reviews upon release.

<i>Frankenstein</i> (Universal film series) American horror film series

Frankenstein is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the play version by Peggy Webling and the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. The series follow the story of a monster created by Henry Frankenstein who is made from body parts of corpses and brought back to life. The rest of the series generally follows the monster continuously being revived and eventually focuses on a series of cross overs with other Universal horror film characters such as The Wolf Man. The series consists of the following films: Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 535.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Cat Creeps (1946)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Erickson, Hal. "The Cat Creeps (1946) - Erle C. Kenton | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
  4. ↑ Pitts 2018, p. 48.
  5. 1 2 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 536.
  6. 1 2 3 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 537.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 538.
  8. ↑ "Catalog of Copyright Entries 3D Ser Vol 27 PTS 12-13". U.S. Govt. Print. Off. 1973.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 539.
  10. 1 2 Dante 1962, p. 17.
  11. ↑ "The Cat Creeps Blu-ray (Slipcover in Original Pressing)". Blu-ray.com. April 25, 2023. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.