Review: The Shadow of the Cat

Horrible, scheming husband Andre Morell murders his wife (Catherine Lacey) with the assistance of servants Andrew Crawford and Freda Jackson, and they subsequently bury the body. The resident tabby cat witnesses the murder and Morell becomes obsessed with killing it. All perfectly sane behaviour. Barbara Shelley plays Lacey’s niece, who is one of several relatives who come to stay whilst the police investigate Lacey’s ‘disappearance’. Meanwhile, more murders happen, and the cat somehow seems to be causing them.

 

Although the company is strangely not mentioned in the opening credits, this 1961 John Gilling (“The Brigand of Kandahar”, “The Reptile”) chiller is surely a Hammer film. Scripted by George Baxt (“Circus of Horrors”, “City of the Dead”), in terms of plot it actually feels more Amicus or AIP, but the atmosphere is all Hammer right from the thunderous opening and the credits are full of Hammer names. It was even shot at Bray studios, so at the very least I’d say it was a co-production.

 

At under 80 minutes it’s a bit too short to carry all of these characters (the romance is a bit lacking), otherwise it’s a terrific-looking, atmospheric film. With a nice use of light and shadow, it’s some of the best work in the career of regular Hammer cinematographer Arthur Grant (“The Reptile”, “The Devil Rides Out”, “Quatermass and the Pit”, “Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb”), and the bombastic score by Mikis Theodorakis (“Zorba the Greek”, “Serpico”) may be the overall highlight here.

 

An expert Andre Morell leads a cast full of truly horrible conspiratorial murderers, with Freda Jackson also rock-solid among them. Seriously, the ratio of horrible to good people here is massively skewed in the former direction. Barbara Shelley gets a comparatively less interesting role on the opposite side of the fence, but is lovely and a good performer as always. She’s one of the best actresses Hammer ever employed. Meanwhile, I liked how instead of the usual black cat lurking about, we get a tabby cat this time.

 

Bombastic, atmospheric chiller-thriller with a cast full of rotten apples. A jolly good Hammer time…that is, if it really is a Hammer film. It has to be, right?

 

Rating: B-

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