A moody, atmospheric piece, The Leopard Man, like so many of Val Lewton's movies, depends on what it doesn't show more than what it does. After a nightclub performer's leopard gets loose, three tragic murders occur. Is it the cat, or something more sinister?
This isn't as brilliant as Cat People, but its dripping with atmosphere. The New Mexico landscapes are exotic (for the 1940s, anyway) and desolate, the shadows are deep, and the sense of nighttime isolation adds to the suspense. A tacked on whodunit detracts from the drama, but I guess the screenwriters thought they needed something for the pretty white people (the nightclub dancer and her boyfriend) to do.
Val Lewton's B-movies are one of the foundations of modern horror and suspense. Watch them and learn.
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