MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: THE CATMAN OF PARIS (1946) (Imprint Films Blu-ray Review)

THE CATMAN OF PARIS (1946)

Imprint Collection #219

Label: Imprint Films

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 63 Minutes 37 Seconds

Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)

Director: Lesley Selander

Cast: Carl Esmond (Ministry Of Fear), Lenore Aubert, Adele Mara, Douglass Dumbrille

The rare horror flick from poverty row film studio Republic Pictures, who were best known for their westerns, comes the The Catman of Paris (1946), directed by Lesley Selander (Flight to Mars). Set in Paris in the year 1896 we have author Charles Regnier (Carl Esmond, Ministry of Fear) who returns Paris after having travelled the globe to exotic locations. He's enjoying a bit of notoriety having recently written and publishing a bestseller book, but one that the Ministry of Justice would like to ban, considering that certain elements of it ring a bit too true, and seem to be based on top-secret government documents. When Ministry librarian

Devereaux (Francis McDonald, Fort Massacre) is killed on the dark streets after being clawed to death as if by a feline attacker, the newspapers and some of the police suspect some type of mythological “were-cat” is on the loose in the city, but Inspector Severen (Gerald Mohr, The Angry Red Planet) suggest that Regnier committed the murder himself, without need for supernatural interference, the motive being the official was transporting potentially incriminating documents that fingered Regnier at the time of his death, and those documents have since disappeared. The writer himself begins to doubt his own innocence as well, as on the night of the murder he experienced a hallucinatory blackout and cannot recall his whereabouts. More deaths a t the hands of the Catman ensue, including Regnier's fiancé Marguerite (Adele Mara, Curse of the Faceless Man) who is clawed to death in her carriage. His publisher/best friend Henry (Douglass Dumbrille, The Cat Creeps) and Henry's daughter Marie (Lenore Aubert, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein), who also proves to be a love interest for Regnier don't believe he could be capable of such horrors, but more and more the fact seem to indicate he the culprit, which wears on Regnier's conscience.

This monstrous killer-stalking-the-streets whodunit certainly owes a debt to the films of Val Lewton, particularly Cat People which came about a few years earlier, but also to other black and white terrors, namely the superior She-Wolf of London, London After Midnight, The Wolfman, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde come to mind. Republic were known as a studio that pumped out shabby westerns, they didn't do a lot of horror, the Valley of the Zombies and Vampire’s Ghost among them, so this is a bit of a rarity. You can feel the budget being stretched thin from the get-go, the were-cat stalking the streets is kept largely unseen until the final few minutes of the film, and you can tell there's a lot of Republic western elements thrown in, including a pretty fast-paced and raucous horse and buggy chase, a showgirls performance, and a fight with vigilante locals attempting to beat-up Regnier in a café, which feels very much like a saloon brawl. That said I think they do decent work emulating the Val Lewton shadowy noir-tinged moody visuals with the killer's shadow (and a cat) cast upon a wall being a highlight. Another weird but appreciated touch is the image of what appears to be a giant black cat stalking the streets of a neighborhood which is quickly revealed to be a normal sized cat walking through a miniature street model being used by the police to reconstruct a crime scene, which seems like it was ahead of it's time. It's a cheapie that manages not to feel too cheap, plus I appreciated the attempt to introduce some folklore and mythology about the Catman with some astrology nonsense and something about how the Catman's appearance throughout history has always coincided with sea change events. Not sure what the sea change event here is supposed to be, and the mythology really does not amount to zilch by the end of the film, but I thought that they went as deep into as they did was notable.

Carl Esmond as Regnier plays a sympathetic could-be killer, sort of like Talbot from The Wolfman, prone to dizzy spells and blackout that are accompanied by stock-footage images of lightning, a black cat, and a buoy at sea, but the problem is that he is sort of dull as a character to be honest. More interesting is are Douglass Dumbrille and Lenore Aubert as Rehnier's publisher and his daughter, the latter of whom at the end of the film fends herself against an attack by the Catman, armed with a pistol she holds her own, again feeling a bit like a western in it's execution.

The Catman of Paris doesn't reach the heights of the film's it attempts to emulate, but it does manage to eek out a decent bit of atmosphere from time to time with some entertaining set pieces, but the conflicted main character is dull and the monster effects are too thinly used to offer up much scare-factor, and the mystery of the who the killer is doesn't offer up much drama either, coming up a bit dry in the end. Not a classic by any stretch but certainly an interesting horror footnote in the annals of Republic Pictures nonetheless.

Audio/Video: The Catman of Paris (1946) makes it's worldwide Blu-ray debut from Imprint Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.37:1, sourced from a 2017 4K scan of the original negative. Grain is left intact, detail and textures look solid, and the grayscale while not extemporary is pleasing. There's quite a bit of film frame specific film damage to contend with, it's not ruinous by any stretch of the imagination but it's quite noticeable as can be seen in the screenshots at the bottom of the review. Audio comes by way of English LPCM 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, It sounds appropriately vintage, dialogue and the score showcase the source limitations, but it is relatively clean, and the score from R. Dale Butts (The Claw Monsters) sounds fine.

Imprint offer up a mix of new and old extras for the film's Blu-ray debut, starting off with a wonderful Audio Commentary with film historians Kim Newman & Stephen Jones who give a breezy conversational track that covers the director and cast, Republic Pictures, and noting the influence of Val Lewton on this flick, as well as pointing out how a lot of of the borrowed western ideas and costuming that were probably pulled from Republic's western flicks to stretch that production dollar.

We also get a new 18-min Mark of the Beast: Myth Making and Masculinity in the Catman of Paris, a video essay by film historian Kat Ellinger that offers interesting insights into the cheapie, exploring the themes of folklore, masculinity, gaslighting and much more. Another nice add is the nearly two-hour The Republic Pictures Story – an archival 1991 feature length documentary about the studio featuring hundreds of clips & on-camera interviews that dig into the history of the studio. The single-disc release arrives in a high quality clear keepcase with a two-sided, non-reversible sleeve of artwork, with a slipcover with unique artwork, both featuring striking original illustrated movie poster artworks. The slipcase edition is strictly limited to 1500 units, so act fast if you want this one!