‘What Could Have Been’ is a continuing look into the reels of film history, analysing movies that could have been something special, but due to problems with script, production, budget, or any other type of issue, did not reach its full potential.
Nearing the end of the Golden Years of Universal horror, The Cat Creeps (1946), directed by genre specialist Erle C. Kenton (Island of Lost Souls, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Who Done It?), is the dying whisper of the old haunted house murder mystery film (at least until Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! brought back the excitement for kids in the late 1960s). In fact, this would be the last horror movie produced by Universal until 1951’s The Strange Door (reviewed here on Filmizon.com) – excluding Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, which is more of a spoof of horror movies.
What started with horror films (followed closely by comedy spoofs) like The Cat and the Canary (1927 and 1939), The Old Dark House (1932), The Black Cat (1934 and 1941), The Ghost Breakers (1940), Hold That Ghost (1941), was then met with a supernatural element found in Cat People (1942), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), and She-Wolf of London (1946), to name but a few, The Cat Creeps pulling from all of these sources to make a, dare I say it, ‘copy-cat’ of the previous filmography.
At a brief fifty-eight minutes, this is definitely one of the weaker efforts, but because of its minute runtime, it is a brisk and moderately entertaining adventure. Filled with ominous shadow and light, the short-of-narrative story follows disgruntled but ambitious newspaper journalist Terry Nichols (Frederick Brady) as he is strong-armed into investigating his girlfriend’s father, Walter Elliot (Jonathan Hale) – who is in a senatorial race, after his newspaper has received a letter from one Cora Williams (Vera Lewis), claiming that she has found two hundred grand and that this might finally be the proof needed to finger Elliot for a fifteen year old posited murder – that was ruled suicide due to lack of evidence. Adding to the thrills, the location is a secluded home on a very private island.
Looking overly guilty almost immediately, after Nichols questions his possible future father-in-law, the man rounds up his daughter Gay (Lois Collier), lawyer Tom McGalvery (Douglass Dumbrille) as well as his personal secretary, Connie Palmer (Rose Hobart), and private detective Ken Grady (Paul Kelly) to help fix the situation.
Onto them, the pesky newspaper man, along with trusty sidekick ‘Flash’ Laurie (Noah Beery Jr.), forcibly join them for the boat ride out. . . only to learn soon after their arrival that their ride has been set on fire, and the key witness has been murdered by one of their very own. The sole other person on the isle is the cryptic Kyra Goran (Iris Lancaster), the supposed daughter of the murder victim who continuously claims that the soul of the recently deceased Cora Williams now inhabits the black cat. . . who will eventually lead us to the guilty party.
Though the movie never truly ratchets up the horror, and the narrative feels rather rushed and poorly explained, the stylized noirish, fast-paced newspaper dialogue has such an entertaining patter, while veteran director Kenton never misses a chance to get visually dramatic with the camera angles and lighting; it all makes for a rather pointless if fun hour to frivol away. After all, it is rather hokey – poor Connie Palmer is so terrified of felines that she is easily tortured for information just by holding the aforementioned pitch black cat in front of her. . . more reminiscent of a Monty Python-esque sketch like ‘the knights who say ni’, or the Austin Powers ‘ask three questions’ bit, than anything resembling horror. Somehow, this silliness actually helps make it worth the price of admission.
In the end, it might just be that the best thing remembered about The Cat Creeps are the visually impressive posters created to advertise the picture – featuring moody lighting, many of the key players, and you guessed it, a creeping cat, it exudes more menace than the movie ever did. So, explore this latter part of the classic Universal horror catalogue if you dare, but be warned, there is a cat onscreen in this very film.