By BOB STATZER

(Note: This is the second of a two-part series on the classic chillers produced by Val Lewton for RKO Studios.  Part One can be found here.)

In the years that followed the death of Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), the panther woman who was to be pitied as much as feared, shipbuilder Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) and former coworker Alice (Jane Randolph) have married and started a family. But when their daughter, Amy (Ann Carter), is visited by Irena’s ghost, the Reeds begin to feel they have not yet escaped The Curse Of The Cat People (1944).

In spite of the title, The Curse Of The Cat People was not so much a horror film as it was an old-fashioned ghost story with a contemporary setting. (There is still some debate as to whether Irena’s ghost is real, or merely a product of little Amy’s imagination; even early drafts of the screenplay shifted back and forth on the matter. While either theory is credible, the fact that Amy had never seen Irena prior to the ghost’s visit does seem to indicate the apparition is real. And it is not until after that first visit that Amy sees a picture of Irena, a point underlined by her mother’s comment that Amy could not possibly know the woman when the little girl identifies her in the photo.)

Along with Cat People alumni Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Elizabeth Russell and Simone Simon, screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen also returned for the follow-up film (with additional material by an uncredited Josef Mischel). The sequel revealed the Reeds had left New York City for the quieter surroundings of Tarrytown, a move prompted by Lewton and Bodeen’s desire to one day do a feature based on the works of Washington Irving. (Unfortunately, such a project never came to pass.) The setting adds an eerie sense of isolation to the story, allowing for some atmospheric moments.

With Jacques Tourneur no longer involved with the "B" unit and Mark Robson still working on The Ghost Ship, Lewton hired documentary filmmaker Gunther Von Fritsch as director, and Robert Wise as the unit’s new editor. (Wise had worked as a film cutter on the Orsen Welles classic, Citizen Kane, and had—along with actor Joseph Cotton—directed, without credit, additional footage for Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons.) The new editor would turn out to be a wise investment; The Curse Of The Cat People had an 18-day shooting schedule, but at the end of that time director Von Fritsch had only completed half the picture.

While Lewton had tried to be supportive of the director’s debut feature, it became increasingly evident that he would have to be replaced. Sid Rogell, at that time head of RKO’s "B" unit, contacted editor Robert Wise on a Saturday to inform him that he would be taking over as director on the film come Monday morning. (Wise had worked for Rogell before, as a second unit director.) The new director had his work cut out for him; in addition to the film being behind schedule, some of Von Fritsch’s footage had to be scrapped. Wise more than rose to the challenge, delivering a sturdy supernatural fantasy. The critics loved the film but hated the title, and said so. Perhaps the studio actually listened, as future titles showed more restraint. Lewton was even given enough leeway to try his hand at more mainstream movies.

Youth Runs Wild (aka The Dangerous Age, 1944) was based upon the Look magazine article "Are These Our Children?" (the original title intended for the film, as well), which examined the growing problem of juvenile delinquency in America. (In a bit of tongue-in-cheek self-promotion, the local theater in the film has posters of Lewton’s previous pictures displayed as "Coming Attractions.") Rounding out the output that year from Lewton’s crew was Mademoiselle Fifi, a period piece based on the Guy de Maupassant short story of that same name, as well as the author’s Boule de Suif. (Jack Gross, who had once been at Universal where he worked on many of their classic creature features, was now at RKO and served as production supervisor on the film.)

During production of Mademoiselle Fifi, studio politics came into play, much to Lewton’s loss in terms of variety and personal creativity. RKO chief Charles Koerner had died, leaving Sid Rogell in control of the studio. Even though Mademoiselle Fifi was the lowest-budgeted costume drama ever made in Hollywood at the time, Rogell and Lewton fought over the film’s finances. And while Jack Gross was working at RKO with Lewton, he still regarded the producer as a rival because of the response Lewton’s horror films had received from the critics while Gross had been with Universal.

These factors, coupled with the disappointing performance at the box office by the last two films, made Lewton decide to return to terror for his final films at RKO. Making the bitter pill even harder to swallow was the fact that Jack Gross had signed former Universal horror star Boris Karloff to a three-picture deal, all of which were to be Val Lewton productions. Initially Lewton hated having to work with someone who so strongly represented the type of horror films he considered clichéd; but after meeting Karloff, the producer realized he had found a kindred spirit.

In 1912, the Greek islands are ravaged by war and martial law has been declared. Adding to the threat of invasion is that of infection, for a deadly disease has begun to take its toll, leaving its victims to wither and waste away. Rumors of plague give way to rumors of another pestilence, an ancient evil known as vampirism. When the military governor-general (Boris Karloff) quarantines the area for fear the infestation will spread, the soldiers and civilians under his command find themselves trapped on the Isle Of The Dead (1945).

Going before the cameras in July of 1944, Isle Of The Dead —inspired by the Boecklin painting of the same name—had Mark Robson directing from a screenplay by Ardel Wray and Josef Mischel. Joining Karloff in the cast were former Lewton players Alan Napier ("Alfred the Butler" from the Adam West Batman series), Katherine Emery, Jason Robards, Sr. and Skelton Knaggs, as well as Ellen Drew, who had appeared in the 1941 fright films The Mad Doctor and The Monster And The Girl for Paramount.

After only one week of filming, Boris Karloff’s health failed him. The actor, who suffered continual back problems after injuries incurred on the set of Bride Of Frankenstein, was forced to take time off. It would be December before the picture could be completed. In the meantime, Lewton’s staff began pre-production on their next picture. Once again the front office handed them a title, but this time it came attached to a classic: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatcher. By the time Lewton and director Robert Wise were ready to start filming, Karloff was well enough to star in Stevenson’s story. Once principal photography was finished on The Body Snatcher, Karloff returned to work on Isle Of The Dead (which was still in production when The Body Snatcher premiered).

Dr. "Toddy" MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) is a professor of anatomy at Edinburgh University, in Nineteenth Century Scotland. But when he takes a promising student named Fettes (Russell Wade) under his wing, the young man discovers a dark side to the carefully cultivated image of the droll doctor. MacFarlane has another assistant beside Fettes, a sinister, shadowy figure known as John Gray (Boris Karloff), The Body Snatcher (1945). Sorry are the citizens of Edinburgh if the cemetery is in short supply, for the enterprising Gray is more than willing to put forth extra effort in finding "fresh" specimens.

The Body Snatcher is probably the closest Val Lewton came to doing classical horror (even casting Bela Lugosi opposite Karloff in a cameo role), and the results make one wonder how much more the producer could have brought to the Gothic genre. (Using his old pen name of Carlos Keith—as he hated to take an onscreen writing credit—Lewton had even co-written the screenplay.) Although the production never left the lot, the sets and atmospheric photography invoked the moody, brooding Edinburgh of a bygone era. The film not only remains a classic, but has come to be regarded as one of the best films to come from Lewton’s RKO days. Unfortunately for horror fans, those days were coming to an end.

Bedlam, which was also co-written under the Carlos Keith pseudonym, would be Val Lewton’s final film for RKO. Like Isle Of The Dead, the initial inspiration for the tale would come from a work of art, in this case an illustration from Hogarth’s "The Rake’s Progress." And like The Body Snatcher, the horror would have an historical basis. Mark Robson did double duty on the film, collaborating on the screenplay in addition to directing. Unlike the usual two month pre-production period, Lewton’s team had eight months to prepare the picture. Tentatively titled Chamber Of Horrors, Bedlam was the nickname for the St. Mary of Bethlehem Hospital, a notorious Eighteenth Century asylum in London, where there was little difference between being a patient or a prisoner.

In mid-Eighteenth Century London, popular stage actress Nell Bowen (Anna Lee) enjoys the patronage of Lord Mortimer (Billy House). However, his Lordship’s interest in Nell is more amorous than artistic. When Nell turns her attentions to a young man named Hannay (Richard Fraser), jealousy causes Mortimer to turn to an old friend…the sadistic Sims (Boris Karloff), Apothecary General of the city’s sinister asylum. The price for spurning her patron? Imprisonment Bedlam (1946)!