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Licensor Information
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Directed by: Jacques Tourneur
The first of the horror films producer Val Lewton made for RKO Pictures redefined the genre by leaving its most frightening terrors to its audience’s imagination. Simone Simon stars as a Serbian émigré in Manhattan who believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves (Kent Smith) will turn her into a feline predator. Lewton, a consummate producer-auteur who oversaw every aspect of his projects, found an ideal director in Jacques Tourneur, a chiaroscuro stylist adept at keeping viewers off-kilter with startling compositions and psychological innuendo. Together, they eschewed the canned effects of earlier monster movies in favor of shocking with subtle shadows and creative audio cues. One of the studio’s most successful movies of the 1940s, Cat People raised the creature feature to new heights of sophistication and mystery.
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Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
DVD
Discs:
DVD-9 (2 Discs)
Total: 2 Discs
Regions:
1 (DVD)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37:1
Audio Options:
English Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Resolution:
480p/29.97
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Audio Commentary, Documentary, Interview, Theatrical Trailer, Insert
- Audio commentary from 2005 featuring film historian Gregory Mank, with excerpts from an audio interview with actor Simone Simon
- Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, a 2008 feature-length documentary that explores the life and career of the legendary Hollywood producer
- Interview with director Jacques Tourneur from 1977
- New interview with cinematographer John Bailey about the look of the film
- Trailer
- Insert featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien
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Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Producer: Jason Altman
Artwork: Bill Sienkiewicz
Release Notes on Restoration
Cat People
Cat People is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. 0n widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from a 35mm safety fine-grain master. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film’s DRS, while Digital Vision’s Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management.
The original monaural soundtrack was transferred from a new soundtrack positive created from the 35mm original soundtrack negative at Chace Audio by Deluxe in Burbank, California, where digital restoration was also performed. Additional restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.
The original monaural soundtrack was transferred from a new soundtrack positive created from the 35mm original soundtrack negative at Chace Audio by Deluxe in Burbank, California, where digital restoration was also performed. Additional restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.