Nigel P In Val Lewton films, there's always at least one scene that sticks in the mind. 'The Isle of the Dead' features the awakening of a body buried in a casket, in the 'Body Snatchers', we have the unforgettable finale. Here we have several , including the increasingly distraught teenage girl returning home, pounding at the door of her home with her mother heartlessly refusing to let her in – followed by silence, and the spreading of a pool of blood beneath the closed door.Charlie (Abner Biberman) is nice, he likes his big cat. It earns him a good living and he clearly adores it. Alongside the animal itself, he is 'The Leopard Man's most likable character. Dennis O'Keefe is a good leading man. Sad-eyed Jean Brooks plays Kiki Walker. Only the maracas-playing Clo-Clo (Margo) annoys – her jealousy that the cat would steal her thunder and her teasing of the animal causes killings and other unfortunate events to spiral, yet she shows no sign of giving a darn – until she gets her comeuppance, that is.The implication of a man/leopard hybrid is completely absent in the story – in fact the revelation the feline has been dead before some of the killings take place, and that the murderer is a mere human, is a little disappointing (only the trailer implied a lycanthropic plot line). It's true to say this is not Lewton's most effective production: the modern day setting is less suggestive of Gothic flavour than other, period pieces. Having said that, he and Director Jacques Tourneur ensure there are some chilling set-pieces, my favourite being the sombre funeral procession, with murmuring, candle-holding mourners making their way across a barren, windswept studio set, led by black robed lamenters.

Johan Louwet Another reviewer remarked that the movie has one suspenseful scene which is obviously the first where the gypsy girl runs and gets chased by the loose leopard. I have to agree with that, this was the best scene of the whole movie. Well the build-up to the other two murders were quite good too and that's pretty much all the positive I can say about this movie. So the leopard didn't kill the other ladies but it was a man who tried to blame the loose leopard for it. His motive stays pretty vague, I don't think it gets revealed at all and for me he wasn't really convincing as the killer. Maybe my fault was to expect something along the lines of Cat People which came out 1 year earlier. But even if it was very different the plot of Leopard Man wasn't worked out as well the one in Cat People. also way too many characters are involved which hardly show chemistry so it's hard to care for them in the end.

tieman64 A 1943 chiller by director Jacques Tourneur, "The Leopard Man" sees a series of locals killed in small town New Mexico. But are the deaths the work of an escaped leopard or a roaming serial killer? Tourneur made a number of classic B movies, most notably "Cat People", "Nightfall", "Out of the Past", "Night of the Demon" and "I Walked With A Zombie". "The Leopard Man's" not in the same league as these films, but it nevertheless sports some fine cinematography (Tourneur knew how to make the most of a tiny budget), an interesting narrative structure, and a remarkable first act which was deemed particularly shocking for a film released in 1943.7/10 – Worth one viewing.

Claudio Carvalho In New Mexico, the agent Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hires the leopard of the sideshow performer Charlie How-Come (Abner Biberman) as a publicity stunt for his girlfriend Kiki Walker (Isabel Jewell) in her show in a night-club. However, her jealous rival Clo-Clo (Margo) frightens the animal with her castanets and the leopard flees from the night-club.When the mother of the local Teresa Delgado (Margaret Landry) forces her to go late night to buy cornmeal in a distant store and the girl is killed by the leopard. Manning joins the hunting party organized by the Police Chief Roblos (Ben Bard) and the expert Dr. Galbraith (James Bell) to hunt down the animal.Then the youth Consuelo Contreras (Tula Parma) is slaughtered in the cemetery and Manning suspects that the girl was murdered by a man. Then Clo-Clo is murdered with the same characteristics looking like a leopard attack. When the animal is found murdered in the countryside, Manning is sure that the deaths are the work of a serial-killer."The Leopard Man" is a dramatic and suspenseful low-budget horror movie with a gloomy cinematography and a predictable story. There are weird situations, like the dark humor of Teresa's little brother playing with the shadows or Clo-Clo rattling her castanets like a snake, or the dark procession in the end, and it is worthwhile watching this B-movie. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Homem-Leopardo" ("The Leopard Man")