The Curse of the Cat People (Film 1944)

The Curse of the Cat People is a 1944 American psychological supernatural thriller film directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise, produced by Val Lewton, and starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, and Ann Carter. The Curse of the Cat People premiered in February 1944. It was often screened as a double bill with Cat People (1942).

It tells a story about a young girl who befriends the ghost of her father's deceased first wife, a Serbian fashion designer who descended from a race of people who could transform into cats. The film, which marks Wise's first directing credit, is a sequel to Cat People (1942) and has many of the same central characters, but the plot is only tangentially related to its predecessor.

- The painting in the Reed house that Alice describes as Irena's favorite piece of art is the portrait Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga by Francisco Goya.
- Irena's lullaby, a musical motif in the score of both this film and Cat People, is an adaptation of the French lullaby "Do, do, l'enfant do". The carol Irena sings in counterpoint to "Shepherds Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep" is the traditional French Christmas carol "Il Est Né, Le Divin Enfant".
- Amy's teacher mentions a book, The Inner World of Childhood, which is an actual book written by American psychologist Frances Wickes and published in 1927. Psychology pioneer Carl Jung admired the book, and in 1931 he wrote an introduction to it.

Cast & Characters:
Simone Simon as the ghost of Irena Dubrovna Reed
Kent Smith as Oliver Reed
Jane Randolph as Alice Reed
Ann Carter as Amy Reed
Eve March as Miss Callahan
Julia Dean as Julia Farren
Elizabeth Russell as Barbara Farren
Erford Gage as Police Captain
Sir Lancelot as Edward