"Cat People" & folklore

[Prof Steven P Hill]

Dear colleagues and Prof Nafpaktitis:

The script of "Cat People" ('42 version) was written by young scenarist 
DeWitt Bodeen, working with the film's Russian-born producer "VAL 
LEWTON" (Vladimir Markovich Leventon-Gofshneider, 1904-51).  
Lewton in his earlier American (N.Y.) career had been the author of 
"pulp" novels, at least one of which had a Russian Cossack setting.  
And Lewton laid claim to having authored and published a few more
books whose existence seems difficult if not impossible to confirm. 
In short, Mr Lewton seems to have been prone to occasional flights 
of fantasy, even in his own CV.

And since Lewton suggested the basic plot to Bodeen, and edited the 
resulting script, I tend to think that the former probably INVENTED OUT 
OF THE WHOLE CLOTH the "Serbian folklore" reflected in the film.  The 
female lead character needed to written as a foreigner from somewhere, 
because the role was assigned to actress Simone Simon, a French actress 
with a noticeable foreign "accent."  And, before "Cat People," there had 
been several Hollywood "horror" films with fictional Central and East 
European settings.  (Think "Dracula" in '31.)

Several books have been published about Val Lewton, and DeWitt Bodeen
published an article about his and Lewton's writing the '42 "Cat People."  
Although Bodeen's article appeared originally in the NY monthly "Films 
in Review" (1960s or early 70s), I think that same article was probably 
later re-published in one of Bodeen's several books about Hollywood.

Good hunting,
Steven P Hill,
University of Illinois.
_________________________________________________________________

Date: Mon 27 Oct 00:20:54 CDT 2008
From: <LISTSERV at BAMA.UA.EDU>  
Subject: Re: GETPOST SEELANGS 
To: "Steven P. Hill" <s-hill4 at ILLINOIS.EDU> 

Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:37:24 -0400
From: Margarita Nafpaktitis <nafpaktitism at VIRGINIA.EDU> 
Subject: (real?) Serbian folklore in "Cat People" 

Dear Colleagues,
I'm been asked to be a discussant for a local film festival, and the film
that will be screened and discussed is "Cat People."  It's the 1942 Jacques
Tourneur version, not the 1982 Paul Schraeder version with Nastassja Kinski.
 Since the plot (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034587/synopsis) hinges on a
tale that supposedly circulated in the Serbian protagonist's home village
that involved witchcraft, devil worship, and people turning into panthers, I
was wondering if anyone out there knows if legends like this are actually
part of Serbian folklore and/or where I could find out more about them if
they are?

With thanks in advance,
Margarita Nafpaktitis
Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of Virginia
Tel: (434) 924-3548   FAX: (434) 982-2744
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mn2t/home.html
_______________________________________________________________________

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