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The Leopard Man (1943)
In Jacques Tourneur's and RKO's noirish, and shadowy
horror-thriller, the low-budget effort was taglined and described
as one of the first serial killer films: "Women Alone the Victims
of Strange, Savage Killer!"; it was the third of Tourneyr's
horror films produced by Val Lewton, following Cat People (1942) and I
Walked With a Zombie (1943):
- the story was set in a Mexican border town in New
Mexico: a rented tame black leopard was acquired from Indian sideshow
performer and traveling zoo owner Charlie How-Come (aka The Leopard
Man) (Abner Biberman); the animal was hired by nightclub manager/publicist
Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe), to be used as a PR stunt for the
nightclub act of his girlfriend Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks)
- during the act of Kiki's rival - the exotic, castanet-flamenco-dancer
Clo-Clo (Margo), Kiki made a startling entrance with the black cat
(leashed), in order to upstage Clo-Clo; behind her, Manning called
out directions: "Don't just stand there, Kiki. You're onstage,
they're all looking at you"; Kiki entered the dance floor area
in the midst of diners' tables and sat down; Clo-Clo approached the
wild animal with her noisy castanets to deliberately frighten the
leopard, causing the creature to become spooked - it hissed, tugged
on its leash, and fled through an open door
- the leopard's owner Charlie How-Come, who demanded
compensation for his lost wild cat, complained to nightclub manager
Manning: "These cops banging those pans, flashing those lights,
they're gonna scare that poor cat of mine. Cats are funny, mister.
They don't want to hurt you, but if you scare 'em they go crazy.
These cops, they don't know what they're doing"
- soon after, the terrifying, upsetting and truly frightening
night stalking sequence of teenaged neighbor Teresa Delgado (Margaret
Landry), sent out by her impatient and scolding mother to buy corn-meal
for her father's meal of tortillas, even though an escaped leopard
was reported on the loose; with the nearest store closed, she had
to cross town and enter a dusty arroyo (with the wind tossing around
a tumbleweed) to another shop where the shopkeeper noted: "Now
I remember the little girl who was afraid of the dark" - she
responded: "I'm not afraid, what could happen to me?"
The Truly Frightening Stalking Sequence of Teresa
Resulting in a Leopard Attack, Mauling and Death
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- as Teresa returned home with the bundle of corn-meal,
she heard the sound of dripping water, saw two gleaming eyes under
a railway trestle, and was startled by the noise of a speeding
train that roared above her (with a screaming whistle); and then
she saw the snarling, growling leopard (viewed in close-up) that
began chasing after her; when she raced home, her exasperated mother
kept the door locked on her (and the lock jammed) as she desperately
pounded on it and begged to be let in: ("Mamacita, let me
in!...It's coming, it's coming closer! I can see it!"); the
mother thought that she was faking a lethal leopard attack as an
excuse for returning home late (her death was off-screen with blood-curdling
screams, and a slow flow of blood seeping under the door)
- the subsequent scene of the secret rendezvous of two
lovers who planned to meet up in a cemetery on the female's birthday;
young noblewoman Consuelo Contreras (Tula Parma) awaited her lover
Raoul Belmonte (Richard Martin) who was late, and she became locked
in by the gatekeeper; she rushed around inside the high-walled cemetery
amidst the howling of the wind under a full moon; she spoke over
the wall to an unseen man who promised to get a ladder and return
shortly; but then, she heard the rustling and breaking of a major
tree branch above her - and she screamed - and the next morning was
found murdered - clawed to death; it was assumed to be a second leopard
attack by the animal who jumped from the tree
- the leopard's owner, Charlie How-Come, doubted his
own sanity and innocence and asked to be locked up - but during his
incarceration, dancer Clo-Clo became the third victim
- the ending - the discovery and sleuthing sequence
that was set up to capture the real compulsive serial killer, who
had committed the additional attacks to make it appear that the leopard
was the killer; the killer was Indian museum curator and animal expert
Doctor Galbraith (James Bell), who had turned murderous after becoming
excited by the initial leopard attack; during an annual march of
hooded and solemn members with long candles to commemorate the tragic
slaughter of peaceful Indians by the conquistadors in the 17th century,
Galbraith failed to hide in their nighttime procession and was apprehended
- the tormented Galbraith's confession that he was responsible
for the murders of Consuelo and Clo-Clo after watching the leopard
maul Teresa: "I didn't do anything...Why do you accuse me? You
don't know what you're doing. You don't understand...You don't know
what it means to be tormented this way...I couldn't rest. I couldn't
sleep. All I could see was Teresa Delgado's body - broken, mangled.
I saw it day and night. It was waiting everywhere I turned...I didn't
want to kill, but I had to"
- the scene of Galbraith's disturbing description of
Consuelo's murder: ("I thought I was gonna help her get over
the wall. I can't remember. I looked down. In the darkness, I saw
her white face. The eyes - full of fear, fear, that was it. The little
frail body, the soft skin. And then she screamed - "), but mid-way
through his words, Raoul shot and killed him in retribution
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Clo-Clo's Castanet-Dance Nightclub Act
Kiki's Appearance with Leopard
Clo-Clo Spooking the Animal with Castanets
Attack Upon Consuelo Contreras in Cemetery
The Spooked Clo-Clo - Face to Face With Her Killer Before Her Death
Serial Killer Galbraith Attempting to Hide in an Annual
March Procession
Galbraith's Confession That He Was the Murderer of
Consuelo and Clo-Clo
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