Cat Girl 1957

Leonora Johnson, Barbara Shelley returns to her ancestral home and learns from her uncle Edmund Brandt, Ernest Milton about a startling legacy: she will inherit the vast estate and wealth, but also a centuries-old family curse that threatens to possess her with the spirit of a leopard. The warning proves chilling when Edmund is killed by his own pet leopard, a brutal sign that the curse will claim another victim when its target turns seventy. A fruitless search for the leopard follows, leaving the house steeped in fear and superstition.

Leonora’s husband Richard Johnson, Jack May had insisted on accompanying her, and he had also invited their friends Allan, John Lee, and Cathy, Paddy Webster, to join them—largely to facilitate his affair with Cathy. When Leonora glimpses Richard and Cathy making love in the woods, she spots the leopard watching from a tree. The leopard then strikes, killing Richard, while Cathy escapes in a frantic scramble.

The aftermath pulls Leonora into a tense confrontation with the law. She tells the police that she is a were-cat and responsible for Richard’s death, demanding their arrest. Yet, with Cathy as the sole witness to the attack, the authorities believe Leonora is in need of medical help instead of punishment.

Dr. Brian Marlowe, Robert Ayres a psychiatrist, is back in the area and weighs in on Leonora’s case. He believes her claims are delusions rather than reality, and he urges her to admit herself to a medical facility. She agrees, though she senses the leopard has followed her to London, keeping a silent vigil over her movements.

As fear tightens its grip, Leonora grows increasingly jealous of Brian’s wife, Dorothy Marlowe, Kay Callard, whose life may now be in serious danger. The question looms: will Brian be able to help her in time to protect Dorothy and herself, or is the curse destined to claim another victim as the clock ticks toward her seventieth year?