From the late 1940s, The Catman Of Paris is an entertaining, at times creepily edged -to-action-packed blend of mystery, costume drama and horror. Here from Imprint is a new region-free Blu-ray release of the film. Taking in a 4k scan of the picture, a new commentary track, a video essay, and an archive documentary on Republic Pictures- the studio that produced the film.

The Catman Of Paris was made in the year 1946. It’s set in Paris in the year 1896- where author Charles Regnier (Carl Esmond) has just returned to the city, and a spate of killings have started up- that are seemingly been carried out by a razor-clawed man-cat highbred.

The film was directed by LA-born Lesley Selander- who started as a teenager as a studio lab tech - working his way up the ladder, from assistant director to director. Between the mid-1930s and late 1960’s, he racked up an impressive one hundred and thirty-five feature lengths. These went from a good selection of 1930s to 1940’s Westerns such as Ride ‘Em Cowboy, Sandflow, Partners Of The Plains, and Sunset Trail. Onto mystery drama Three’s A Crowd (1945), though to Noir Blackmail (1947) onto Sci-Fi drama Flight To Mars (1951), through to wartime romance Return From The Sea(1954).

The film opens with celebrated/ notable author Charles just returned from his travels in the East. He heads for dinner at one of the city's most celebrated clubs with his friend/ righthand man- the neatly goatee-bearded Henry (Douglass Dumbrille). Charles suddenly feels unwell- making his way in his cape & top hat through the streets of the city. Meanwhile, a man is just getting off a nighttime horse and carriage ride- is attacked & killed by a figure in the shadows- that seemingly resembles a blend of man and cat.

As the film unfolds, more murders occur. Charles is the prime suspect- as each victim seemingly relates to him, and the once self-assured author can’t recall where he was/ what he was doing when the murders occuured. Has the author truly snapped & is now killing, is it someone trying to frame him, or is there really a clawed cat man-killer stalking the streets of Paris?

Along with the costume drama, mystery, and light horror elements. We get acrobatic cabaret dancers, a restaurant fist fight, a horse and carriage chase, and a surprising twist ending. I guess maybe the horror elements could have been a little more pronounced- but we do get some memorable chilling moments, like the large shadow stalking on nighttime buildings, shots of a brooding cape & top-hatted figure making its way through the night, and a fleeting bloody carriage kill.

Acting-wise-initially Esmond as the author lead comes off a little smug & sleek, but as things go on the emotional cracks start to show- and you really believe his doubting of his own sanity. Notable supporting roles come from Adele Mara as Charles snooty and obnoxious intended. And Gerald Mohr as the brill creamed, moustached, and focused on solving the case Inspector Severen. The film runs at just over the hour mark, and largely remains engaging & entertaining throughout.

This new region-free Blu-Ray features a 4k scan from 2017. This looks fairly clean & crisp in its black and stock, though there are touches of damage here & there-  though those mainly occur near the start of the film. On the new extras side, we get two things. Firstly, we get a commentary track from film historians Kim Newman & Stephen Jones, and as we’ve come to expect from these two track pros- it’s a nice balance of facts, research, and banter. They begin by briefly touching on the handful of films that Republic Pictures released in the horror genre during the 40s and the 50s, going on to say they were mostly known for their western and serial output. They discuss the near the begin dance sequence, and its inclusion in the film. They touch briefly on the director's other output. We get talk about the films weird/ surreal repeated daydream sequence, and its possible meanings. We get discussion about the horror film trope of the 1940s and 1950s, and character actor bios. They talk about the film's lead, and debate whether one of the films other actors made had fitted the role better. Later on, they touch on some of the film's more impressive shots, and we find out it was filmed over a fair short one-month period between September & October 1946. They talk about the front & centre placing of the film's monster on its poster/ promotional material, and how this rather differed from other horror films of the time. They discuss the studio's quite creative take on horror films, and of course much more. So another excellent track from these two.  

 The other new extra here is  Mark of the Beast: Myth Making and Masculinity in ‘The Catman of Paris (17.40) this is a visual essay that finds film historian Kat Ellinger talking about the film's influences and its effective blending of different genre elements. And this is well worth a play. Otherwise, on the archive side, we get The Republic Pictures Story( one hour & fifty-three minutes) this is a 1991 documentary about the studio, which between the 40’s and 50’s produced around a thousand films.

I’m ashamed to admit before watching this Blu Ray I wasn’t even aware of Republic Pictures, and it’s made me keen to track down the rest of the studios' horror output, and they also seemed to have made one or two rather wacky looking sci-fi films too. In finishing The Catman Of Paris certainly is an interesting & largely effective blend of mystery, costume drama and horror- and I’d certainly advise fans of 40’s and 50’s genre films to pick up this new Imprint release.