DickFlint wrote:
I have to agree with Tom Weaver on this. I just saw the introduction to Cat People on the Essentials. Osbourne was trying to convince Alec Baldwin that the film was an essential, because much was done with a low budget, and then Osbourne talked about the cost-cutting that can be seen in the film, such as no extras on the streets of New York.

No attempt was made to put the film in context, to describe its innovation of style of not showing the monster onscreen (I know, there is one shot of a panther), or to discuss the other Val Lewton films of that era and films of other eras that took much from the Lewton films. The whole thing was an embarrassment.


I had the exact same reaction. Alec Baldwin couldn't have shown more contempt if he tried. It was very obvious he never saw the film, perhaps never even heard of it. His attitude was WHY are we watching this crapola, an attitude I used to see whenever I tried to foist a horror movie on a "sophisticated" bunch of people who made up a film group I was part of many years back. Osbourne's "defense" was even more exasperating, validating the film only in terms of how much money it made in light of its minuscule budget. A classic movie producer's argument. No matter Baldwin was unconvinced. 

It was really a disappointing segment because I like Baldwin and enjoy his insights and general enthusiasm for the movies under discussion.