The Cat Creature (1973)
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Summary: Items from a deceased rich man's collection are stolen. One item, a gold Egyptian amulet, is the key to solving a string of murders committed by a mysterious cat-like creature.
Bloch: “Producer Doug Cramer, out at Twentieth, wanted to do a movie for television as an homage to the old-time horror films. Along with director Curtis Harrington, he favored an update of the Val Lewton classic The Cat People. After discussion, we agreed that a totally straight-on remake was probably a mistake. Instead, I suggested a blending of the elements of several well-remembered films and came up with a story line which dealt with the Egyptian cat goddess and reincarnation.” Category: Made-for-Television movie Script: An original teleplay written by Bloch IMDB page: The Cat Creature Note: Shortly after turning in his teleplay, the studio came back to claim that the script ran twelve minutes too long. Bloch meticulously pared the script down by performing “delicate surgery.” Once filming was completed, a subsequent screening of the film revealed that the film ran twelve minutes too short. With almost no outtakes, torn-down sets, and most of the cast now on to other projects, the solution was to utilize the few remaining sets and the fortunate availability of actress Gale Sondergaard in brand new written scenes. According to Bloch: “The trick was to make these hitherto unnecessary pages of action and dialogue an intrinsic part of the story, structuring them to add suspense without disturbing the basic pot line and its logical progression." |
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