Classic horror film Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) falls in love with mysterious foreigner Irena (Simone Simon).He marries her despite the fact that she won't kiss him or make love to him.She believes if she does she will turn into a panther and kill him.She sees a psychiatrist (Tom Conway) who tries to cure her.Frustration drives Oliver into the arms of office coworker Alice (Jane Randolph).Irena finds out and gets angry.... The plot isn't too believable (marrying a woman who won't even kiss you???) but the films moments of shock and horror are still as strong today as they were in 1942.Producer Val Lewton had almost no money to work with (look at the cast) so he had to depend on shadow, darkness, sounds and atmosphere to create horror.It works beautifully.Two scenes with Alice work particularly well--when she's walking to a bus stop on a deserted street and the infamous scene in the pool.With the exception of one or two shots (when Smith and Randolph are trapped in an office) we never see Irena as the panther.The studio insisted these shots be added. Simon is perfectly cast as Irena, Smith is pretty wooden as her husband, Randolph is just great as Alice and Conway is admirably slimy as the psychiatrist. Just great--a true classic.A must-see.Avoid--at all costs--the lousy 1982 remake.