The Leopard Man

Directed by Jacques Tourneur, The Leopard Man follows several characters, including Dennis O’Keefe’s Jerry Manning and Margo’s Clo-Clo, as they attempt to track down an escaped leopard before it kills again. Filmmaker Tourneur, working from a script by Ardel Wray and Edward Dein, delivers an exceedingly erratic thriller that fares best in its promising (and periodically gripping) opening half hour, as the movie kicks off with an opening stretch devoted to the disappearance of said leopard and the impact it has on the myriad of residents of a small New Mexico town – with, especially, the tense, enthralling exploits of a young woman (Margaret Landry’s Terésa) who falls prey to the leopard certainly standing as the picture’s high-water-mark. It’s disappointing to note, then, that The Leopard Man subsequently progresses into an increasingly underwhelming and tedious midsection focused on several half-baked, one-dimensional protagonists and their less-than-captivating comings and goings, and it doesn’t help, certainly, that Tourneur eventually (and inexplicably) eschews anything even resembling suspenseful set-pieces in favor of interminable dialogue-based interludes – which paves the way for an entirely anticlimactic (and somewhat endless) third act. The end result is a palpable misfire that often feels much, much longer than its 66 minute running time, although it’s ultimately impossible to downplay the impact and effectiveness of that superb scene involving Landry’s character’s fate.

** out of ****