A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Very atmospheric horror/mystery drama. The elegant cinematography captures the old colonial feel of a small New Mexico town. The plot uncoils with quick pacing. In the best horror tradition, the monster (the leopard, that is) shows up right away.Then we get three well-connected murder scenes, each with an eerie set-up and denouement. I can't decide whether the graveyard is scarier than the tunnel under the railway bridge. The nocturnal street scene where the last victim gets it isn't bad either. Maybe the graveyard is the best because Consuelo is stuck there longer than Theresa or Clo Clo are when they're cornered.Also the graveyard has a magical quality. It seems to get bigger and more forlorn the more Consuelo explores it. The fact that she's almost rescued adds to the horror. After her death, Galbraith seems to hear her voice as he finds himself there, brooding. Poor Theresa is similarly walled-in by the confined, tomb-like passageway under the bridge. First the tumbleweed, then eyes appearing out of nothingness... The sense of a lurking menace is skillfully built out of shadow and darkness, the tell-tale castanets, even the sleek blackness of the leopard. The shift from an animal to a human threat is gradual and logical. It changes the form of the danger, but not the substance of it. At first it seems that Jerry wants to believe that the leopard isn't the killer--after the second killing anyway--only because it lessens his sense of guilt and responsibility. It's interesting that Galbraith's attempt to incriminate How-Come is nearly successful. Galbraith knows that How-Come bears some guilt for bringing the leopard to town in the first place. Strangely, Galbraith analyzes himself as he discusses with Jerry the leopard's/psychopath's likely behavior. What seemed ambiguous was Galbraith's confession. He says he "had to do something" after Theresa was killed, because "her body was broken and mangled." His response to her death is to kill two women; did he begin by killing Theresa, and then he couldn't stop killing? Or, what's more likely, he saw her just after she was killed by the leopard, and it excited him to the extent that he 'became' the leopard. The procession adds a macabre element that fittingly helps to trap Galbraith. The only thing that didn't work for me was that most of the characters were forgettable. It's too bad that Theresa was the first victim, she's more interesting than Clo-Clo, Kiki, and Maria put together. Jerry, How-Come, and even Galbraith don't add up to much either. Kiki's and Jerry's mutual "turning soft" at the end wasn't convincing. It seemed that no one cared much about Theresa until the other two victims were killed.An unusual movie, hard to categorize, but easy to enjoy. I wish that more of Cornell Wollrich's stories had been turned into films.

Publicist Dennis O'Keefe (Jerry) turns up with a leopard for his girlfriend Jean Brooks (Kiki) to use in her act and to draw attention away from her rival act Margo (Clo Clo) the castanet dancer. Bad news – the leopard escapes and a body count follows. Can the town stop the killings? This film has three memorable killing sequences that are super tense and will have you going "Oh no!" as well as many other scenes where there is killing potential and you just don't know what will happen. It's well shot, its short length keeps you interested and the cast do fine. You may guess how things will pan out but this doesn't affect the enjoyment of the story. I wouldn't say it's obvious although I did guess correct towards the end.What a bitch mother that Kate Drain Wilson (Senora Delgado) is. Imagine doing that to your daughter! Poor daughter Margaret Landry (Teresa Delgado) encounters a very real nightmare. As does the girl in the cemetery.So, get out your castanets and start clicking but don't go freaking out leopards with them. They just might remember who you are.

An escaped leopard terrorizes a small town in New Mexico. However, stage performer Kiki Walker (a spirited and appealing portrayal by the fetching Jean Brooks) and her dashing manager Jerry Manning (a fine and likable performance by Dennis O'Keefe) suspect that something else might be responsible for the killings that have been occurring.Director Jacques Turner relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, milks plenty of nerve-rattling tension during the murder set pieces (the first one involving a little girl looked outside of her house is positively harrowing), and nicely captures the sleepy atmosphere of the poor Mexican hamlet. Cinematographer Robert De Grasse's masterful use of light and shadow further enhances the overall spooky mood. The solid acting by the capable cast qualifies as another significant asset: Brooks and O'Keefe make for personable leads, with sound support from Margo as bitchy and ambitious dancer Clo-Clo, Isabell Jewell as cynical fortune teller Maria, James Bell as friendly museum curator Dr. Galbraith, Margaret Landry as doomed teenager Teresa Delgado, and Abner Biberman as the leopard's easygoing owner Charlie How-Come. The tight 66 minute running time ensures that this picture never gets dull or overstays its welcome. Well worth seeing.

"The Leopard Man" is one of many so-called "B" movies that Hollywood churned out in between its "A" films. The difference between "A" and "B" films was usually the cast (level of stars), and the budget. The screenplay is another matter. There were as many "A" pictures that flopped as there were those that became hits -- mostly because of the plot and/or screenplay. So, likewise for the "B" films. It seems to me that the many good "B" films that the studios cranked out were the bread and butter of the studios. They kept actors, technicians, writers, directors, makeup, wardrobe and stage crews employed, as well as the studio bosses. Of course, there were a lot of stinkers in that category too. This movie is a good example of a bread-winning "B" film. It was made on a budget of $150,000. I don't know what the box office was, but it likely was a good moneymaker. The film has a nice plot, based on a novel, "Black Alibi" by Cornell Woolrich. The cast are all quite good. The story is a simple one, yet it has some great mystery about it – which the audience is led to suspect early on by two characters – Dennis O'Keefe as Jerry Manning and James Bell as Dr. Galbraith. Without showing any gore, "The Leopard Man" succeeds in keeping a viewer on the edge of her or his seat. That's done by excellent direction with a set and masterful camera work that reminds one of Alfred Hitchcock's style. It's a nice entertaining film. While the cast and technical work are all quite good, there is nothing spectacular or great that would make up for the lesser quality of the set and other things.