The opening credits of 1950’s Spy Hunt say it was based on the novel Panther’s Moon. I was willing to bet good money that title wouldn’t make any sense in regard to the movie it was adapted into.
I would have lost that bet. This quirky noir centers around two black panthers loose in the Alps, one of which has a top-secret microfilm sewn into its collar.
Gathered together at an inn is a curious assortment of characters trying to catch the big cats. Each person has different stated intentions, but any one of them may have ulterior motives. There’s Howard Duff as the cats’ handler, who just wants to get them back to the circus. Marta Toren as a spy who has been pretending to be a journalist. She’s the one who put the microfilm in the collar. Another journalist at the inn is Philip Friend, and he and Toren seem to regard each other with suspicion, as if they doubt the other is in the same profession. Philip Dorn is a big game hunter who relishes the chance to take down the panthers. Robert Douglas is an artist who is only there to sketch the cats.
One or more of these characters could really be an agent for the opposition, and is simply looking for the film. It is an interesting setup, and leads to some good moments of intrigue.
Toren is clearly the star of this picture. She had been touted as the next Ingrid Bergman, but I think she looks far closer to Alida Valli, often uncannily so. What is interesting is how her character drives the entire plot, from the time she feeds a panther a meatball that conceals a sedative through to an ending where she is the only person with a chance at defeating the enemy. Heck, the plot has Duff, our alleged hero, helpless in bed during the climatic scene.
A major highlight of the film are the action sequences. The derailment of the train car was done so well with miniatures that I didn’t realize that’s what I was seeing until I listened to the commentary track.
Although I was concerned for the welfare of the animals, I can’t deny the thrill of seeing a panther leap from a cliff that appeared to be a couple of stories high. Although it didn’t pounce on a stuntman from that height, you still have to feel for the guy it is dropped onto and which he then wrestles with.
I didn’t think that much of Spy Hunt while watching it, but it has already grown in my esteem between the time it was over and when I started to write this. The dialog doesn’t have the kind of spark I expect from noir, but it compensates with a novel plot and a strong female protagonist.
Dir: George Sherman
Starring Howard Duff, Marta Toren, Philip Friend
Watched as part of Kino Lorber’s blu-ray set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIII