“… what lies behind a brownstone front”

After entering the nondescript door to her building, ordinary Oliver Reed follows Irena Dubrovna as she ascends the ornate stairs that lead to her front door. He hovers at the foot of the stairs, and rhetorically admits: “I never cease to marvel at what lies behind a brownstone front.” Behind each façade lies something hidden. What lies hidden from Oliver Reed in Cat People (1942) are the dormant stories waiting behind each door. This article is based on my presentation at the 2009 Double Dialogues Conference, Hidden Stories, held in Melbourne, December 2009. In the Conference presentation, the early scenes from Cat People were screened with the film sound interspersed with my commentary. This article uses still frames from the film, descriptions from the original screenplay (in courier font) and the storyboard layout for a DVD commentary.