As you probably know by now, we are partial to classic movie talents often overlooked by established cineastes and critics. Today we offer — Jane Randolph.
Don’t yawn, and please hear us out.
If she did nothing else, the Midwestern born and bred Randolph deserves a special place in classic Hollywood’s wholesome femininity sweepstakes for her turn as the understanding office mate to a marine engineer (Kent Smith) in producer Val Lewton’s 1942 masterpiece (and box office smash), Cat People.
She is the essence of a level-headed compassion as Smith’s character bogs himself down in a doomed marriage to a whacky Serbian fashion designer (Simone Simon) with deadly feline drives. Randolph’s character, of course, also happens to be discretely carrying the torch for the beleaguered engineer.
In any case, Randolph quietly matches if not exceeds the sexuality exuded by French-born Simon as the svelte and disturbed fashionista. Take a gander at the photo below showing Randolph in one of Cat People’s most evocative and scary scenes set in an indoor swimming pool.
Randolph’s career was not particularly voluminous (about 20 screen credits) or particularly splashy. She appears in a range of crowd-pleasing movies ranging from Abbott and Costello comedies to episodes The Falcon starring George Sanders.
She acquits herself in typically appealing, wholesome fashion as the devoted wife of Kent Smith in 1944’s The Curse of the Cat People. The title is misleading — this is NOT your typical horror movie sequel.
Randolph plays a loving mother fretting about the overwrought imagination of the couple’s precocious young daughter, credibly played by Ann Carter. (See the photo below.) This is a largely unheralded picture, and Randolph is fine in it.
JANE RANDOLPH… From the horror classic CAT PEOPLE to an uncredited role as an extra in THAT LADY, seven years after retiring and marrying into Spanish high society.
Joe & Frank mentioned her most well known credits, but Jane also had a good part in Anthony Mann’s film noir RAILROADED in 1947… Which just happens to be available for free on YouTube.
I don’t know if anyone’s paying attention or interested in anything I, or even what the ‘guys’ write… But YouTube is the only way you’ll going to be able to see many of the stars and movies they remind you of each day, as they rarely get shown on TV or out on DVD…
And when they’re available for FREE, and all you have to do is make a few clicks to see them -well then, there’s no excuse for not getting the full enjoyment of what CLASSIC MOVIE CHAT really has to offer.
So whilst we’re still in the HALLOWEEN mood, check-out another free YouTube movie from 1964, William Castle’s THE NIGHT WALKER starring Robert Taylor and his ex-wife Barbara Stanwyck. It’s very good, even by shock and sometimes schlock producer/director Castle’s standards.
William Castle openly said he modeled himself on the suspense/horror style of Alfred Hitchcock, and when Hitch saw how successful Castle’s THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL was on a low budget and tight schedule… It inspired Hitch to make PSYCHO a year later…
To see how all this links together, THE NIGHT WALKER was written by Robert Bloch, who also wrote the novel PSYCHO, the film was based on…
The screenplay of PSYCHO was written by Joseph Stefano, who later produced TV’s THE OUTER LIMITS… And as I mentioned the other day, Stefano wrote 1969’s EYE OF THE CAT, another movie worthy of your consideration.
But PLEASE comment or say something, as a worthwhile site like this one should NOT be ignored or taken for granted!
She barely got a credit in T-Men while her character was a criminal mastermind. Go figure!
I just watched Cat People yesterday on TCM, Miss Randolph was perfection!
I agree with the above comment from Mr. Hill, your site should NOT be ignored or taken for granted. I visit here several times per week (for years) but have never commented before. Too shy or intimidated I suppose.
I love classic movies, and will often do a search here afterward I watch a film for some extra goodies about an actor or actress that caught my interest-you gentlemen always deliver!
Thank you so much for your hard work
Thank you very much for your comment Jai, it’s greatly appreciated…
There’s nothing to be shy about, just speak your mind like people used to do…
Joe, Frank and I are all old men,veteran movie people who need the encouragement, specially in these “trending now” times!