First in the wondrous series of B-movies in which Val Lewton elaborated his principle of horrors imagined rather than seen, with a superbly judged performance from Simon as the young wife ambivalently haunted by both sexual frigidity and a fear that she is turning into a panther. With its chilling set-pieces directed to perfection by Tourneur, not least because of the care taken to imbue its cat-people with feline mannerisms. Its sober psychological basis is barely shaken by the studio's insistence on introducing a panther during one crucial scene. Congratulations: Your vote has been cast