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Several Prometheous releases only showed vague non-specific artwork, possibly for licensing or budgetary reasons, rather than actual art or photos from the represented film. EYE OF THE PANTHER (1989) is one of these.
This is based on the short story of the same name by Ambrose Bierce. The panther in the episode was a black panther. The story takes place in the Ohio River Valley in the early frontier era. The panther would likely have been the eastern sub-species of cougar, Felis concolour cougar, which was (and still is), frequently reported in a melanistic black phase. Early settlers thought it was a completely different and more sinister animal because of the colouration.
The Ohio Valley may have been in the range of a second sub-species F.c. schorgeri although this is unlikely and reports of black panthers in schorgeri's range are very rare if reported at all in the historical record. The recessive gene needed for the melanistic phase diminishes as one moves west across the cougar's range. So, wide reports of black panthers in the east, few if any in the west.
There are proposed changes in taxonomy that are not resolved at this time. Current thinking combines all 17 North American sub-species into the single subspecies of F.c. cougar, which is odd since that is the subspecies that is considered extinct.
The Bierce short story is a Val Lewtonesque tale of were-beasts, untrustworthy women and doomed marriages. Bierce's nickname was 'Bitter 'Bierce.
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Several Prometheous releases from the same time frame have odd track numbering or missing tracks or more tracks than are listed. Some maintain the track numbering from the earlier LP release. So on a 24 track CD it will list track 12, then the next number is track 1 again because that was side B of an LP.
ACT OF PIRACY/ GREAT WHITE is another title with screwy track listings. I've never been able to track down a copy of GREAT WHITE so I can't tell what track goes where. Supposedly the film has been barred from distrubution for legal reasons similar to NOSFERATU's unfortunate history.
But I have seen the poster and that's a hoot! The shark is apparently terrorizing a resort called Port Harbour. It just struck me as a funny place name. Like calling a street Road Street.
Morton Stevens music is first rate though and it would be good to be able to hear it with the visuals it was supposed to accompany.
The wife in EYE OF THE PANTHER may have become 'cursed' in a foreign land where vaccines have not been available to halt the spread of were-beastery and leopard-man infection before coming to America. There, now the CD cover makes sense to me.
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There were at least two reports of black panthers in the state of Ohio in the 20th century. 1948 and 1951 both saw reported sightings. There were also numerous reports of the common colour phase of the cougar in the state where it has been extinct since 1850. There are also older reports from the previous century of the black colour phase. Several of these reports had supernatural elements associated with the sightings alluding to shape shifting, skin walking or were-animalism, so perhaps Bierce did not choose Ohio as the location of the story randomly. The surrounding states had similar reports of both black and regular coloured cats during the same time period with Illinois and Michigan having the most sightings.
I know this is of keen interest to you all.
To listen to cougar music I recommend LION OF THE AMERICAS by Alan Williams and THE BEAR by Phillipe Sarde. Unreleased music can be heard in Disney's CHARLIE THE LONESOME COUGAR by Disney staff composer Franklyn Marks, while John Debney, whose music started the thread, also scored several harrowing cartoon sequences in THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE featuring a horde of black panthers chasing David Spade's were-llama over stylized Andean precipices. Lalo Schifrin scored a simultaneous attack by three cougars on Christopher George, Michael Ansara and Richard Jaeckel in DAY OF THE ANIMALS. A pre-shot, maybe zombie cougar flings itself lifelessly off a cliff onto the adventurers in the Jamie Mendoza-Nava scored SASQUATCH: THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT. And I believe the creatures went up against Benji in one of the Benji movies. BENJI THE HUNTED if I'm not mistaken.
There, just enough music references to keep it in the thread.
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The 4th season TWILIGHT ZONE episode JESS-BELLE, written by Earl Hamner, bears more than a passing resemblance to the Bierce story EYE OF THE PANTHER. This was written in haste over a weekend according to THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION by Marc Scott Zircee, when a scheduled story was dropped and a replacement needed right away.
Hamner specialized in telling stories of rural people and had a great affinity for them. Whether he channeled the Bierce story unconsciously or this particular story is well-known folklore that Bierce also utilized I can't say. Is anyone here an expert on Appalachian folkore?
The music is by Nathan Van Cleave. It's isolated on the DVD.
The story has Ann Francis turning into a were-leopard (spotted leopard,not a black panther) , and causing a ruckus ... in the olden days. Just like EYE OF THE PANTHER.
Warning : episode contains square-dancing !
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