Though not the best of Val Lewton’s superb B movies of the 40s, this putative sequel to Cat People presents a finely shaded poetic and psychological portrait of childhood lonelinessthe fantasies of a little girl about her father’s mysterious first wife (Cat People’s Simone Simon). Beautifully atmospheric and suggestive, this 1944 film runs for 70 minutes, and hardly a moment is wasted. Written by DeWitt Bodeen and codirected by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise (the latter’s directorial debut); with Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, and Elizabeth Russell. (JR)