characters. He concludes that Cat People was a progenitor of films like Rosemary's Baby. Newman writes that through numerous viewings of the film, he discovered "new aspect[s], some unnoticed detail carefully crafted [...] I would happily rewatch it this evening which may be the highest praise I can give any film". In his book on Tourneur, Fujiwara declared that Cat People was the "master text" of Tourneur's career, stating that most of his later films have some connection with Cat People, specifically The Leopard Man and Night of the Demon but also Experiment Perilous, Out of the Past, Nightfall and Circle of Danger. Fujiwara concluded that Cat People is "with all its flaws, a perfect film". He added that even its flaws "have become classic", dismissing the "careful", "tepid", "strained" and "uneven" qualities that some critics have complained about. Fujiwara states that Cat People "is still contagious; the viewer can still share the surprise and pleasure the film evoked in audiences who discovered this unheralded B horror film on its initial release". Critic Roger Ebert included Cat People in his list of "Great Movies" in 2006. He remarked that the film would work for contemporary audiences depending on their tastes, stating that the film was "frightening in an eerie, mysterious way that was hard to define" with "an undertone of sexual danger that was more ominous because it was never acted upon". Ebert also praised the filmmakers, writing that Tourneur and Musuraca were "masters of light and shadow". Ebert added that the films Lewton produced in the 1940s were "landmark[s] in American movie history". In 1993, the Library of Congress selected Cat People for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Legacy Sequels On discussing the history of horror films, Newman states that if a horror film in the 1940s was financially successful, it was likely to become a franchise. Cat People was followed by The Curse of the Cat People, directed by Robert Wise, which follows Oliver Reed's daughter Amy and her invisible friend, portrayed by Simon. Lewton had unsuccessfully attempted to have the film's title changed to Amy and Her Friend. Other actors from Cat People appear in the film in different roles, such as Russell, who plays Barbara Farren. The Seventh Victim is described by Newman as being "an unacknowledged spin-off" of Cat People, as it features Tom Conway's character returning