by Sam Juliano
While I won’t make a habit of headlining reviews from other sites, and we surely do have enough of our own to write and post here at Wonders in the Dark, I would like to mention this one time that there is a simply superlative essay at www.filmsnoir.net on the Val Lewton low-budget masterpiece The Seventh Victim (1943), which many film scholars and buffs consider (along with I Walked With A Zombie) as Lewton’s masterpiece. Citing the film’s paranoia, and using a provocative passage of a famous John Donne poem, Mr. D’Ambra weaves personal perceptions with astute and fascinating references to compose a most persuasive and passionate assessment of a film that gains in reputation over time.
For those enamored of sharp visual images, there is a nifty slide show at the end of the review as well as a crystal-clear stain-glass window, which appears at the beginning of the review, and a gorgeous poster, all presented in Mr. D’Ambra’s attractive site designs and layout. I urge readers at WitD to check out this terrific review, and to bookmark Mr. Ambra’s definitive film noir site.
I think I would have to say that ‘Cat People’ and ‘The Body Snatcher’ are my favorite of the Lewton films. I never really appreciated ‘The Seventh Victim,’ maybe because it was slow-moving and talky. But I loved the layout on Mr. D’Ambra’s review. Great job.
Hi!
This is my first time posting on your blog and I
guess that I am the “lone” voice in the wind. Because I am not a “big fan” of producer Val Lewton’s films. I don’t mean to “offend” fans of producer Val Lewton films. ( I must admit I have watched 4 of his films once or twice, but never again!) Will it be a wise choice to give me his recently released boxset which features 9 of his films for Christmas? My response…No!
Tks,
What a wonderful surprise darkcitydame!!! I have seen your comments elsewhere, including at Alexander Coleman’s site and at Tony D’Ambra’s. I will add your own site to my blog roll later tonite (when I come home from the movies! LOL!) and tomorrow I will post a comment there.
As far as Lewton, well admittedly we are at opposite ends here as I have worshipped him since childhood. And I’m in my early 50′s now! I can understand him not resonating with everyone though, and you are an astute and insightful viewer—his low-budget films are not your cup of tea— Maybe one day you may have a reappraisal, but I respect your stance.
Again, thanks for stopping by!
Thanks Sam for the wrap! I am shutter-shy and don’t won’t to elevate my profile any more, but I am obliged to confess that my admiration for the literate essays you, Allan, and (despite our differences and stand-offs) the guys from Movie Zeal produce, has inspired me to make a greater effort in my posts. So thank you again.
Hi! Sam Juliano,
I am so sorry! for”my rudeness”…my first “post” and I “insult” the “host!”
Please excuse me!…
S.J. said, “his low-budget films are not your cup of tea”
Oh no!…I have watched films with lower-budgets…Think Edgar G. Ulmer’s “Detour.” (Because I am a film noir “fanatics”..and “B” movies rank high among some collectors of film noir. Because they are usually the most difficult to find copies of…no “movie snob” here!)
Right you are!…I do post on several blogs since I discovered the “bloggisphere” last month.
Not only do I sometimes comment on the 2 aforementioned blogs, but also Rick’s, Daniel’s, and T.S.’s blogs.
Speaking of, T.S. blog, I think if you leave a comment for me… you really are leaving it for T.S. because he “sat” down with me last week in order for me to interview him on my blog for his upcoming 31 days of Hitchcock Tribute in October.
You know I maybe wrong, leaving a comment for me is like leaving a comment for him.
At first I thought that I would need to think of a way to “break the ice” with T.S., since I was “meeting” him for the first time, but no he was very warm, gracious, extemely knowledgeable and friendly from the moment the first words came out of his mouth during are interview.
I truly thank him and you for the kindness and patience that he showed to me during our interview and you for your very friendly welcoming to your blog. (and adding my blog to your blog roll.)
Thanks, dcd
Oops! it was suppose to be reversed…
“You know I maybe wrong, leaving a comment for me is like leaving a comment for him. ”
Correction:
“You know I maybe wrong, leaving a comment for T.S. is like leaving a comment for me.”
.
“Maybe one day you may have a reappraisal, but I respect your stance.”
Sam Juliano, you maybe right!…because I just discovered film noir 2 and half years ago!…and a lot of these classic films, even more recently.
Therefore, given time…
Tks, dcd
I have to say Tony’s piece is a very persuasive one, but much of the menace of the film was removed by Joe Breen’s killjoy office, and though it’s undeniably superb in several aspects, Mark Robson was not in the class of Tourneur as a thematic and visual craftsman and it’s the photography and the very idea of a film about Satanism in 1943 that is still so potent. The photography is certainly noir-like, though whether that would qualify as a noir in the strictest sense of the word is jard to judge, in that it is, when push comes to shove, a horror film. But pigeon-holing is dangerous and throws up examples of the chicken and the egg syndrome. Take Scott’s Alien for example – science-fiction or horror film. Science-fiction in that it’s set in a science-fiction world that hasn’t come to pass, but horror in that it’s main objective is to scare the pants off you.
For Lewton, I’d still say Cat People and I Walked Witha Zombie are its superiors.
darkcity dame…………I again thank you for your multiple posts, and I assure you that you haven’t been rude in any way…on the contrary your visits here are much appreciated. I am stilling trying to leave comments at your site, but my password continues to be rejected. I hope to sort out this problem soon.
I can’t disagree with Allan on Jacques Tourneur, but as I say in my post, The Seventh Victim is “a film that displays the brilliant gestalt achieved by a team of talented film-makers”.
Firstly, we have to acknowledge Nicholas Musuruca, who worked as dp on all the Torneur’s Lewton horror flicks, and on Out of the Past. The same goes for Albert S. D’Agostino for art, and Roy Webb for ost. Also Mark Robson was editor for the Lewton movies.
Perhaps I prefer The Seventh Victim for the audacity of its dark existential theme.
I agree with “Tony” on “The Seventh Victim” and he is right to pose the names of Musuraca, D’Agostino and Webb. I am not sure but I think Robson may have directed “The Body Snatcher” but don’t hold me to that.
Very nice review here by Tony. Great literary references. I can see why you decided to headline it! My own favorite of the Lewtons was “The Body Snatcher” so I can’t side with either of the above camps. lol.
TCM (USA) has a big Val Lewton program scheduled for October 2008:
20 Monday
7:45am The Ghost Ship (1943)
9:00am The Seventh Victim 1943)
22 Wednesday
12:15am Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007)
1:45am Cat People (1942)
3:00am I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
4:15am Isle Of The Dead (1945)
5:30am The Body Snatcher (1945)
30 Thursday
9:00am I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
10:15am Curse of the Demon (1958)
31 Friday
7:30am Cat People (1942)
3:30pm Body Snatcher, The (1945)
5:00pm Bedlam (1946)
Hi! Tony D’Ambra and Sam Juliano,
I guess this is my “last” chance at “redemption” or to truly “convert” and change my opinion about the aforementioned films….and how will I do that? …by tuning in to TCM this month in order to watch all of Lewton’s films…. (with an “open” mind) …. until I can purchase the Val Lewton 9 dvds boxset.
Btw, D’Ambra, Thanks, for a heads~up!
dcd
WOW WOW WOW Tony!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t thank you enough for making the patrons of WONDERS IN THE DARK aware of this stupendous October lineup, made even more appropriate as it’s the traditional “Halloween” month.
It’s super too that they have added Tourneur’s CURSE OF THE DEMON to the schedule, even though that film isn’t in the Lewton arsenal. Appropriately they have chosen to do it on the same night as I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.
Tony, there is always something spontaneous about TCM festivals that make tuning in most desirable regardless of whether one owns all the DVDs.
I will make it a point of tuning in.
Thanks ever so much!!!!
And “Dark City Dame” I am still hoping and praying that you can be won over. Perhaps this TCM festival will do it–and the box set acquisition will follow. Oddly enough though, the excellent GHOST SHIP, which is first up may not exactly be the way to proceed with Lewton as it is extremely subtle and psychological, as is the one it’s paired with, THE SEVENTH VICTIM (recipient of Tony D’Ambra’s superb review) but you simply MUST look at that marathon lineup for Wednesday the 22nd. That one is simply to die for!
I implore you to let me hear of your assessment, and thanks again DCD for your infectious and endearing remarks at this site! They are always deeply appreciated!
I have decided myself to review ZOMBIE and two other Lewtons for WitD later this month, as the enthusiasm is contagious!
HI.I live in Idaho.I go by tony .Im 43 years old I lived in cal. for most of my life . write back
Hello Anthony D’Ambra!!!!
Are you related to our own “Tony D’Ambra” who is one of our most valued writers?
The site is based here in the NYC area, but our other three writers live here, in the U.K. and in Australia.
Greetings.
Hell of a coincidence. Two Anthony d’Ambra’s.
By the way guys, put The Seventh Victim on again. I watched it again after reading Tony’s review the first time, and watch the girls come upa nd down the Amberson staircase in the first scene. You’ll see the set of the stained glass window behind wobble. Very funny.
There are many of us. My father hails from Lipari, a small island off Sicily, where there are many D’Ambra’s. There was a big wave of migration of D’Ambra’s to the US between 1890 and WW2. A very small number came down under. ‘Antonio’ is a very popular saint’s name.
Re the stained glass, I will have to look at it again!
Do so…post haste. It did make me laugh. the problem was they reused that staircase so often that the ground in the studio was probably uneven, all those girls charging down it and it went very Cell Block H.