Director: Mark Robson
Producer: Val Lewton
Screenwriters: Dewitt Bodeen and Charles O’Neal
Cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca
Music: Roy Webb
Studio: RKO 1943
Main Acting: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, and Jean Brooks
As the back of my DVD cover states by way of Chris Auty, “half noir, half gothic” is the best way to describe The Seventh Victim. The story of Val Lewton’s evolution from David O. Selznick’s assistant to being the producer of the horror unit at RKO has been well documented many times before. Between 1942 and 1946, he was responsible for creating eleven pictures (two of which were unrelated to the series) that helped the studio stay afloat and posthumously earned him accolades. While the films entrusted to Lewton were supposed to be Universal horror movie knock-offs with lurid names like I Walked With A Zombie and Cat People, the producer was more interested in creating poetic works of art that ruminated on life and death. The pain of having to live in a complex world filled with hardships greatly fascinated him. His features all deal with existential grief and are best exemplified by the title of one of Christian Fennesz’s wondrous compositions, “The Point Of It All.” (more…)