Val Lewton, Horror Noir & The Seventh Victim

Val Lewton's B horror classic 1943's THE SEVENTH VICTIM is a beautifully dark and melancholic film that gives the viewer horror with an existential bent.
Born in Ukraine and the nephew of the great theater and silent film star Alla Nazimoa, Val Lewton had tastes that leaned more towards the artistic than the commercial and those tastes were on display with his artful and beautiful horror films that examined the dark side of life.
RKO studio, looking to find success with cheap horror thrills, hired Lewton to lead its newly formed B horror unit and to produce a series of short, cheap films and ended up inadvertently making legitimate classics.
If you want to watch some of the films in this video, the internet archive has them available for free to WATCH HERE:
Cat People (1942) archive.org/de...
The Leopard Man (1943) archive.org/de...
I Walked With A Zombie (1943) archive.org/de...
The Seventh Victim (1943) archive.org/de...
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[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

His movies, made as they were out of economic necessities, have stood the test of time so beautifully, because he made them thoughtfully, with poetry, enigma, the disturbances of dreams, the uncertainties of the unanswerable big questions, the struggles with faith or lack thereof, the mysteries of death, the ordinary confronting the extraordinary -- they provide us no easy answers and I love that so much about them. They merit and earn countless re-watches and re-thinks. Thank you for honoring him and the amazing The Seventh Victim, a movie that I've been pushing on people for 30 years.

[@bobtaylor170]

I have, too! What a great film!

[@1feloniouspunk]

ICONIC is right. Nice job!!!!!

[@ksmax6310]

The Seventh Victim - I have been looking for this film for years but I didnt know what it was called thank you..... 💗💗💗

[@VamshiOhgs]

The collection of niche horror titles you choose to showcase and shine a light onto is really refreshing to witness

[@CinemaCities1978]

I’m so glad you’re enjoying them!

[@neilcoligan8621]

I (and millions of other fans) are in debt to Val Lewton for giving Boris Karloff screen time outside of his classic Universal pictures. His role in The Body Snatcher is a particular favourite. It's been reported Karloff credited Lewton as "the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul". On another note, your presentation of these gems of darkness is stellar. Your style is urbanely polished with a slight rise of the eyebrow that speaks to an educated fan base. Well done.

[@stephenvelez9710]

❤

[@maartenlemmens8628]

I have a dvd box set of his films, which i watch several times a year. The melancholic mood , the stunning visual look, often imitated , never surpassed.

[@CinemaCities1978]

We’re really lucky the censors didn’t think about it too much and approved the script. I think I saw it for the first time as a teen. It definitely hits harder and sadder the older I get.

[@josephyearwood1179]

Upload the whole film to KZbin.

[@MothGirl007]

@@CinemaCities1978 I find that's so true with many films.

[@williamisley1880]

Thank you so much for the excellent video on Lewton. I have enjoyed his movies very much and believe that your descriptions capture their feel or mood exactly. I didn't know that he helped save RKO for a time.

[@tomphillips2214]

Well done, I work in entertainment, Lewton was a major influence on my work and many others including Hitchcock!

[@tombaker4586]

I wonder how it would be like to walk the New York streets at night in 1945 ! Love your channel. Greetings, Tom, Belgium.

[@robs9237]

Thanks for introducing me to this film 👍

[@CinemaCities1978]

You’re welcome!

[@CinemaCities1978]

Although Val Lewton's unit at RKO made 9 films, I'm focusing on the first four they made starting with Cat People through to the Seventh Victim. Later Boris Karloff arrived on the lot and they made 3 films together (those may get it's own video). Also, Curse of the Cat People, the sequel to Cat People, which I don't really talk about, is an amazing film.

[@findlesplurb]

The interesting thing about the Lewton RKO films is that they were really the only thing going when it came to SERIOUS horror films, as opposed to absurd monster movie mash-ups, or endless sequels to The Mummy and The Invisible Man. Lewton basically carried the torch for the entire genre, at least in the US, throughout the decade. I love the classification of 'noir horror', and believe it perfectly describes the Lewton aesthetic. In addition to Out of the Past -- one of the greatest of all noir films -- Tourneur would go on to direct Night of the Demon, aka Curse of the Demon, with Dana Andrews; you can tell that Tourneur leans on his years directing horror films for Lewton in that film, which comes close to replicating the greatness of Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie. But in spite of its slightly higher budget, Curse of the Demon is still missing something...a bit of that old- school Lewton inspiration. It's hard to put into words, but these films really are special. I just discovered your channel but I'm REALLY digging it! You just earned yourself another subscriber. 🤙

[@Cor6196]

If Curse of the Cat People is the one with Simone Simone standing in the snow outside a window singing “Il est né le Divin Enfant,” I agree! That scene is engraved on my memory, but that was so long ago I’m probably misremembering.

[@dbarker7794]

A video of those three Karloff films would be much appreciated.

[@lallancashire2201]

Great appreciation of this classic chiller 👍

[@pommelhorsepommelhorse8731]

you videos are so much fun. thank you. I also think Curse of the Cat People is one of the most weirdly beautiful films ever made

[@CinemaCities1978]

I agree 100% about Curse of the Cat People

[@TheGhostofAbigailMills]

Val Lewton's work has this impactful, dreamlike and sorrowful quality to it. The Cat People films are some of my favorites, but this is the one that still haunts me. Every time I sit down to watch The 7th Victim, I still get the same feeling of unease and queasy dread. After all these years, this film STILL has the power to make me sit in silence and contemplate life and death for hours afterwards.

[@mrkurtlovesmovies]

What I love about your channel is how you choose such unique and unexpected films to dive into. I'd heard about a number of these pictures, but have never seen any of them. I assumed, with their cheesy drive-in-movie style titles, that they were mildly amusing schlock. The nugget that the studios fed the filmmaker the titles while he worked to make art is a game changer. Fascinating! Your affection for these films is contagious and you never fail to make a compelling case for their value. Thanks!

[@CinemaCities1978]

Thanks so much! I’m so glad I’ve been able to introduce new viewers to some of these classics! I’ve linked the movies in the description so you can watch them for free. They are so beautifully sad and eerie it’s too bad the titles sometimes give the wrong impression.

[@gilgameshofuruk4060]

@@CinemaCities1978 I know this may sound daft, but the quality of the black and white photography and the forlorn melancholic atmosphere of these movies remind me of the visual aesthetic of Charles Addams's cartoons for The New Yorker magazine. Works of art, both.

[@qtandem]

I re-watched it a few days ago and I liked it much more than the first time. Jacqueline's character is fascinating.

[@CinemaCities1978]

She is an interesting mix of mysterious, alluring, doomed and tragic. Jean Brooks is just wonderful in that role.

[@drewsimpson5967]

​@Cinema Cities those adjectives perfectly describe Jean Brooks herself.

[@dearbrad1996]

Oh my gosh. I've got to see these movies I'm in a cinematic funk after enduring television for too long and didn't know what exciting films such as the ones mentioned actually exist. Thanks for your education. Now, I have to figure out how to track down these gems.

[@aprilcanipe2614]

Just found this channel last night and I'm absolutely hooked! Awesome content! 👌

[@CinemaCities1978]

Fantastic! I'm so glad you're enjoying the videos.

[@leoinsf]

In my book Val Lewton's best movie was "The Leopard Man". When you realize that it came out in the early 40's when romance movies and a few mysteries were mostly done. It is so surprisingly gory without showing the gore. The story is so-so, but the opening where the little girl needs to get the flour and is killed by the leopard at the door is beyond anything done previously. I saw it as a 6 year old when my Mom took me to a Monday Dish Night at the Lyceum Theater in San Francisco in the early 40's. When the blood creeps under the door at the beginning of the movie, the audience of women stood up and shouted in terror while the dish on their lap fell to the ground. I am sure this night, the janitor had to sweep up many broken dishes. Nuff said!

[@alexkalish8288]

My fathers first wife was Louis B.Meyers private secretary (in the 40's, he worked for republic) and my mom worked the Oscars for SAG from the mid-fifties to 1965. I grew up in Hollywood and love noir. That was the best movie review I've ever ( not read) heard. Really great knowledge of Hollywood film, and great taste . So what's your favorite movie ?

[@jspaingreene6350]

One of my favorite movies...❤

[@betamaxblocker]

Like many of Lewton's films, this one was way ahead of its time. I'm glad it was made in the 40s though as it could have been pretty schlocky if they had waited to the 60s or 70s.

[@russandtracy3887]

That was really well done. So nice to hear a female voice talk about Val! Thanks

[@TheSaltydog07]

Kim Hunter - Stella!! Lewton was a genius. See "Cat People."

[@rybigbee01]

Fantastic video. Love Lewton.

[@Icarais69]

A beautifully felt and sensitive analysis of Lewton's films, and THE SEVENTH VICTIM in particular. You do good work--really good work. Keep it up!

[@naftalibendavid]

Val Lewton was awesome.

[@stephenvelez9710]

The Seventh Victim is an amazing film. I always appreciate the agency Lewton assured for ALL his characters. Great video. And Hugh Beaumont!

[@joannesuzieburlison7128]

Thank you! I've heard that name but I didn't know who it was and I hadn't really thought of watching the very old horror films but I will now. Anyway that was very interesting.

[@CinemaCities1978]

You're welcome. Let me know if you end up watching any Val Lewton films. I'd love to know what you think!

[@niamhmckinney4027]

Definitely checking this out thanks so much! This is YOUR time of year 😍

[@CinemaCities1978]

Yes! I live for this time of year! 😂I’ve put a link to the film in the description if you want to watch it.

[@niamhmckinney4027]

@@CinemaCities1978 thanks so much!😍

[@mgconlan]

Actually Val Lewton made 11 films at RKO and three after he left. Besides the nine horror films at RKO, he also made "Mademoiselle Fifi" (based on the same Guy de Maupassant short story, "Boule de Suif," that inspired John Ford's "Stagecoach") and "Youth Run Wild" (a juvenile-delinquency drama 10 years before that became a film genre). "The Seventh Victim" is one of Lewton's masterpieces, a brilliant, despairing film full of richness and disquiet. It's one I'd love to see remade, especially by filmmakers who'd bring to it the same artistry and subtlety Lewton, director Mark Robson (in his debut in that job) and writers DeWitt Bodeen and Charles "Blackie" O'Neal (Ryan O'Neal's father) did with the original.

[@eurolicious1]

I saw this one a while ago. Great film!

[@willieluncheonette5843]

I Walked with a Zombie is one of 13 all time favorite films. And as a filmmaker myself I feel closest in spirit to two directors, Tourneur and Sam Fuller

[@rybigbee01]

Wonderful video!

[@Whippets]

It's rather hard for me to categorize Val Lewton's films as "B" films when the artistry is "A" all the way. Now how is it you only have 17.7k subscribers?!?

[@CinemaCities1978]

Artistically his films are exceptional. Imagine if RKO had given him a larger budget to make these films.

[@frankb821]

The most tragic aspect is that Lewton died so young...imagine all the films we missed out on

[@onetrickpony381]

I C O N I C video essay too!❤

[@dreaboi]

I love this channel so much.

[@westernnoir4808]

Her name is Jean Brooks and she has a Louise Brooks' helmet? (As Louise called her hairstyle.) I guess someone wanted to do a subliminal nod to the silent star. Or is it just a coincidence?

[@marymitchell8625]

Val Lewton never made a bad movie. My first Lewton film was The Leopard Man. My classmates and I made fun of "old" movies. Then The Leooard Man came on TV one night. The next day at least half my homeroom was talking about it! My favorite of his films? Curse Of The Cat People, which still doesn't get enough love. The girl actress grew up to be a therapist in my home state of Washington! All of his films have something to offer, and I appreciate his casting of Black actors in good roles. Theresa Harris deserves a story (hint, hint). ❤

[@eddiereedbigband1]

Good afternoon Ms CC. Thank you for another fun and informative video ! Why can't I find a video by you starring the divine Louise Brooks ? You surely have made one. CHEERS !

[@dalangilbert]

I love this channel; it's a film history course. What was with the little, "I don't know", in the last three seconds?

[@nickimontie]

Can't wait to watch this one!

[@CannonfireVideo]

You didn't mention that Mimi came into this story from the opera "La Boheme." Lewton always liked to remind the audience that he was a man of culture. The film means a great deal to me because I once dated a woman just like Jacqueline -- same hair, same attitude, and she even belonged to a notorious group of occultists. (They couldn't hurt a fly, just like the group in this movie.) The problem with this film is structural: It abandons its protagonist in the final act. But the finale is amazingly grim.

[@bobtaylor170]

Oh, I beg to differ. It's clear that for the cult, manipulating the victim to commit suicide is much more satisfying than mere murder.

[@jeromemckenna7102]

I saw Val Lewton's films as a child and they bored me in the way the the Universal stuff did not, but as an adult, my reaction was entirely different. I am sure there were people who were terribly disappointed at the time they first came out.

[@dougmann777]

Great channel - I just discovered it, as a fan of noir mainly. Have you done a video on "what is noir?" Or how about the obligatory "top ten classic noir"? For me, it has to include The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Out of the Past, and The Third Man are the core minimum.

[@CinemaCities1978]

I have not done a top ten video. Maybe I should with my personal favorites. . . thank you for the suggestion.

[@mosriteminioncause7741]

The Seventh Victim is one of the best "Existentialist" movies of the 1940's if not film history....Val Lewton movies show he is the master of the "Moral keynundrum" of life and death.

[@reesetorwad8346]

👍 "...more noir than "The Maltese Falcon..." I confess I'm too lazy to look up exact numbers, but near certain Hammet wrote that in the '20s. And in "Curse of the Cat People," every time that little girl says "my friend" it chokes me up.

[@DanielOrme]

"I Walked with a Zombie" is one of my favorite movies, but the unfortunate title can make it difficult to recommend to people. When I tell people how much I love it, I also have to explain that it's not in any ironic way, as if it was some kind of campy piece of crap (I hate camp! 😠). When I tell them that it's the best adaptation of Jane Eyre ever filmed, I'm always afraid they'll think I'm kidding. It's like when I tell people that I love the TV series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer.' Damned awful titles!

[@CinemaCities1978]

That’s so interesting that people consider the title as camp. I always think of the title as a serious and sincere description of a personal experience. Also, Buffy is one my all time favorite shows and I will fight anyone who talks trash about it.

[@DanielOrme]

@@CinemaCities1978 Buffy! Yes! Best series ever! *fist bump*

[@CinemaCities1978]

@@DanielOrme 👊🏽

[@mgconlan]

@@DanielOrme Even Val Lewton, in a letter to his sister after she wrote him complaining about the awful review "I Walked with a Zombie" got from a New York critic, acknowledged that nobody in the world was going to give a film called "I Walked with a Zombie" a sympathetic review.

[@MothGirl007]

I Walked With A Zombie has such an incredibly eerie atmosphere and claustrophobic feel to it. I find it truly scary and disturbing and fantastic. I LOVE Val Lewton films.

[@mrkurtlovesmovies]

Oh, I also wanted to ask: Was it raining when recorded your VO? I listened with earbuds on, but wasn't sure. Whatever I was hearing, it certainly added to the melancholy of the presentation.

[@CinemaCities1978]

No, but I’m terrible at audio so if my mistake enhances rather then takes away from the overall mood I’ll take that win! 😂

[@nunyabizness6595]

No one can tell me that season one of the 1960s Outer Limits wasn't trying to ape what Val Lewton was doing decades. Horror sf nor. It's a shame that they moved the show to a crap time slot. If they hadn't done that, the original team would have stayed and the show might have lasted five years.😮

[@johnrunion5357]

my all time favorite movie critic is danny peary. in his review of the film he states the movie trasnpires in the underworld...basically hell. having lewis judd who was killed in the cat people appear in this later film only confirms this theory.

[@jalopez1748]

When in Blu Ray?

[@tomherron1377]

just DLD 8 of Lewtons movies could not find The Seventh Victim anywhere if anyone has any info please post here

[@CinemaCities1978]

It's available for free on the Internet Archive archive.org/details/the-7th-victim

[@tomherron1377]

just tried to watch-SURPRISE hard coded spanish subs--for an 80 year old thats not great news--will try to turn sound up and watch-easy to ignore those subs--thanks for tip anyhow i will probably enjoy the movie anyway---oh FYI the canadian person who had torrent only produced 99.9 percent of movie--my luck is VLC can still play that

[@richardking3206]

I’ve not heard of this one. If I can find it, it’s a definite watch for me! I love all of his films that I’ve seen. Out of the Past is my fave Noir.

[@alpha-omega2362]

@@richardking3206 just watched it on MOVIES! channel..if that helps, I presume they will be showing it again in the next few days.

[@richardking3206]

@@alpha-omega2362 Sorry, what’s the ‘Movies’ channel? How can it be accessed? TIA.

[@coyoteartist]

I don't get what people see in Psycho. I found it more confusing than anything. While I've not seen this particular movie, I've heard of it and I've seen several of Lewton's other movies. While there have been plenty of low budget so much with so little kinds of movies, to do so with only black and white to work with is a special art. More has to be asked of the audience when the clues must be in lighting or lack of it, then in colors.

[@Chiller01]

Hey the secret husband is Wally and Beaver’s dad!

[@bhotaling1]

Hugh Beaumont!?!?!?!?!?!

[@bhotaling1]

You sister and I were "intimate?" Well well well

[@jamesallard7223]

I don't know, either. Never take that out!

[@josephyearwood1179]

Barak Obama can be seen playing (somehow) the librarian woman in this 1943 film.

[@leoinsf]

Not funny! Just stupid and racist! Kiss my ----!

[@thebeepolen76]

I WOULD RATHER HAVE HAD THE MOVIE ACTUALLY SHOWN HERE.