The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

I have been watching this recently released collection (Oct 04, 2005) and it is a real treat for horror and film noir fans. Val Lewton's films have been described as atmospheric horror, psychological horror, and even film noir horror. The documentary features interviews that include Ramsey Campbell and Harlan Ellison. I still have a couple of movies yet to watch, but I already feel safe in recommending these fine films. (The individual film descriptions, I paraphrased from my library)

The Val Lewton Horror Collection
5 DVDs 9 Movies and a Documentary

Cat People (1942)/Curse of the Cat People (1944)
The Leopard Man (1943) /Ghost Ship (1943)
The Seventh Victim (1943)/Shadows in the Dark (Documentary-The Val Lewton Legacy)
I Walked With a Zombie (1943) /The Body Snatcher (1945)
Isle of the Dead (1945) /Bedlam (1946)

Cat People : Irena Dubrovna, a beautiful and mysterious Serbian-born fashion artist living in New York City, falls in love with and marries American Oliver Reed. Their marriage is troubled though, as Irena believes that she suffers from an ancient curse.

The Curse of the Cat People: Amy is a very imaginative child who has trouble differentiating fantasy from reality, and has no friends her own age as a result. She makes an imaginary friend though, her father's dead first wife Irena.

Isle of the dead: Boris Karloff plays a Greek General who shares a quarantined house with other strangers on a plague-infested, and perhaps spirit-haunted, island.

Bedlam: Boris Karloff plays the sadistic overseer of St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum in 1761 London.

I Walked with a Zombie: A young Canadian nurse comes to the West Indies to care for the wife of a plantation manager, who suffers from a strange catatonic condition. There she learns about local voodoo practices in her search for a cure.

The Body Snatcher: A surgeon and teacher of anatomy needs fresh cadavers for classroom demonstrations and pays a sinister cabman to supply them. When the cemeteries become more closely guarded, the cabman turns to other means to provide the bodies. Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Leopard Man: A nightclub performer in New Mexico takes a leashed leopard into the club as a publicity gimmick. But her rival, angered by the attempt to upstage, scares the animal and it bolts. In the days that follow, people are mauled.

The Ghost Ship: Tom Merriam signs on the ship Altair as third officer under Captain Stone. Initially, things seem normal, but after a couple strange deaths of crew members, Merriam begins to think Stone is a psychopathic madman.

The Seventh Victim: Mary Gibson, a naive orphan, goes to Manhattan to find her missing sister Jacqueline. Her investigation uncovers her sister's secret life, and also to a strange cult of Diabolists who are also hunting her.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

Val Lewton was one of the great producers. His hands were into some of the best horror that RKO Studios released. I have most of the titles mentioned above in my video library. I even bought "The Leopard Man" on VHS many years ago because it's based on Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich. This film was directed by Jacques Tourneur, just one of the many talented people that Lewton nurtured. Ted Turner owns the RKO library, so fortunately these films run from time to time on Turner Classic Movies. Keep those eyes open, or you'll miss some great atmospheric cinema.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

Cat People, I walked With Zombie and The Body Snatcher were all on BBC2 recently. And I missed all of them :(

I also always manage to miss Tourneur's Out of the Past (AKA Build My Gallows High) whenever it's on. Last year I decided to see it at the British Film Institute as part of their Robert Mitchum season. Of course the day I intended to see was the day terrorists bombed London.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

Sorry, I know it's not a Val Lewton production, but since Stu mentioned Out of the Past, I just have to say that this is one of my favorite films of all time. It's very much, for me at least, the quintessential noir film...by which I mean that if I only have time to show one example for my film class, I almost always pick out this one so they can have a demonstration of all the tropes mentioned in the readings I assign.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

eldritch00, that's it, rub it in that you've seen the film and I haven't. :(

Oh, I'm sorry, Stu! I didn't mean it that way. It took me ages to finally be able to see it, and I'm sure you'll come across another chance to see it sometime sooner than you think.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

Fingers crossed.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

I just saw Cat People and Isle of the Dead, and appreciated both for the way they depict horror without any or much gore.

On a related note, I wonder how many of you will react to this news report:

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/9120

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

Sacrilege!

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

I was just blindsided by a promotion for "The Man in the Shadows," a documentary about Val Lewton scheduled to air January 14th on Turner Classic Movies. In my stunned and wide-eyed state, I did not catch the time. I assume that this will be a primetime presentation. Consider me there.

Editional and/or additional information: Airtime is at 8:00 PM EST, with an encore at midnight.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

For those in the U.S. who have TCM, what a treat!

http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.co...rors-news.html

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

I have always loved Val Lewton's work. My favorites being Cat People and the Body Snatcher. I Walked With a Zombie is filmed beautifully. I am so happy that I have the Lewton Boxset on DVD, he and Jaques Tournier made some great films together. I still have to see Out of the Past though.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

There's no excuse for not seeing "Out of the Past". It's arguably the best Film Noir ever made. It really is that damn good. Go now, do not wait.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

I have just watched "Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows" on Turner Classic Movies. (I also taped its premiere showing last night.) The documentary is excellent. It was produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese. I learned many things about Mr. Lewton and his approach to filmmaking which I didn't know. I urge anyone with even a passing interest in 1940s cinema to see this if they can. Pass the popcorn, please...

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

As a film-maker Val Lewton is widely recognised as one of the greatest talents Hollywood has yet seen. Remembered chiefly for his magnificent 1940s horror films, most famously Cat People, his cult of fans has included everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Martin Scorsese.

Before making movies however, Lewton was a prolific novelist. This racy, fantastically readable pulp-noir was his favourite of his own books. No Bed of Her Own is the story of Rose Mahoney, a peppy, hard-boiled New York blonde who loses her job in the Depression. Cast alone into the underbelly of the cold, dark city with her meagre savings dwindling, Rose tries to survive a world of hypocrisy and selfishness – and the attentions of those only too happy to give her money, in return for services rendered – with only her wits to guide and protect her.

Published in 1932 – the first of the Depression novels – No Bed of Her Own was a bestseller in its day, and a minor sensation thanks to its astonishingly liberal sexual attitudes. When the Paramount film studios snapped up the rights to film the book, they discovered that they couldn’t get its taboo themes past the censors. When published in Germany, it was burned under Hitler’s orders. The book’s sexual frankness remains surprising today. But so, too, does its pace, humour and grit, and the cinematic eye and unexpected mind of its author. A vivid and strange snapshot of its era, it is one of the great rediscoveries of the year.

Featuring a new introduction by Val E Lewton, the son of the author, specially commissioned art from a comic book artist and an essay on Lewton’s writing career, No Bed of Her Own will be published in the US and the UK in 2006, as the first title from Kingly-Reprieve, a new imprint of Kingly Books.

For further information, please contact damien.loveATdsl.pipex.com (replacing AT with @ of course). This copied verbatim from the web page.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

"RKO Announces Roseblood, Lewton Remakes"

http://www.dreadcentral.com/node/26006

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

It took me awhile to see Out of the Past, but I finally did. I loved it. In my opinion it is right up there with Asphalt Jungle, Third Man, Rififi, and Touch of Evil. It is an essential noir for me and Jane Greer was hot as hell. There was something about her eyes.

Re: The Val Lewton Horror Collection
 

I would guess that Out of the Past ranks high on the list of top film noirs for most people who have an appreciation for the genre. Jane Greer is wonderful in the film. Her line "You dirty double-crossing rat!" is classic and great fun to hear. I saw an interview with Greer and she stated that the reason her film career is so modest is because when she broke up with Howard Hughes, he told her that she would never work again. Hughes, apparently, used his influence to ruin her career. If true, he was a real jerk.