A chilling VAL LEWTON (at RKO) POLL

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/100/313366798_17bbb71385.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3111/2371804370_bb50b9c0f1.jpg?v=0

difficult

Probably 'Cat People', because it's just so damn good, but some real gems in this lot.

Impossible.

I'll probably have to vote Seventh Victim, because I'm worried no one else will, but damn if I don't really want to throw support behind Curse of the Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie.

seventh victim gets my vote i think, but i would like to see all of these

I've seen about half of these and they were all fantastic, except for The Leopard Man which is a bit weak, although it still has a few good scenes. I vote Seventh Victim for its crazy mix of noir and horror genres and its crazy downbeat ending. Apparently when someone asked Lewton what the 7th Victim was about, he said "death is good"!

I haven't seen The Ghost Ship, Mademoiselle Fifi, Youth Runs Wild, The Body Snatcher, Isle of the Dead or Bedlam. Which of these are worth tracking down?

Body Snatcher is pretty wild stuff - doctor makes deal with unsavoury sort to pay him to dig up bodies to use for medical research. A bit more manic than the other Lewton I've seen. Also extremley noir in theme - it's all about guilt and dark secrets. Karloff is pretty scary, LUgosi makes a cameo.

OK, I voted Curse of the Cat People.

youth runs wild is not a horror film, some juvenile delinquent deal - anybody see it?

In Australia some of these are on ABC1 late at night this week, btw.

The Seventh Victim easily. Some people share wine or weed; I share The Seventh Victim...countless times, esp. with students ("here! look at all the shit you can pack into 70 mins.!!"). I'm genuinely stunned it's not as notorious as Psycho. After all, it includes a shower sequence almost as scary and invasive. I cannot think of a single second in this masterpiece that doesn't thrill me or needs to be cut. The dipsomania discussion. The fucked-up kiddie song. The floating trademark. Most of all, the deep, deep sadness conveyed in the scene where Mary gets her hair done. It just keep pinning your back to the wall.

Then followed HARD by The Curse of the Cat People. I bet these two would wind up in my top ten of fave classical Hollywood films if I made a list.

I've got the cool box set (has them all except 'Fifi' and 'Youth'): great films, plus nifty doco on Mr Lewton.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000A0GOEQ.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this guy is superdope.
I'm torn between curse and i walked with a zombie, think i'm going with the latter.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I'm very much OK with those results, though I think Leopard Man is a little bit underrated.

And The Ghost Ship is something to behold! It only suffers in comparison to the masterpieces surrounding it. Again, the character profiles manage to mutate several times in just 70 mins. And the mute is possibly the most poetic character in all of the above.

rescreened The Body Snatcher last night and confirmed its top-tier Lewton for me, Karloff is just phenomenal in it, his best performance imho

watched THE SEVENTH VICTIM the other night and it was really something. The arc of the Jacqueline character is one of the most fascinatingly bleak ones I’ve ever seen in a film. There’s a conversation near the end she has with a mortally ill neighbor, who is cast in this subtly pale shimmering light, that’s purely mesmerizing.

One of the more fascinating aspects of this film was the fate of Jean Brooks, who portrayed Jacqueline —

In November 1963, Brooks was admitted to Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital in Richmond, California, suffering from complications from Laënnec's cirrhosis, which she had lived with her last five years.[24] On November 25, 1963, Brooks fell into a hepatic coma, and died of the condition at 6:35 p.m.[24] She was 47 years old.[25] Her death certificate noted that she had suffered from "nutritional inadequacy" for 15 years, probably stemming from her alcoholism.[24]

Brooks was buried at sea the following year, on September 10, 1964.[27] Her burial was reported in the papers in Costa Rica, though there were no obituaries, and apparently no knowledge of her death in Hollywood. Her ex-husband, Richard Brooks, died in 1992 without knowing her whereabouts or death.[17]

On August 7, 1990, 27 years after Brooks's death, the following appeared in The Hollywood Reporter: "Anyone know the whereabouts of Jean Brooks? Once married to director Richard Brooks, thus her name, she was aka Jeanne Kelly and under contract to both Universal and RKO in the 1940s ... Even Richard B[rooks] and several of the actress' former pals say they've lost all contact with her."[28]

And Erford Gage, who played Jason, died a couple of years later in a battle in the Philippines.