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Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007)

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A Master At Making 'B' Look Like 'A', 17 January 2008

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Val Lewton was another one of these guys (Sol Wurtzel was another) who was terrific at making "A" pictures on a "B" budget. To this day, Lewton's horror films are fairly well-known and receive wonderful notices by critics and film historians.

This look at the somewhat-but-not altogether famous filmmaker is a 77-minute very interesting excursion that was made, I believe, for the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) network, and was aired several times recently (mid January of 2008). I assume it will run numerous times on the network, in future months. Director Martin Scorcese narrates this tale about Lewton, his history and his films.

Some of the comments that particularly caught my ear, made by either Scorcese, Val Lewton's son, or by someone else in here, included:

"His movies moved and spoke to audiences in a different way....Lewton's films were more terror than horror....He was always at odds with his bosses but never satisfied with is own achievements....There is no film footage of him, no voice recordings of him.......He had no inkling he would be remembered by posterity......Many scenes in his films reflected his own phobias and views on life, as an outsider......We are all potentially evil and possible murderers."

Some of Lewton's films are examined in detail, beginning with "The Cat People," followed by "I Walked With A Zombie," "The Leopard Man," "Curse Of The Cat People," and to a lesser extant, films that followed those. It was interesting to hear about his struggles with RKO and his unexpected success later with Boris Karloff in several of his movies ("The Body Snatcher" being his best, in many people's opinion.) We also hear from directors Roger Corman, Jacques Tourneur (who worked with Lewton on a number of films) and the famous Robert Wise.

This is a long documentary - and it is definitely slanted in favor of Lewton - and might have been more effectively edited down to an hour, but still pretty fascinating. I recognized the voice of actor Elias Koteas, who was reading some of the comments Lewton made over the years, almost in dairy or autobiographical form.

Some of the Lewton's film clips shown here will just about give you chills watching them. This man was a master at frightening you with things unseen.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A good documentary on the films of Val Lewton..., 14 January 2008

Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

VAL LEWTON gave us many wonderful horror films throughout the '40s, but at one time he worked as a reader for David O. Selznick and told the producer his feelings about GONE WITH THE WIND: "This is the biggest piece of rubbish I've ever read. You'll be making the biggest mistake of your career if you decide to make this." (paraphrasing, of course). Well, he may never qualify as an accurate prophet, but he did know how to use subtle horror to make films like THE CAT PEOPLE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.

MARTIN SCORSESE narrates this thoughtful documentary on the producer with many interesting film clips from the low-budget horror films that are now considered film classics of their kind by a man who was "drawn to the darkness of the shadow world." He trusted many of his associates when he began filming the features at RKO with men like Jacques Tourneur, Nicholas Musuraca, DeWitt Bodeen, Roy Webb, and later Mark Robson. His films had an hypnotic effect on audiences, providing subtle horror through the power of suggestion.

In private, he was a sensitive man, never fully satisfied with his work or his assignments, but happily married to a woman who understood him and his needs. He was really not tough enough to be a Hollywood survivor and had a few heart attacks before the major one that killed him at the age of 46.

The documentary tells how he ignited the career of BORIS KARLOFF when Karloff was assigned to films like ISLE OF THE DEAD, THE BODY SNATCHERS and BEDLAM. As the war drew to a close, people began to turn away from horror films and Lewton's career began to decline when the defining films of his earlier career were no longer being made.

His low-budget films really were low-budget: for CAT PEOPLE he was given a budget of $150,000, but the film was a huge hit, made a million at the box-office when only A-budget features made as much and stayed in big city theaters longer than CITIZEN KANE that year!

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Interesting documentary, 7 July 2008

Author: blanche-2 from United States

Martin Scorcese waxes poetic over one of his favorite talents, Val Lewton, the producer of cult classics such as The Cat People, The Seventh Victim, I Walked with a Zombie, etc. Lewton's unique outlook on life was present in all of his dark films, which were actually B horror movies with some heavy messages. The most interesting of these for me was The Cat People, which I first saw as a child, and Curse of the Cat People, which I saw recently, and these were my main reasons for watching this documentary, that and the fact that Nazimova was his aunt. I confess that I saw The Seventh Victim and either I wasn't paying attention or I'm thick or both, but I didn't get it. I'm not a horror person so I definitely wouldn't be able to get through anything else of his.

Of interest was the fact that he started off in movies working for David O. Selznick, so he learned from a master. The other interesting thing is that not much is really known about Lewton himself, evidently a very private person. Like many artists, he wasn't fully appreciated while he was alive - which wasn't long. He died when he was 46.

The Cat People remains one of the most fascinating movies ever made, and it was good to hear one person comment that the Kent Smith character seems like a really nice guy but actually isn't -- my feelings exactly; and what a treat to see the child Veronica Lake lookalike, Ann Carter Newton, all grown up, and hear what she had to say about making The Curse of the Cat People.

Viewers should find this interesting, and if you like the genre and aren't familiar with Lewton's work, you will be inspired to see it.

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A solid documentary, 17 January 2008

Author: Count_Elvis from the castle of freaks, Tryansalabamia

Although he was not a director or an actor producer Val Lewton is one of the most influential figures in the Horror industry with his moody, beautifully shot classics during the 1940's like "The Body Snatcher" and "Cat People". Now Lewton has finally received his own feature length documentary narrated by Martin Scorsese, an ardent admirer of Lewton's work.

The film goes all the way back to Lewton's parent's lives in pre-revolutionary Russia and his early childhood. His parents divorced when he was two and his family moved to America. He had a sad, quite childhood, which lead to the darkness of his film. Along the way we learn many interesting facts about Lewton, such as his involvement in "Gone With the Wind". His films are looked at and analyzed in depth and Scorsese even talks about some of Lewton's less known, non-Horror films such as "Kids Run Wild". The transfers of the films look excellent and capture the great Val Lewton spirit very well. In addition Scorsese has a great voice that is really easy to listen to and it's easy to tell that not only is he passionate about the films, he's very knowledgeable about them as well. According to the documentary Val Lewton was RKO's workhorse, often starting work on one film only a month after completing another. For such a "hands on" producer this required a great deal of commitment. He was truly a remarkable person and I am very thankful for him for producing so many high quality Horror films during a time when Horror was growing stale and Universal's output, although fun was not as good as their 30's output (that's another thing, according to the documentary he disliked Universal).

This is not a perfect documentary, it comes off as a bit too "fan boyish" at times. Now normally this doesn't bother me too much, but I thought the presence of Scorsese would insure a critical analysis of the films. In addition it doesn't spend nearly enough time on "The Body Snatcher" or "Bedlam" and does not explain why Lewton disliked the Universal films adequately. Either way, this is still a solid documentary.

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Scorcese Analyzes Admires Fabulous World of Lewton, 14 January 2008

Author: Enrique Sanchez from Miami, FL

Strange how sometimes one does not always see what others see. That is the germ of the artist.

Scorcese clearly delves deeply into the world of Val Lewton, practically an unknown artist in the golden era of the movies which was sadly unlauded sufficiently during his law.

We see what so many of us probably didn't see or were not able to analyze as adeptly as Scorcese in Lewton's work. Certainly, these are not the grade A pictures we all know about, but Scorcese thrusts them into their well-deserved prominence by explaining how really fabulous Lewton's falsely relegated B-pictures they were. Sure they were low budget - but WHAT Lewton did was nothing short of miracles of mood, suspense and mystery, contrast and hue and the deep character development which exists within a movie and not necessarily a protagonist. We are shown, and it is explained just how Lewton worked his magic with shoestring budgets.

I've seen some of these movies, but never in this way...and after this, I will always bring with me the wonderful aura of the prodigious talent of Val Lewton.

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It will make you want to watch all the movies one more time, 14 January 2008

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

New Documentary produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese on the life and work on the films of Val Lewton. It premiered tonight on Turner Classic Movies and has occasioned the reissue of the box set of the Lewton RKO horror films on DVD. To be honest I don't think this is really a documentary so much as its film essay on the Lewton produced films and his life. There is no nitty gritty about the making of the films (the fact that one of his films occasioned the last screen teaming of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi is not mentioned). If one wants details one has to look to the documentary that was originally released with the DVD set, Shadows in the Dark:The Val Lewton Legacy. Here Scorsese talks about the deeper meanings of the films Lewton over saw and how they affected the people who saw them.Its clear that Scorsese is in love with the poetry of the movies, and its nice to have him as a guide into their recesses, indeed watching the film I picked up a good many details that I had never noticed before. It also reveals symbols and character types that reoccur in his movies. Its an examination of how Lewton's melancholy nature produced some very dark and troubling films, films which echo to this day. I liked the film a great deal but I'm not in love with it. While I learned some new things I didn't learn enough (I think the earlier Shadows in the Dark is slightly better, but that may be purely a matter of personal taste).Its very good but there is something that keeps me from saying its great. Is it worth seeing, absolutely, it will reveal many things to you about the films that you probably never noticed. Ultimately it will make you want to see all the films again, which is a pretty good thing if you ask me

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting documentary. A man of horror., 14 January 2008

Author: Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Kent Jones writes and directs this documentary about Val Lewton, the Russian born writer and producer. Lewton after the turn of the previous century wrote for newspapers, magazines and novels that were considered "pulp novels". Most of his work was under a pseudonym. He had worked for David O. Selznick and MGM before being assigned to RKO to head up a new low budget horror unit. His fame is as a producer, but he actually was very involved with picking casts, developing scenes, co-writing, co-directing...he really through himself into his love of making movies. He was not credited for a couple of scenes he created for the classic GONE WITH THE WIND. A few of his most memorable movies: I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, BODY SNATCHER and BEDLAM appear on Turner Classic Movies. His number one fan Martin Scorsese narrates. Plus there are interviews and statements from his friends and people who worked with him like: Robert Wise, Roger Corman, Jacques Tourneur, Dr. Glen Gabbard, Ann Carter Newton and Val E. Lewton. The voice of Lewton in this documentary is that of Elias Koteas.

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0 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Lesser of the Two Lewton Docs, 25 February 2008
Author: MichaelElliott1 from Louisville, KY

Val Lewton: Man in the Shadows (2008)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Martin Scorsese produced and narrates this documentary that takes a look at the life and career of producer Val Lewton who hated the horror genre but become best known for his horror titles like The Body Snatcher, Bedlam, I Walked with a Zombie and Cat People. I personally find many of Lewton's horror movies overrated but they are popular so I understand the need to do a documentary on them but to do one on Lewton never really made much sense to me. It's even more senseless when you consider that another documentary, Shadows in the Dark was just made in 2005. As with that documentary, there really isn't much to Lewton so we learn very little. He didn't do interviews, didn't have any on camera stuff and in reality there's very little known about him so we don't learn a thing. When they discuss the movies we still don't learn anything outside the fact that Lewton hated horror movies and didn't want to work with Boris Karloff. Since there's nothing to Lewton I just can't justify having two documentaries about him and in the end neither of them do much. Roger Corman, Robert Wise and Japanese director Kiyoski Kurosawa are the only movie people interviewed and both only get a few clips.

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