The 7th Victim

[Foxbat]

Starring Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Kim Hunter

Directed by Mark Robson

Produced by Val Lewton

Made in 1943 (Black & White)

In the early forties, RKO Pictures was in serious trouble. Financing the undoubted genius of Orson Welles had led to milestones like Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. But they were discovering that money was being haemorrhaged away with such productions. They saw the financial success that Universal was having with its monster movies and decided they wanted a piece of the action. After some hunting around, they settled on a little-known pulp writer called Val Lewton. He was currently working as a script editor for David O. Selznick but eager to strike out on his own.

RKO put him in charge of their new low-budget B movie horror department. They tested a few titles on audiences and then gave Lewton the ones that seemed most popular. Lewton then had the task of creating the movie to go with the title. RKO did not quite get what they expected. The 7th Victim is one of those movies.

The 7th Victim tells the tale of Mary, a school girl (Kim Hunter) on the trail of her missing elder sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks). In the course of her search, she stumbles across a group of devil worshippers and uncovers a very unusual room rented out in her sister’s name. Befriended along the way by a lawyer, poet and psychiatrist, her attempts to find the truth become an odyssey into a place of dark secrets.

A well-scripted plot and sharp dialogue with three dimensional characters is enhanced further by the strong direction of Robson who’s precise use of light and contrast creates a world of shadows filled with danger - and gives it that certain ambience that came to be known as Film Noir. This is not what RKO expected from a B movie horror unit – and this is a B movie in name only. What we have here is a dark thriller of the highest quality – one that rivals Hitchcock at his finest (it’s also worth pointing out that this movie has a shower scene that is as stylistic and menacing as Hitchcock’s). The ending of this movie is (I believe) one of the finest of its period - which again relies on depth of character rather than out and out horror. Lewton wanted to make his audience think rather than shiver.

A masterpiece in subtlety and psychological thrills. Bear this in mind and then equate it to the constraints that Lewton and his team were forced to work under (low budget, daft titles, etc.) and I come to the conclusion that what we have here is a movie that transcended all those problems to become something very special and, therefore, deserves 8 out of 10.

Trivia: This was Kim Hunter’s acting debut. She went on to win an Oscar for best supporting actress in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

[ravenus]

Hmm very interesting souning movie, must see if I can get a look.

Also the trivia of how Val Lewton's movies got made is...scary.