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Originally Posted by Foxbat  It's also worth keeping in mind that the studio used to go to Lewton and tell him to make a film with a particular title. The fact that Lewton could then encompass this title (however dubious) within an intelligent and thought provoking script is all the more to his credit.  |
Yes... as I understand it, the way it worked was this: they'd "market-test" a title, to see if audiences would go to see a film with that title. Then they'd come to Lewton, who had an agreement with them that (within budgetary limits), if he agreed to make a film around that title, he had complete artistic freedom. They agreed, and he made these films, all for very low budgets, and all of them more than made their money back... and are now considered among the classics of the genre, because of their imaginative use of suggestion, light and shadow, sound, etc.... Which is how you ended up with excellent, quiet little suspense/horror films with titles such as
I Walked with a Zombie (which is essentially a retelling of Jane Eyre in the West Indies) and
Curse of the Cat People -- which is really not a horror film (though there are some suspenseful moments in it) so much as one of the most poignant, powerful examinations of the imaginative world of "special" or "gifted" children done to date -- a beautiful film that I can't recommend highly enough, and one heck of a beginning to Robert Wise's career....