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Turner Classic Movies and Oscar®-winning director Martin Scorsese
(The Departed) are putting a chill in January with a brand new
90-minute TCM production looking at the life and work of master filmmaker
Val Lewton. Scorsese is producing and narrating the documentary, which
takes a close look at the innovative and creative producer who fashioned a
lasting body of uncannily beautiful and unsettling films on meager budgets.
Martin Scorsese Presents: VAL LEWTON – THE MAN IN THE
SHADOWS is written and directed by Kent Jones and premieres on
TCM Monday, Jan. 14, at 8 p.m. (ET). It will be followed by a marathon of
Lewton classics.
Born in Yalta, Russia, Lewton came to America as a child. After graduating
from Columbia University, he became editorial assistant for legendary
producer David O. Selznick. It was during this time that he helped film the
revolutionary sequences in Selznick’s A Tale of Two Cities and
conceived of the famous boom shot in Gone with the Wind in which
Scarlett walks through rows and rows of dead and wounded Confederate
soldiers. (Interestingly, he advised Selznick to pass on making Gone with
the Wind, which he considered to be a lousy book.)
Lewton was also an accomplished author, with 10 novels to his credit, along
with six non-fiction books, a book of poetry and even a book of pornography.
The legend goes that when RKO was looking for new producers, someone
told the executives that Lewton wrote “horrible novels,” which they
misunderstood to be “horror novels.” So in 1942, he was put in charge of a
special unit at RKO assigned to churn out low-budget horror films. But
Lewton wasn’t content to simply make quick and easy shockers. He created
a less-is-more school of poetic filmmaking, wherein shock effects are
replaced by shadows and sounds, with the unseen often proving to be just as
chilling as the seen.
Lewton’s highly psychological works, several of which he also scripted, were
made in collaboration with directors Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise and
Mark Robson. They include some of Hollywood’s most memorable thrillers
and horror films: Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie
(1943), The Seventh Victim (1943), The Body Snatcher (1945),
Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946). Lewton’s influence
was strong and can be seen in many later films, from Robert Wise’s The
Haunting (1963) to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense (1999)
to Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others (2001).
Martin Scorsese presents VAL LEWTON: THE MAN IN THE
SHADOWS is being produced for TCM by Scorsese’s Sikelia
Productions, with Kent Jones writing and directing.
The following is the schedule for the Jan. 7 premiere and marathon of Lewton
classics (all times Eastern):
8 p.m. Martin Scorsese Presents: VAL LEWTON – THE MAN IN THE
SHADOWS
9:30 p.m. Cat People (1942) – starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith and Tom
Conway.
10:45 p.m. I Walked with a Zombie (1943) – starring Frances Dee
and Tom Conway.
Midnight Martin Scorsese Presents: VAL LEWTON – THE MAN IN THE
SHADOWS
1:30 a.m. The Leopard Man (1943) – starring Dennis O’Keefe and
Margot.
2:45 a.m. The Seventh Victim (1943) – starring Kim Hunter, Tom Conway and
Hugh Beaumont.
4 a.m. The Curse of the Cat People (1944) – starring Simone Simon and
Kent Smith.
5:15 a.m. The Body Snatcher (1945) – starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and
Henry Daniell.
6:30 a.m. Isle of the Dead (1945) – starring Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew and Marc
Cramer.
7:45 a.m. Bedlam (1946) – starring Boris Karloff, Anna Lee and Ian Wolfe.
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