The Man In The Shadows

Last night the Kommandant and I caught the premiere of Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows on TCM, the Martin Scorsese produced documentary about Val Lewton. (Although I guess that part is redundant as the subject's name is in the title.)

For those who aren't familiar with Lewton, he was a Russian immigrant who began his career in Hollywood as an assistant to producer David O. Selznick, working on "normal" productions like A Tale Of Two Cities and Gone With The Wind. Later he was hired by RKO where he helmed a number of low budget horror movies, not as a director but a producer, that essentially went on to become his legacy; films like Cat People, Isle Of The Dead and I Walked With A Zombie. Incidentally, the latter is also the name of one of my favorite Roky Erickson songs. (I think I actually read somewhere that the song was inspired by the movie. But don't quote me on that.)

Anywhoo, although I had heard of him prior to seeing this, I have to admit seeing the re-worked version of Cat People (starring Nastassja Kinski) as an impressionable teenager is the closest I've ever come to watching one of the films he was directly involved with. This very engaging documentary has convinced me I need to change that. (In other words, you can expect at least one Val Lewton themed menu in the upcoming weeks.)

In typical TCM fashion, I could not figure out when - if ever - they plan on showing this again but if they do, I highly recommend it.