The Seventh Victim (1943)

Note des utilisateurs:

6.9/10   

Réalisateur:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Charles O'Neal (written by) and
DeWitt Bodeen (written by)

Release Date:

21 août 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Drame | Horror | Mystery

Accroche:

SLAVE to SATAN!

Plot:

A woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village, and finds that they may have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance.

Plot Keywords:

Sisters | Cult | New York City | Satanic Cult | Satanism

Awards:

1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

Unique

Ensemble

Tom Conway	...	Doctor Louis Judd
Jean Brooks	...	Jacqueline Gibson
Isabel Jewell	...	Frances Fallon
Kim Hunter	...	Mary Gibson
Evelyn Brent	...	Natalie Cortez
Erford Gage	...	Jason Hoag, Poet
Ben Bard	...	Mr. Brun
Hugh Beaumont	...	Gregory Ward
Chef Milani	...	Mr. Jacob Romari
Marguerita Sylva	...	Mrs. Bella Romari

Autre(s) titre(s):

The 7th Victim (USA) (promotional title)
La septième victime (France) [fr]

Durée:

71 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Son:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Classification:

Australia:M | USA:Approved (PCA #9370)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Anecdotes:

The original story for the film (outlined by DeWitt Bodeen) was to be about an orphaned heroine caught in a web of murder against a background of the Signal Hills oil wells. If she didn't find out the killer's identity in time, she would become his seventh victim. Producer Val Lewton wanted the story to go in a different direction and called in a second writer to help reshape it.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the beginning of the movie we see a quote from John Donne. "I run from death, and death meets me as fast, And all my pleasures are like yesterday." The movie attributes the quote to John Donne's Holy Sonnet #7. But it is actually from Holy Sonnet #1.

Guillemet:

Frances Fallon: Your sister had many friends, but they weren't my friends. I was only the manager of her plant.

Movie Connections:

References Cat People (1942)

Unique

I ran this tape for a few seconds to see if it was in good condition, and I was so drawn in by the hypnotic atmosphere that I dropped all else and watched the whole movie. Such is its power, it won,t let you go. Every relationship in the movie felt real and credible, despite the extreme circumstances.

Lewton is a humanitarian, which is why his movies have so much more profundity than most film noir. You really feel that you care about his characters, even the sleazy satanists (similar to the way he had made Irena the cat-woman a kind and gentle person, where anyone else would have cast her as a tough cookie). All the characters in this movie are complex people of the sort he must have known in his New York days, and the poet manque is likely a self portrait. And who else would quote John Donne's poetry in a thriller.

It will take repeated viewings for me (and you) to understand The Seventh Victim, but the sombre mood will communicate itself immediately.

Be alert for little details throughout- especially at the end, which comes suddenly.