The Devil is in the Details, or Suitably Subtle Satanism
Written: Oct 19 '00 (Updated Oct 20 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A wonderfully grim little film, with excellent cinematography, acting and an overall sense of subtle dread
Cons: Tom Conway's performance and unhappy cuts
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| ebrown2's Full Review: Seventh Victim |
Given the season and the big thunder regarding THE EXORCIST and "Lost Souls," it seems right to look at one of the greatest movies on Satanism ever produced, THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943). Created by the David O. Selznick of B-Horror, Val Lewton (1904-1951), this movie goes for a "vibe" of family betrayal and general corruption that the others don't care to match.
Mary Gibson, a young orphan, is summoned before the headmistress of her boarding school and informed that her sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) has failed to keep up her school payments. Under the circumstances, Mary must leave, but the head offers to keep her on in a subsidiary teaching position. Another woman who opted for that choice cautions Mary to risk the outside world rather than be trapped in such a cocoon, and Mary's anxiety about her sister's well-being impels her to go to New York and find out what has happened.
When she arrives, she goes to her sister's cosmetic company, only to find that Jacqueline has sold it to Natalie Cortez (Evelyn Brent), an extremely sinister and unhelpful presence. Mary manages to track down her sister's psychiatrist (Dr. Louis Judd-Tom Conway) who tells her that Jacqueline has been suffering from suicidal tendencies for a long time. When they break into her apartment, the only thing they find is a chair positioned beneath a noose...
She hires a private investigator to search the company offices, but he winds up catching a bad case of knife in the gut. Mary then uncovers the fact that Jacqueline has secretly married Gregory Ward (Hugh Beaumont), a lawyer, and that Jacqueline, Natalie Cortez and some other unexpected individuals are members of the Palladas Society, a cult of devil-worshippers. Jacqueline has broken the rules and now, like the six traitors to Satan before her, she must die. Their leader explains that the Satanists view physical violence as a conquering force in itself, and so Jacqueline must perish by her own hand. Will she become THE SEVENTH VICTIM?
This film is an absolute gem. Kim Hunter is fine in her first ever movie role as the naive and vulnerable orphan. Hugh Beaumont is surprisingly creepy as the cradle-robbing lawyer, while Evelyn Brent lends an air of decadent evil to the proceedings. Erfurt Gage does wonders with the role of a depressed poet that Mary befriends (there are allusions to Dante and John Donne in the film). Elizabeth Russell, RKO's "Houri of Horror," shows quiet dignity as Mimi, Jacqueline's mirror-image opposite, who wants to live despite a terminal illness. Jean Brooks is convincingly world-weary and disaffected as the title character. Tom Conway, George Sanders' brother, is the weak link in the cast. He's merely adequate as the requisite skeptic.
Val Lewton was the "auteur" of this project. An erudite and literate man, his film I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943) is one of the finest adaptations of JANE EYRE on film. This movie can best be described as a modern urban version of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic short story "Young Goodman Brown," where the hero finds out the darkness and ugly secrets behind the facades of the people he thought he knew. The cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca (THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, OUT OF THE PAST) is ultra-grim and utterly suits the environment. Mark Robson's (THE HARDER THEY FALL, VON RYAN'S EXPRESS) directing debut shows a fine understanding of cinema diction. In fact, it's good enough for a certain Cockney "Master of Suspense" to pay "homage" to a couple of this film's scenes in a little Tony Perkins fright pic he did.
The movie's only flaw is that the motivation of the Satanists and some continuity scenes were cut out because of Production Code concerns. Be sure to listen at the conclusion for something Lewton got past the censors...heh, heh, heh kiddies...
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ebrown2
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Member: Ernest Brown
Location: Lot 49
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