Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows
2007 · 77 MIN · IMDB 7.4 · 766 VOTES · DIR. Kent Jones
Overview
Martin Scorsese narrates this tribute to Val Lewton, the producer of a series of memorable low-budget horror films for RKO Studios. Raised by his mother and his aunt, his films often included strong female characters who find themselves in difficult situations and who have to grow up quickly. He is best remembered for the horror films he made at RKO starting in 1940. Starting with only a title - his first was The Cat People - he would meticulously oversee every aspect of the film's completion. Although categorized as horror films, his films never showed a monster, leaving it all to the viewers imagination, assisted by music, mood and lighting.
Dialogue Timeline — 908 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:00:54 I wrote the script and directed it.
00:04:26 ...but there's a sense of some other angle...
00:06:54 From a young age, Lewton was also, like many of his characters...
00:09:07 ...a handsome, dashing, but thoroughly irresponsible young army officer.
00:11:33 ... the place where he learned to make a movie the Selznick way.
00:13:52 ... but in the end...
00:16:46 If I let you see it, you might not want to know any artists ever.
00:19:22 ... and for their set pieces, where much is made from little...
00:24:07 The picture struck a chord with wartime audiences and with the troops overseas.
00:30:06 It's hard to say how the concept of the unconscious plays out for the viewer.
00:34:14 And he continually suggested that I would go to military school.
00:36:34 They emerge into this world.
00:40:48 The captain did it purposely.
00:42:30 ...which could not ever hope to touch ground with lived experience.
00:45:30 I shall want you for always.
00:48:49 Lewton's films carry a certain sadness...
00:51:41 But compromised as it is, Youth Runs Wild has an interesting frankness.
00:54:11 I'm not a good French woman or I wouldn't be here.
00:57:03 All my life, I've had a dreadful fear of premature burial.
01:00:19 ... about the Faustian pact between the dean of a medical school...
01:03:26 ... this time, trapped inside the walls of an insane asylum.
01:06:10 Even other horror films.
01:09:03 wrongly called pulp, trash books...
01:11:42 Apache Drums, directed by Hugo Fregonese, was a first for Lewton.