Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (TV 2007)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Kent Jones

Writer:

Kent Jones

Stars:

Martin Scorsese, Elias Koteas, Roger Corman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Martin Scorsese	...	Narrator (voice)
Elias Koteas	...	Voice of Val Lewton (voice)
Roger Corman	...	Himself - Interviewee
Glen Gabbard	...	Himself - Interviewee (as Dr. Glen Gabbard)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa	...	Himself - Interviewee
Val E. Lewton	...	Himself - Interviewee
Alexander Nemerov	...	Himself - Interviewee
Ann Carter	...	Herself - Interviewee (as Ann Carter Newton)
Geoffrey O'Brien	...	Himself - Interviewee
Jacques Tourneur	...	Himself - Interviewee (archive footage)
Robert Wise	...	Himself - Interviewee (archive footage)
Alla Nazimova	...	(archive footage) (as Nazimova)
Simone Simon	...	(archive footage)
Ben Bard	...	(archive footage)
Sir Lancelot	...	(archive footage)

Storyline

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.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Turner Classic Movies

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Japanese

Release Date:

2 September 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Turner Entertainment, Sikelia Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Orson Welles' voice is heard narrating the trailer of Citizen Kane as a brief clip of it is shown.

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Crazy Credits

All credited performers following Robert Wise are identified by a graphic or orally by the narrator.

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Connections

Features I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

User Reviews

More interesting for what is not said rather than for what is...

Born in Yalta in the early 1900s to Russian parents, film producer Val Lewton was raised in America by his mother and sister, honing a colorful imagination even through his years at military school; he wrote articles and published a few pulpy stories before landing in Hollywood as protégé to David O. Selznick. Selznick turned out to be a helpful boss but was no father-figure, rarely if ever giving Lewton credit for the work he did on pictures such as "Anna Karenina" and "Gone With the Wind". A movie-producing offer eventually came from financially-strapped RKO, who hoped a series of low-budget thrillers would get them back in the black, and Val Lewton was on his way. This documentary on Lewton's career (produced in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies by Martin Scorsese, who also narrates) is nearly bereft of details on Lewton's personal life, mostly due to the fact no documents exist of his recorded voice. Photos and letters written by Lewton help to fill in the gaps, but we never get much sense of the reported turmoils and trouble Lewton went through while working in Hollywood. We also are not privy to much information that went on in the RKO offices with each new Lewton release, only that his films were "successful" up to and including 1946's "Bedlam". If all or most of his films were so popular, what accounted for Lewton's anxieties? He and his wife raised two children--a girl who is unaccounted for here, and a son who has grown up seemingly in the dark regarding his father's business affairs--but what happened to his supporters? Editor Mark Robson and director Robert Wise, themselves protégés of Val Lewton, later found success on their own but failed to extend an olive branch to Lewton once tastes in Hollywood changed. Yet, instead of acknowledging the fact that Lewton was out of step with the times, Robson and Wise are left looking like false friends. The special is clip-heavy, with a finely-tuned parallel atmosphere to compliment the array of sequences, yet it doesn't cut very deep. Still, if the central desire here was to create an interest in Val Lewton's productions for audiences unaware of his languid, elegiac and stylized mood pieces, then "The Man in the Shadows" certainly succeeds. It thoughtfully whets the appetite for an evening's worth of Lewton product, and the artful way in which he was able to combine good and evil with the most subtle of touches.