Val Lewton Collection: The 7th Victim

A real gem, The 7th Victim (1943) is a visual poem of a film noir/horror hybrid. This was the first Lewton film to be directed by Mark Robson, who worked as an assistant to Robert Wise on the editing of Citizen Kane (Wise, of course, would also go on to direct several films for Lewton). Moody and boldy depressing for its time, the film's story concerns Mary Gibson's (Kim Hunter) search for her missing sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) in the dark streets of Manhattan. The search reveals Jaqueline's secret husband and her connection to a hidden society of devil-worshippers.

Boldly, almost expressionistically shot, the film is packed with memorable scenes. Jacqueline's apartment is found to contain only a chair sitting ominously beneath a rope noose, a grim symbol of the shadow of death that hangs over the lives of several characters. Mary is menaced while in the shower by a satanic cult member, only her shadow visible through the translucent curtain, in a scene thought by many to be a precursor to the famous murder sequence in Hitchcock's Psycho. Jacqueline is stalked through the shadowed streets of late-night Manhattan by an anonymous hitman. Robson photographs the night scenes with a visual poetry that captures the claustrophobic, inescapable nature of fate.

The inevitability of death draws over The 7th Victim like a shroud. The film begins and ends with a quote from John Donne: "I runne to death, and death meets me as fast, and all my pleasures are like yesterday." The double suicide that concludes the film is one of the most striking, depressing endings to any film, and will likely haunt your thoughts long after the shadows of The 7th Victim have faded.

The DVD of The 7th Victim beautifully captures the crisp black and white photography, and is certainly the best this film will look until someone does a full restoration. The disc pairs the film with a documentary on Lewton, Shadows in the Dark, the viewing of which I'm saving as a treat for when I've finished viewing the entire Lewton horror oeuvre on disc.