Been working my way through nine Val Lewton movies. A month ago, I had no idea who Val Lewton was. As I mentioned in another thread, I think it was Martin Scorcese who said that there have been three geniuses in the history of the movies... Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disnet and Val Lewton. I just bought a boxed set of Lewton's 9 movies he produced, and a documentary about him. The best known of his movies is The Cat People. I've always been fascinated with movies, and Lewton's are always interesting to watch. What he does on a low budget is masterful. These were all "B" pictures with no money for special effects, even though they are all "horror" movies.
RKO would give him a title for a movie, with no story line, and he'd write the story and actively engage in the direction of the movie, although he was not the Director. He was given the title The Cat People to cash in on the popularity of the Wolf Man. Wolf Man/Cat Woman. Hollywood level of creative thinking.

As an example of how he made movies, in The Body Snatcher, Boris Karloff is a grave robber who digs up bodies to sell to medical school doctors. When security is too tight and not enough people recently buried, he kills a young woman. The first scene in the movie, there is a young, blind girl singing a beautiful ballad on the street. She appears again, fleetingly in the movie. When Karloff is in need of a body, he follows her in his carriage as she is walking home. She walks under a darkened archway and you hear her singing. The carriage follows and suddenly, there is just a small catch in her voice and the singing stops. Now, they'd show her guts splattering all over Karloff's face. To add to the complexity of the movie, the Doctor is able to restore the ability toi walk to a crippled girl, by practicing the operation on the body of the blind girl.

Anybody else in here a lover of old movies?

Check out the Unforgettable Scenes From Movies thread if you haven't.

Jerry