Turner Classic Movies is presenting a documentary on filmmaker Val Lewton, produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese, tonight at 8 EST with a repeat presentation at midnight.
Lewton (b. Vladimir Ivan Leventon in Yalta, Russia) was a highly talented writer and producer whose atmospheric suspense and horror films of the 1940s for Hollywood’s RKO studio are much admired by film critics and scholars and the more tasteful and well-informed of today’s filmmakers.
The documentary, Val Lewton: Man in the Shadows, will be followed by a ten-film marathon of Lewton movies.
For a good selection of clips from Lewton films, click here.
Courtesy of Turner Classic Movies, here is the schedule for the documentary showings and film marathon:
| 8:00 PM | Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007) |
| C-0 mins, | |
| 9:30 PM | Cat People (1942) |
| A newlywed fears that an ancient curse will turn her into a bloodthirsty beast. Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-73 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS | |
| 10:45 PM | I Walked With A Zombie (1943) |
| A nurse in the Caribbean resorts to voodoo to cure her patient, even though she’s in love with the woman’s husband. Cast: Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-69 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS | |
| 12:00 AM | Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007) |
| C-0 mins, | |
| 1:30 AM | Leopard Man, The (1943) |
| When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders. Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC | |
| 2:45 AM | Seventh Victim, The (1943) |
| A girl’s search for her missing sister puts her in conflict with a band of satanists. Cast: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-71 mins, TV-G, CC | |
| 4:00 AM | Curse of the Cat People, The (1944) |
| A lonely child creates an imaginary playmate with surprisingly dangerous results. Cast: Kent Smith, Simone Simon, Julia Dean. Dir: Robert Wise, Gunther von Fritsch. BW-70 mins, TV-PG, CC | |
| 5:15 AM | Body Snatcher, The (1945) |
| To continue his medical experiments, a doctor must buy corpses from a grave robber. Cast: Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Bela Lugosi. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-78 mins, TV-PG, CC | |
| 15 Tuesday | |
| 6:30 AM | Isle Of The Dead (1945) |
| The inhabitants of a Balkans island under quarantine fear that one of their number is a vampire. Cast: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Helene Thimig. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-72 mins, TV-PG, CC | |
| 7:45 AM | Bedlam (1946) |
| When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed. Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-79 mins, TV-PG, CC | |
| 9:15 AM | Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007) |
| C-77 mins, , CC | |
| 10:45 AM | Youth Runs Wild (1944) |
| During World War II, neglected teens on the home front turn to delinquency. Cast: Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, Jean Brooks. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-67 mins, TV-PG, CC | |
| 12:00 PM | Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) |
| A German officer tries to force a French laundress to become his mistress. Cast: Simone Simon, Kurt Kreuger, John Emery. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-69 mins, TV-G, CC | |