The Seventh Victim (1943)

The Seventh Victim
Directed by Mark Robson
Written by Charles O’Neill and DeWitt Bodeen
1943/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
#171 of !001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Doctor Louis Judd: One can take either staircase. I prefer the left. The sinister side.[/box]

This beautifully shot film is really more about death than it is about Satan worshippers.

Mary Gibson (Kim Hunter) attends a boarding school courtesy of her big sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks). As the story starts, she has been asked to leave because her tuition has not been paid for the last sixth months.  Mary has not been able to locate Jacqueline.  She heads off to the big city to try to find her.

She meets a few men who want to help her, or say they do.  They are poet Jason, attorney Gregory Ward (Hugh Beaumont), and psychiatrist Louis Judd (Tom Conway).  We learn that Jacqueline has long believed that life is not worth living unless one can end it.  Gregory even helped her rig up a noose in a rented room.  Before long, we learn that Jacqueline is mixed up with a cabal of very ordinary looking Satan worshippers.  They believe she has betrayed them by seeking psychiatric help.  Mary is caught up in the web and witnesses some very disturbing goings on.

This film was made under the guidance of auteur producer Val Lewton and it shows in the atmospheric settings and lighting and the emphasis on unseen horror.  This time the horror is almost purely psychological.  Jacqueline’s death-wish permeates the entire story.  The plot could be a straight-forward mystery story if not for the artful way it is shot.  But Nicholas Musuraca proves he is a master of low-key lighting once again.   I don’t know if it is anything one needs to see before one dies but I enjoyed it.

The DVD I rented included a good commentary and an excellent documentary on Lewton’s career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kBU6eCFdvM

Trailer