What I loved about this was how effusively apologetic the singer was to the brother earlier, and now he's become almost ominously aggressive, telling the tragic story to the nurse and incorporating her fate into the lyrics at the same time.
+Joseph Charles good observation. yes, Tourneur is just terrific. Sir Lancelot's song is the original version, later sung by many singers over the years. The Wailers, with Peter Tosh singing lead, even cut it, calling it Shame and Scandal.
Val Lewton's best films are jewels: flawlessly written, acted and photographed. He got Boris Karloff's best performance on film in "The Body Snatcher" (a psychological character study straight out of Dostoyevsky), a brilliant performance from a pre-teen leading lady (Ann Carter) in "Curse of the Cat People", and a horrifying true story about the abuse of insane asylums in 18th-century London in "Bedlam". Incidentally, the singer in this segment, Sir Lancelot, was a highly regarded Caribbean musician whom Harry Belafonte always credited as a personal mentor. A pox on the studio executives who forced Lewton to accept such lurid (not to mention wildly inaccurate) titles for his beautiful films, just to bring the lowbrows into the theater. ("The Curse of the Cat People" has literally nothing whatever to do with curses, cats, or cat people). Buy the collected set of Lewton's films, order a few pizzas, and ask your friends over for "An Evening With Val Lewton". They'll be forever grateful to you.
It has to be added that that Tourneur also deserves a lot of the praise for what he did with Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man. He creates such dense brooding moments full of delirious light and shadow and social subversion. In the clip above there are small light pearls creeping up the walls in the background, the singer keeps a stiff expression and walks through changing layers of light and shadow. In the backrgound the rear projection of the ocean emits an overpowering glow. It's perfect. I feel like the films directed by Wise and Robson, though very good in their own right, don't quite have that magic sauce within atmospheric rendition. The Seventh Victim for example is such a sombre and unusual story but I feel like the way it's been pulled of was a bit conventional, at least compared to the stuff Tourneur did earlier (and later in his career too). My appreciation for it massively increased after I watched Rivette's Duelle though which is largely inspired by it and reframes the plot into a battle of two godesses.
Sir Lancelot! What a character !
What I loved about this was how effusively apologetic the singer was to the brother earlier, and now he's become almost ominously aggressive, telling the tragic story to the nurse and incorporating her fate into the lyrics at the same time.
+Joseph Charles good observation. yes, Tourneur is just terrific. Sir Lancelot's song is the original version, later sung by many singers over the years. The Wailers, with Peter Tosh singing lead, even cut it, calling it Shame and Scandal.
This is such a great movie and I do like this bit. Thanks so much for uploading this.
Val Lewton's best films are jewels: flawlessly written, acted and photographed. He got Boris Karloff's best performance on film in "The Body Snatcher" (a psychological character study straight out of Dostoyevsky), a brilliant performance from a pre-teen leading lady (Ann Carter) in "Curse of the Cat People", and a horrifying true story about the abuse of insane asylums in 18th-century London in "Bedlam". Incidentally, the singer in this segment, Sir Lancelot, was a highly regarded Caribbean musician whom Harry Belafonte always credited as a personal mentor. A pox on the studio executives who forced Lewton to accept such lurid (not to mention wildly inaccurate) titles for his beautiful films, just to bring the lowbrows into the theater. ("The Curse of the Cat People" has literally nothing whatever to do with curses, cats, or cat people). Buy the collected set of Lewton's films, order a few pizzas, and ask your friends over for "An Evening With Val Lewton". They'll be forever grateful to you.
Genius I’ve seen 5 hard to choose Best
It has to be added that that Tourneur also deserves a lot of the praise for what he did with Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man. He creates such dense brooding moments full of delirious light and shadow and social subversion. In the clip above there are small light pearls creeping up the walls in the background, the singer keeps a stiff expression and walks through changing layers of light and shadow. In the backrgound the rear projection of the ocean emits an overpowering glow. It's perfect. I feel like the films directed by Wise and Robson, though very good in their own right, don't quite have that magic sauce within atmospheric rendition. The Seventh Victim for example is such a sombre and unusual story but I feel like the way it's been pulled of was a bit conventional, at least compared to the stuff Tourneur did earlier (and later in his career too). My appreciation for it massively increased after I watched Rivette's Duelle though which is largely inspired by it and reframes the plot into a battle of two godesses.
Wonderful!!!
Love these val lewton films there groovy
Thank you for the video. I can't post the full lyrics (too long) and I can't post the link also. So look for Sir Lancelot "Fort Holland Calypso Song"
Superb.id love to hear the 12inch remix.
más adelante le vemos en la película
Zombies on broadway
yes it is, your welcome :)
Don't you just love street singers like this on vacation.
Look at the orbs in the background. wtf.
Peter Tosh shame and scandal