4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 30, 2021

In our current climate, it almost seems like an oxymoron to have a shoestring budget period piece, but many of Val Lewton’s best movies were founded on this formula. His three-film partnership was beneficial for all parties involved and we would like to consider how he was able to fashion...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on July 10, 2018

It’s 1702 in the fledgling city of New York — still a small town, by today’s standards — and young legal clerk Matthew Corbett takes it upon himself to weasel out the mystery of a serial killer who’s been nicknamed the Masker, because of the way he mutilates the faces   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on November 29, 2013

Bedlam is about a third of a good picture. It’s like writers Val Lewton and (director too) Robson didn’t quite know how to make it work, what with having to have Boris Karloff in it. Karloff’s the villain, the head of a mental institute in the eighteenth century. Karloff’s s   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on September 14, 2012

In the 1730s, the celebrated English artist William Hogarth created a series of paintings called A Rake's Progress, which rapidly became some of the most famous images of the age. A little more than two centuries later, the visionary film producer Val Lewton took the last of Hogarth's series as...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on September 14, 2012

In the 1730s, the celebrated English artist William Hogarth created a series of paintings called A Rake's Progress, which rapidly became some of the most famous images of the age. A little more than two centuries later, the visionary film producer Val Lewton took the last of Hogarth's series as...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on April 16, 2011

Every scholar in eighteenth-century studies is undoubtedly familiar with William Hogarth and The Rake's Progress. The final scene of the series is among the most famous of Hogarth's images, with its arresting depiction of the miserable confines of that most famous of madhouses, Bethlem   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on April 16, 2011

Every scholar in eighteenth-century studies is undoubtedly familiar with William Hogarth and The Rake's Progress. The final scene of the series is among the most famous of Hogarth's images, with its arresting depiction of the miserable confines of that most famous of madhouses, Bethlem   read more