Attention U.S. TCM Subscribers: Rarely does an atmosphere of such overpowering dread subsume a cinematic story so completely as it does in 1943's The Seventh Victim. A young woman (portrayed as a fetching innocent by Kim Hunter) goes searching for her missing sister (enigmatically played by Jean Brooks) in New York City's Greenwich Village and stumbles upon a satanic cult of devil worshipers putting both of their lives at risk. Mark Robson, who directed a number of these Val Lewton produced gems is himself at the peak of his considerable creative powers. For a link to a previous review of this devilishly striking combination of horror and film noir, a short but eerily foreboding clip, and Thursday's early morning showtime information throughout the U.S., click here: http://thecinemacafe.com/the-cinema-treasure-hunter/2017/7/1/now-listen-to-me#Seventh-Victim
THE SEVENTH VICTIM was set in New York City, but was shot on the studio lot. Jacques Tourneur, who had worked successfully with producer Val Lewton on three previous films, was initially slated to direct the film, but when he was re-assigned to another project, film editor Mark Robson was promoted to director and assigned to the film. Nineteen minutes of Roy Webb's score was re-recorded by William T. Stromberg for a 2000 Marco Polo Webb compilation CD.
The film opens with the following lines from a sonnet by John Donne, "I runne to death, and death meets me as fast, and all my pleasures are like yesterday."
