Jacques Tourneur
Author | : Chris Fujiwara |
Publisher | : McFarland |
Total Pages | : 341 |
Release | : 2015-05-07 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781476608112 |
ISBN-13 | : 1476608113 |
Rating | : 4/5 (12 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: At least three of director Jacques Tourneur's films--Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man--are recognized as horror classics. Yet his contributions to these films are often minimized by scholars, with most of the credit going to the films' producer, Val Lewton. A detailed examination of the director's full body of work reveals that those elements most evident in the Tourneur-Lewton collaborations--the lack of monsters and the stylized use of suggested violence--are equally apparent in Tourneur's films before and after his work with Lewton. Mystery and sensuality were hallmarks of his style, and he possessed a highly artistic visual and aural style. This insightful critical study examines each of Tourneur's films, as well as his extensive work on MGM shorts (1936-1942) and in television. What emerges is evidence of a highly coherent directorial style that runs throughout Tourneur's works.