Another great review of a really impressive film. Probably one of my favourite films is Night of the Demon directed by Jacques Tournier - an alumni of Val Lewton .
Hello from the UK. I'm a big fan of Lewton and he has very much influenced my filmmaking. I picked up this disc recently and it is indeed a very handsome transfer. I'm so excited for the recent announcment of The Ghost Ship and Bedlam double-feature this October. I hope WAC see fit to complete the Lewton releases. Maybe a nice Blu-ray box set one day of all nine. Who knows? Universal has just announced the first 4K releases of the Classic Monsters which no-one thought would ever happen, so anything's possible.
Thank you for these(this and Doctor X) reviews Spencer! I'm a film noir fanatic and I'm really excited that WA is releasing a full length version of Irving Pichel's They Won't Believe Me(1947) soon! Hopefully you'll review that one as well at some point!
I’m glad to finally be doing some disc reviews. Being a cinephile on a budget means I have to pick and choose which discs to go for next but hopefully I can tackle more WAC titles in the near future.
I sure hope that Shout releases my favorite of Lewton's films: "The Seventh Victim." It's a marvel in many ways, not the least of which is that such a bleak, dark film could be released during the war. This disc ("Isle of the Dead") is a great example of how good transfers/compression can reveal detail in even the deepest shadows from a great source. Gorgeous stuff, simply gorgeous.
All of us Lewton fans keep hoping someone will finish off the films on BD. As it is it is up to Warner Archive but rumors persist Criterion has been sitting on the rights to some.
Getting ready for October, ive got this plus the double feature of Ghost Ship/ Bedlam on the way to my mailbox. I watched a trailer/prevue of Isle of the Dead on Amazon Prime and it was the scene where the soldier ends himself 😄 and i was transfixed by Karloff for that two minute preview. I cant wait to watch it and this will be my first viewing of ALL. I also got Cat People on the way! 👍
I saw Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie without knowing anything about Val Lewton. It wasn't until I recently saw Isle of the Dead that I made the connection. Loved it and also watched The Body Snatcher and Bedlam, which is probably my favourite one so far. The Ghost Ship and The Seventh Victim are up next. Out of the remaining ones; The Curse of the Cat People, Mademoiselle Fifi, Youth Runs Wild and The Leopard Man, which ones do you like the most? Anyway, great review.
Glad you’re getting into the Lewton canon! Really all nine horror films are unique and magical in their own ways. Cat People is my favorite but I adore them all. Curse of the Cat People while seemingly the most non-horrific is the most emotional and manages to be a brilliant sequel while being its own entity. The Leopard Man is possibly the first serial killer film and has incredible atmosphere and dread-along with one of the great sequences in the entire genre. The Ghost Ship is extremely underrated. The Seventh Victim is an absolutely special dreamlike nightmarish experience. The non-horror films are rarely seen or discussed and sadly not readily available. Fifi is the first time they tried a period film and it excels at being well mounted for such a small budget. Youth Runs Wild was taken away and butchered by the studio who also retitled it. So you only get a fraction of the original dark story with terribly dumb new footage made by others shoved in. Of his later films the strongest is the Western Apache Drums. Sadly he passed away not too long afterwards before he finally got to make really great films again. If you want to see Lewton’s other strong work I’d suggest looking at Selznick films before 1942. Lewton became his right hand man and primary creative advisor. He wound up meeting Tourneur when they did the Bastille storming sequence for Selznick’s version of A Tale of Two Cities.
I've been dipping back into Lewton recently and now this on my hit list...
Karloff said so much with just his eyes, and he is unbelievable here.
Another great review of a really impressive film. Probably one of my favourite films is Night of the Demon directed by Jacques Tournier - an alumni of Val Lewton
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My dad saw all nine as a teen on the Big Screen and gave me chills just trying to tell me about this one in particular.
Hello from the UK. I'm a big fan of Lewton and he has very much influenced my filmmaking. I picked up this disc recently and it is indeed a very handsome transfer. I'm so excited for the recent announcment of The Ghost Ship and Bedlam double-feature this October. I hope WAC see fit to complete the Lewton releases. Maybe a nice Blu-ray box set one day of all nine. Who knows? Universal has just announced the first 4K releases of the Classic Monsters which no-one thought would ever happen, so anything's possible.
Thank you for these(this and Doctor X) reviews Spencer! I'm a film noir fanatic and I'm really excited that WA is releasing a full length version of Irving Pichel's They Won't Believe Me(1947) soon! Hopefully you'll review that one as well at some point!
I’m glad to finally be doing some disc reviews. Being a cinephile on a budget means I have to pick and choose which discs to go for next but hopefully I can tackle more WAC titles in the near future.
I sure hope that Shout releases my favorite of Lewton's films: "The Seventh Victim." It's a marvel in many ways, not the least of which is that such a bleak, dark film could be released during the war. This disc ("Isle of the Dead") is a great example of how good transfers/compression can reveal detail in even the deepest shadows from a great source. Gorgeous stuff, simply gorgeous.
All of us Lewton fans keep hoping someone will finish off the films on BD. As it is it is up to Warner Archive but rumors persist Criterion has been sitting on the rights to some.
Great review!
Getting ready for October, ive got this plus the double feature of Ghost Ship/ Bedlam on the way to my mailbox. I watched a trailer/prevue of Isle of the Dead on Amazon Prime and it was the scene where the soldier ends himself 😄 and i was transfixed by Karloff for that two minute preview. I cant wait to watch it and this will be my first viewing of ALL. I also got Cat People on the way! 👍
You’re going to have a heck of a great time. They’re amazing works and Isle’s horror sequences are the most spine chilling in the Lewton canon.
I saw Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie without knowing anything about Val Lewton. It wasn't until I recently saw Isle of the Dead that I made the connection. Loved it and also watched The Body Snatcher and Bedlam, which is probably my favourite one so far. The Ghost Ship and The Seventh Victim are up next. Out of the remaining ones; The Curse of the Cat People,
Mademoiselle Fifi, Youth Runs Wild and The Leopard Man, which ones do you like the most? Anyway, great review.
Glad you’re getting into the Lewton canon! Really all nine horror films are unique and magical in their own ways. Cat People is my favorite but I adore them all. Curse of the Cat People while seemingly the most non-horrific is the most emotional and manages to be a brilliant sequel while being its own entity. The Leopard Man is possibly the first serial killer film and has incredible atmosphere and dread-along with one of the great sequences in the entire genre.
The Ghost Ship is extremely underrated. The Seventh Victim is an absolutely special dreamlike nightmarish experience.
The non-horror films are rarely seen or discussed and sadly not readily available. Fifi is the first time they tried a period film and it excels at being well mounted for such a small budget. Youth Runs Wild was taken away and butchered by the studio who also retitled it. So you only get a fraction of the original dark story with terribly dumb new footage made by others shoved in.
Of his later films the strongest is the Western Apache Drums. Sadly he passed away not too long afterwards before he finally got to make really great films again.
If you want to see Lewton’s other strong work I’d suggest looking at Selznick films before 1942. Lewton became his right hand man and primary creative advisor. He wound up meeting Tourneur when they did the Bastille storming sequence for Selznick’s version of A Tale of Two Cities.
Is Warner Archive closing? Or just the store site? Hearing different things
Just WBshop. The company who ran it no longer runs the site. WAC is still going strong and available everywhere else.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader HUZZAH!