Night of the Demon

Night of the Demon aka Curse of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957)

This British cult film named by Martin Scorsese as the 11th most frightening film of all time is a superb black and white example of the mastery of Jacques Tourneur filming Horror films with his porper aesthetics and polyvalence. Having touch almost every genre in Films, Tourneur has been recognized mostly for his Horror films made with producer Val Lewton like Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, and The Leopard Man. However, this film critic’s favorite Tourneur is the Film Noir Out of the Past, a masterpiece of the genre starring Robert Mitchum.

I Walked with a Zombie

I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

A young Canadian nurse (Betsy) comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager (Paul Holland). Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.

When producer Val Lewton was hired for RKO Pictures, the studio decided to start a line of Horror films. Beginning with the mysterious Cat People starring Simone Simon brilliantly directed by Jacques Tourneur, its success encouraged Lewton to reemploy the director for two other films. The second movie is I Walked with a Zombie, titled in a very weird way, the producer-director team almost surpassed its first collaboration.

Betsy (Frances Dee), a young nurse, is hired to take care of the wife (Christine Gordon) of a sugar plantation owner (Tom Conway) on the island of San Sebastian. In fact, she is brought into a particular family where many secrets are hidden by Wesley (James Ellison) the brother of Paul and their mother Mrs. Rand (Edith Barrett). Vaguely explained by the singing of famous calypso singer Sir Lancelot, the mystery around the permanent sleep of the wife Jessica is never really said or shown.

The strength of the film resides in the atmosphere of the superb contrasts of lighting and shadows. The constant blow of the wind that becomes almost a presence in every scene and the eerie looks of the settings. Jacques Tourneur’s mise en scène gets to its best part when Betsy takes Jessica in the night to use voodoo to try to get her out of her almost coma-like state. This trek in the sugar plantation is done without a word and filled with many voodoo elements like human skulls and the omnipresence of the drums.

In an interview Tourneur once said that he never turned down a script, one of the main reasons why he touched to many genres and managed to make a lot of films. With his entries in the Film Noir, it is easy to advance that he had the right touch to make moody Horror films. I Walked with a Zombie has superb aesthetics and the camera movements around Betsy are very engulfing.

So in this film got in my viewing list because of my October Horror event and the main reason was that it was on the TSPDT 1000 greatest films. It wouldn’t have been something I would have reached for if it wasn’t on the list. I’m very glad I did watch it because it’s not a Top 100 film but at least a Top 500.

Cat People (1942)

Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)

An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.

This B-Movie directed by French master Jacques Tourneur, stars Simone Simon as Irena Dubrovna, a Serbian woman who quickly falls in love with an American man (Kent Jones). Flirting with the aesthetics of the Film Noir, German Expressionists, and the Universal Horror films of the like of Tod Browning and James Whale, this blend is well mastered.

The presence of Simone Simon as the feline half, as a woman who is frightened by what she might discover if she consumes her recent marriage with her husband. She has this innocent and sexy look that betrays her probable secret. To get rid of this fear, and because she loves her husband, she meets Dr. Judd  (Tom Conway), pronounced strangely like Dr. Jung. Irena has also a fascination for a panther in a zoo she visits very often. The symbol of the panther is repeated in many different situations.

 

With Cat People for RKO, Jacques Tourneur did many other Horror films until his outstanding Noir Out of the Past. A great stylist, his movies, despite the small budgets, always were licked and refined. This is one of the main reasons why watched today they are still highly regarded classics. Their level of sophistication and craft demonstrate the talent of this overlooked director.

This being my second film of Tourneur I’ve discovered after Out of the Past. Since there are many other of Tourneur’s work on my quest, I will be reviewing and exploring more from the Frenchman. It is always rewarding to discover a director that is lesser known but that we connect and appreciate his films. This is the case for me here. Both films have been great experiences, and I hope Night of the Demon and I Walked with a Zombie will be as fulfilling and inspiring. Highly recommended.