Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (DVD)

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The documentary takes us through each of Lewton's films, although much too quickly for my liking, examining each work's uniquely Lewton touches. Needless to say, Lewton made the most of atmosphere, mood, imagery, shadows, and, especially, the unseen. Wonderful stuff.

He "tried to satisfy the demand for horror and transcend it at the same time," the film tells us. "If Val Lewton had been a happier man, a more confident man, he probably wouldn't have been so drawn to the darkness, the shadow world, and he wouldn't have wanted to take us with him."

Fortunately, Val Lewton did explore the dark side, and he did take us with him. Like any good documentary, "Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows" makes us want to know more, in this case to watch his movies again. Can't knock that.

Video:
Warners present the documentary in a 1.33:1 standard-screen size, and it's mostly in black-and-white. The video quality varies with the nature of the film clips we see. Scenes from Lewton's movies make up the bulk of this documenary, and some of them are obviously in better shape than others. Most of them show a little dirt and a few ticks, flecks, scratches; others are clean and clear. When they're good, they're very, very good, and they're not as good, they're still OK.

Audio:
The keep case says the sound is in Dolby stereo, but you could have fooled me. Obviously, the film clips themselves are in monaural, and when Scorsese or other people are talking, their voices come from the center speaker. So, for all intents and purposes, I think you could say this documentary is in mono. Still, it's quite good sound, with little frequency or dynamic range, to be sure, but smooth and quiet. It does its job.

Extras:
No extras. You get a start-up menu for playing the movie and selecting a language or subtitle. That's it, and even then the disc limits your choices. You get English as the only spoken language, with French subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired. You want extras? Buy "Blade Runner."

Parting Thoughts:
The only thing I'm a little hesitant about is recommending this documentary on its own. Certainly, it has nothing to do with the quality of the product; it's just that if you want to find out more about producer Val Lewton and you buy just this release, then where are you to go from there? I would imagine you'd want to go out and buy the "Val Lewton Collection," a five-disc set of his movies, which also includes...this disc. I dunno. Maybe the separate documentary is for people who already bought WB's first set of Lewton movies, which included a different documentary. Then, there's the fact that seventy-seven minutes go by awfully quickly when there is so much to say about the man's movies. It makes me want to suggest that the box set may be a person's best bet on this one, if you don't already own the films.

Anyway, as I say, Warner Bros. make "Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows" available separately or as a part of the five-disc Val Lewton collection, which also includes the films "Cat People," "Curse of the Cat People," "I Walked With A Zombie," "The Body Snatcher," "The Leopard Man," "The Ghost Ship," "Isle of the Dead," "Bedlam," and "The Seventh Victim."

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