Val Lewton

Screenwriter and film producer Val Lewton is one of the true unsung hero's of the motion picture industry. He started of as a journalist and later made it Hollywood to be a screenwriter. Under David O. Selznick Lewton learned the craft of film making and was Selznick's right hand man. While working for Selznick Lewton wrote the famous scene in Gone With The Wind, in which the camera pulls back to reveal hundreds of wounded soldiers. After this Lewton was named the head of RKO studios Horror Unit. It was here that Lewton helped to make some of the best horror films to date such as The Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie, The Leopard Man and Curse Of The Cat People. In these films Lewton melded art house cinema and true horror film terror. He allowed for actors and directors to have a huge amount of artistic freedom and pushed the limits of censorship at the time. Recently Turner Classic Movies produced an excellent documentary, Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, with Lewton admirer Martin Scorsese narrarating. While he may never achieve the true fame he deserves Lewton has forever made an indelible mark of cinema.