html> FILM 3101 Language of Film 2: Notes Analysis of films takes place on many levels. Some of these may be as small as a single object in a frame which carries meaning (e.g. the doctor's bag in And The There Were None At a very different level are cultural patterns and styles of directors and producers who may have an impact on the film. It is impossible to talk about a director's style from a single film. Several need to be seen to spot consistant patterns that occur in that director's films.

When RKO Studios opened a second unit to make "B" horror films to compete in some way with Univeral International's monsters (Dracula, The Wolf Man, the Frankenstein monster etc.) they hired as the prouction head Val Lewton, the nephew of a famous actress named Navimova. He filt Universal maed "horror" films whereas he wanted to make "terror". Horror films relied on what you saw, while for Lewton terror came from what was unseen.

Two of his films - Cat People and Leopard Man allow enough range to see some smilarities - the unwillingness to show the horrific (the transformation in Cat People is never actually seen; nor are the actual killings in Leopard Man. None the less, but films are famous for shots which IMPLY what is happening (the walk through the transverse in Central Park; the scene in the pool in Cat People; the mauling of Teresa by the cat and the killing of Consuela in the cemetary in Leopard Man.) Despite the fact that one film is heavily supernatuiral and the other is not, there is little doubt that the two films have the same author, In this case it is not clear whether the author is the producer or the director since both films are made by Val Lewton as the producer and Jacques Tournuer as the director!

For more detail information about the to films you will find notes for the films linked below:.

Cat People

Leopard Man