7th Victim

Genre?

Film noir – urban setting (comapre Universal;s Middle European with gypies etc.)
Mysteries
Title

Title was made up first again, that is to say the script was written to the title, not the title added to the script

 Cast Notes

4th film first without Tourneur no Robeson and first for Hunter

Kim Hunter: Zyra in Planet of the Apes; Stella in Street Car Named Desire

Mr. Brun (head of Satanists – Chief Robles in Leopard Man)
Elizabeth Russell who plays Mimi in 7th Victim is the Serbian woman in Cat People and Barbara Farren in Curse of Cat People She is also the model for the painting Mary Merideth in The Uninvited

Acting style

Quiet speaking – undercurrent of disaster

 Literary references

Mimi, (the woman who is sick in the room next to room 7) and appears to be dying from TB has the same name as the heronine of Puccini's La Boheme who is dying from the same illness.
Jane Eyre: The name of the head mistress, Lowood, is from Jane Eyre

John Donne: Holy Sonnet 1t

"HOLY SONNET I"

Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?
Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste,
I run to death, and death meets me as fast,
And all my pleasures are like yesterday;
I dare not move my dim eyes any way,
Despair behind, and death before doth cast
Such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste
By sin in it, which it towards hell doth weigh.
Only thou art above, and when towards thee
By thy leave I can look, I rise again;
But our old subtle foe so tempteth me,
That not one hour I can myself sustain;
Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art,
And thou like adamant draw mine iron heart.

Although the reference is to Holy Sonnet 7 in the film it is actually the 1st. Note appearances of seven's in the film (for example the room number). This one is Lewton's little joke.

Chambered nautilus poem

Visual and auditory "signs"

He calleth all the children by their name (sign over morgue)
Moonlight Sonata/ Encore Waltz

 Tense Sequences

Hallway Scene

Intensification of sound (clock in hall way)
shadows
August shamed into going ahead

Scene on Subway Train

Mary alone,
August dead
First close shot on Mary
Helpless in public place
Time for door so open and close

Shower Scene (Had Block or Hitchcock seen this)

Nudity as vulnerable
Shadow on curtain Psycho

Night Walk

Jacqueline goes home through Greenwich Village
BUS 1 here is tin can lid falls
Street like Leopard
Shadow threat (no music point of view shot) is it the killer? No
Dark corner has Satanic hit man
Shots of feet ( (recall sequences of Alice and Irene in Cat People and Clo Clo Leopard Man)
Contrast in music with visual (music from theater)
Hand reaches murderer
BUS II theater people coming out)
Leaves party of theater people = has she decided to kill self -

Suicide Scene

Off screen sound of chair falling
Lighting
Mimi leaving - taking other path - will go live life, not end it or just wait for it

Physically handicapped characters

Woman without and arm - no explanation

Doubles;

Characters have dark and light side and must choose.
Doubles show the opposite sides
Mary/sister
Mrs. Redy/Lowood
Gregory/Jason – suitors for Mary
Louis Judd/Poet
Mrs.Lowood and head of school where Mary teaches

Satanic "Games"

Use of Satanic symbol for product line (fake symbol but has 7 lines and inverted triangle to indicate upside down trinity)
Devil worshipping scene: ordinary not dangerous on surface but deadly serious
Pacifists willing to kill(like anti-abortionists)
Mostly women in group but headed by man

 Games with "7" Holy SOnnet 1 by John Donne is renamed Holy Sonnet 7
Seven lines on the "Satanic symbol"
Room in which suicide takes place is Room 7
7 Victims – seven detectives

Control

SM masochist has control – loss of freedom removes responsibility

Scene trying to convince J. to commit suicide. “When I want to)

Locus of control (Pyschological theory by Marcia Gittntag) Do people feel their lives are controled by themselves or outside forces - i.e. where is the locus of control?
Redding/ trade mark = 4 boxes and inverted triangle=Satanist sign. Using Satanism in business. "It is the mark of us"

Sexuality

Lesbianism female sexuality

Did Francis have a lesbian relationship with Jacquiline (indicated by Francis' intense defense of Jacquiline and hysteria at scenes with attempts to get Jacquiline to commit suicide
Lesbianism hinted at subtextually in shower scene

Was Judd involved with Jacquiline?

 Psychological States Isolation and despair
Isolation in lost persons office

 Life is meaningless empty – relations are temporary and meaningless – death is only out.
Death can be good and happy. (compare Zombie – happiness at death; sadness and life)
 Meaninglessness of life - Recognize it – the only release is death

Does the film sanction suicide?