Val Lewton

Of all the flicks I watched when I was down, the Val Lewton production entitled The Body Snatcher was, by far, the most enjoyable.

I've been reading James Agee's film criticism as of late, specifically this book, and this venerable, witty critic has such a raging hard-on for Val Lewton, it makes me wonder where this producer's bad work lies?

So far, it does not lie in the box set I have. We'll see!

The Body Snatcher contains one of the weirdest and most depressing moments I've witnessed in any film. Boris Karloff's clever and malicious character gets to intimidate, toy with, and ultimately kill a simpleton played by Bela Lugosi. Such an immediate portrayal of their respective careers one won't find anywhere else... even weirder is the fact that later in their careers, it was Lugosi who was forced to play the mostly-mute idiot while Karloff got to play the more subtle, crafty part.

Of course, all of these ruminations are born from the depiction of the rilvalry between Lugosi and Karloff that was featured in Tim Burton's Ed Wood. The veracity of this rilvalry is unknown to me at this time. Still...

Tonight I am seeing that Al Gore nonsense about Global Football or something. Sometime this weekend, I am watching MOTHERFUCKING ERASERHEAD for the first time since high school.