Jacques Tourneur

  • Jacques Tourneur – Cat People (1942)

    Jacques Tourneur1941-1950HorrorMysteryUSA
    Cat People (1942)
    Cat People (1942)

    Quote:
    Serbian national Irena Dubrovna, a fashion sketch artist, has recently arrived in New York for work. The first person who she makes a personal connection with there is marine engineer Oliver Reed. The two fall in love and get married despite Irena’s reservations, not about Oliver but about herself. She has always felt different than other people, but has never been sure why. She lives close to the zoo, and unlike many of her neighbors is comforted by the sounds of the big cats emanating from the zoo. And although many see it purely as an old wives’ tale, she believes the story from her village of ancient residents being driven into witchcraft and evil doing, those who managed to survive by escaping into the mountains. After seeing her emotional pain, Oliver arranges for her to see a psychiatrist to understand why she believes what she does. In therapy, Dr. Judd, the psychiatrist, learns that she also believes, out of that villagers’ tale, that she has descended from this evil.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

    1941-1950ClassicsFranceHorrorJacques Tourneur

    Young Canadian nurse Betsy comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager Paul Holland. Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – The Flame and the Arrow (1950)

    1941-1950AdventureDramaJacques TourneurUSA

    Burt Lancaster’s megawatt grin and acrobatic athleticism light up this grandly entertaining swashbuckler. He tumbles, vaults, and swings his way through the role of a Robin Hood-esque rogue who executes dazzling feats of derring-do as he and his rough-and-ready band of mountain men launch a rebellion against the occupying German gentry in 12th-century Italy. The filmmaker’s powers as an aesthetician are on full display in the exquisite Technicolor compositions, including one particularly striking moment of Tourneurian shadow play: a climactic duel in the dark wrought in finely shaded chiaroscuro.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – War-Gods of the Deep AKA The City Under the Sea (1965)

    1961-1970AdventureJacques TourneurSci-FiUnited Kingdom

    City Under the Sea (released as War-Gods of the Deep in the US) is a 1965 British-American adventure horror science fiction film. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur (his final film) and starred Vincent Price, Tab Hunter, Susan Hart and David Tomlinson.

    The plot concerns the discovery of a lost city beneath the sea off the coast of Cornwall. Price is the captain overseeing a group of sailors who have lived there for more than a century where the peculiar mix of gases has allowed them to extend their lifespan.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – The Leopard Man [+Commentary] (1943)

    1941-1950ClassicsHorrorJacques TourneurUSA

    A seemingly tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – Toto (1933)

    1931-1940ComedyFranceJacques Tourneur

    Quote:
    Escaping from a policeman who has caught h.im with a stolen dog, Toto (Albert Préjean), a petty crook, hides in the apartment of a typist, Ginette (Renée Saint-Cyr). The two quickly fall in love, and after a brief incarceration, Toto returns to her and schemes to have her win a beauty contest. Bruno, a “financier” who met Toto in prison, briefly comes between the couple, but they are reunited at the end.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

    1941-1950ClassicsHorrorJacques TourneurUSA

    A young Canadian nurse (Betsy) comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager (Paul Holland). Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – They All Come Out (1939)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaJacques TourneurUSA

    A “Crime Doesn’t Pay” morality drama about a young man sentenced to a prison term and attempts by the system to rehabilitate jailed criminals.Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – Great Day in the Morning (1956)

    1951-1960Jacques TourneurUSAWestern

    Film Society of Lincoln Center Writes:
    Tourneur’s moral and aesthetic complexity elevates this dark, anti-heroic western. Set on the brink of the Civil War, the deceptively titled Great Day in the Morning stars Robert Stack as a smooth-talking, opportunistic Southerner who drifts into Denver, his presence inflaming the already heated tensions between the Yankees and Confederates—and between two women he caddishly pursues, played by Virginia Mayo and Ruth Roman. As the film circles around themes of greed, jealousy, and violence, its increasingly sinister tone is mirrored by Tourneur’s intricate mise en scène, which begins in soft pastel hues and ends in noir shadows.Read More »

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