Jacques Tourneur

<p> At least three of director Jacques Tourneur's films--<I>Cat People</I> <I>I Walked with a Zombie</I> and <I>The Leopard Man</I>--are recognized as horror classics. Yet his contributions to these films are often minimized by scholars with most of the credit going to the films' producer Val Lewton.</p><p> A detailed examination of the director's full body of work reveals that those elements most evident in the Tourneur-Lewton collaborations--the lack of monsters and the stylized use of suggested violence--are equally apparent in Tourneur's films before and after his work with Lewton. Mystery and sensuality were hallmarks of his style and he possessed a highly artistic visual and aural style. This insightful critical study examines each of Tourneur's films as well as his extensive work on MGM shorts (1936-1942) and in television. What emerges is evidence of a highly coherent directorial style that runs throughout Tourneur's works.</p>