JACQUES TOURNEUR

Oh, what an atmosphere…

WHAT THE DICKENS?

Son of French director Maurice Tourneur, Jacques grew up in the movie industry. After directing a handful of films in France, he made the leap to Hollywood in 1934, only to end up stuck helming shorts for MGM and working as second-unit director on ATale of Two Cities (1935), shooting the epic ‘storming of the Bastille’ sequence. It was there he met and befriended production manager/ unit producer Val Lewton.

CHEAP THRILLS

Hired to head up RKO’s new horror unit, Lewton quickly called on Tourneur’s services. The three ‘cheapies’ they made together -Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man (both 1943) –are masterpieces of economy and style. ‘To me it’s like Lennon and McCartney,’ says Guillermo del Toro. ‘Were [Lewton and Tourneur] both good? Yeah, they were great. But together they were better.’

MADE YOU JUMP

‘When the audience recognises its own insecurity in the film, then you can show unbelievable situations and be sure that the audience will follow,’ stated Tourneur. His mastery at building atmosphere and tension even birthed anow iconic (and much imitated) jump-scare technique in Cat People, when an expertly choreographed stalking sequence comes to a sudden end with a startling sound of brakes as a bus barrels into shot.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

‘I make films about the supernatural because I believe in it,’ said Tourneur, explaining his affinity with horror films. Beyond that personal interest, though, the filmmaker enjoyed fantastical stories for the lyrical qualities they offered, stating that such movies paradoxically offered the chance to ‘try to be a little more subtle than almost any other sort of commercial film allows’.

B-MOVIE MAVEN

‘I’m a journeyman filmmaker, nothing more,’ claimed the self-deprecating Tourneur. ‘I make films because it is my métier; Iknow how to do it, and I can do a good job on pretty well everything Iam given.’ Sadly, while never given the chance to prove himself on an ‘A’ picture, Tourneur brought his poetic visual style to a wide range of popular genres, including thrillers, westerns, melodramas and swashbucklers.

KEY MOVIES

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE 1943 ★★★★★

Tourneur’s dreamlike visuals bring a hypnotic quality to this eloquent spine-tingler, inspired by Jane Eyre.

OUT OF THE PAST 1947 ★★★★★

Perfectly paced and shot through with doomy atmosphere, this seductive noir ranks among the genre’s best.

STARS IN MY CROWN 1950 ★★★★★

Hints of John Ford abound in Tourneur’s atypically nostalgic and socially daring character study, his personal favourite among his films.

NIGHT OF THE DEMON 1957 ★★★★★

Not even a big rubber demon foisted on the movie by the US producer can detract from Tourneur’s ominous occult thriller.