SOURCE: "Val Lewton: Curse of the Critics?" in Monthly Film Bulletin, Vol. 48, July, 1981, p. 148.

In the following essay, Jenkins summarizes the critical reception of Lewton's films, examining the various positions taken regarding the relation of the producer to his films.

American producer, former writer, notable for a group of low-budget, high quality horror films made for RKO in the Forties. … Later films unremarkable. (Leslie Halliwell, The Filmgoer's Companion)

The above 'definition' is a neat guide to Val Lewton's accepted place and significance in film history and criticism. He is considered primarily responsible for the particular qualities discernible within a group of generically locatable films produced within a definable Hollywood context (history, studio). Working with sympathetic collaborators, and with strict financial constraints, the creative producer turned pulp titles into low-budget poetry, stamped with the seal of 'quality.'

The writings of Manny Farber and James Agee in The Nation...