- Mark Robson's 1943 film noir The Seventh Victim has a surprising amount of overlap with the following year's vastly more famous Laura. Both films feature women who are missing at the beginning of the film, only to mysteriously pop up alive halfway through. Both also feature effete (read: gay) men who may or may not be acting in the best interests of the missing women. But lest you suspect that Laura was some cheap imitation, let me also point out that The Seventh Victim overflows with truly odd details such as frequent religious quotes, a Satanic cult, and a designated "suicide room," complete with noose and chair. Now that I think about it, maybe there's a reason Laura is the more famous of the two.
- The missing woman in The Seventh Victim is cosmetics mogul Jacqueline Gibson (Jean Brooks), whose sister Mary (Kim Hunter) leaves boarding school to search for Jacqueline. Along the way, Mary encounters Jacqueline's lawyer and/or husband Mr. Ward (Hugh Beaumont), her imposing former business partner (Mary Newton), her devoted friend Frances (Isabel Jewell), an eccentric poet (Erford Gage), and the aforementioned effete psychiatrist Dr. Judd (Tom Conway). If you're a fan of Val Lewton films, you might appreciate that Dr. Judd is the same character that appears in Cat People, although I could have sworn he ended up as a scratching post in that one.
- Like any Lewton production, The Seventh Victim contains a few moments of genuinely impressive suspense. One of these is an uncomfortable shower confrontation that prefigures Psycho by nearly two decades. Another is a march down a dark hallway by a private eye (Lou Lubin), whose bravery earns him a posthumous ride on the subway. Sometimes the suspense accidentally veers into humor, as when the surprisingly nonviolent Satanic cult tries to talk Jacqueline into killing herself. The film's best mix of suspense and absurdity arrives in its final scene, however, when Jacqueline marches up the stairs to finally put that suicide room to good use. Considering how many people knew about that room and Jacqueline's precarious mental state, they really should have put another lock on that door.
- This was Kim Hunter's first film role.
- Featuring an uncredited Barbara Hale as a woman on the subway.
- Tom Conway is George Sanders' brother, and there is a strong resemblance.
