Many viewers of "The Seventh Victim" find the plot confusing. My comment may explain why and help clear up the matter.
"The Seventh Victim" was intended as an A film, but four scenes that had been photographed were edited out, as "Victim" was cut to a B film's running time of 71 minutes. This was a result of Lewton insisting that Mark Robson, who'd never directed a film before, direct this one. The studio brass didn't want Robson and gave Lewton a choice: get rid of Robson or lose the A-picture budget. Lewton chose Robson.
Following are the four scenes that were cut. Were they still in the film, the film's plot would make more sense than it now does.
Scene 1 - Gregory Ward visits Mary at the day care center where she works. In this scene, Mary admits, "It would be easier if Jacqueline were dead." At the beginning of the scene which remains in the picture--of Judd visiting Mary--Mary's supervisor says to her, "Aren't you the popular one? You've a visitor again," the last word making it clear she'd had an earlier visitor, Ward, whom we don't see because of the cut.
Scene 2 - Trying to discover what the Palladists have as a hold on Mary, Judd visits Mrs. Cortez, pretending to be interested in joining the group. Two points are made in this conversation between Judd and Mrs. Cortez: (a) That if good exists, evil exists, and one is free to choose. (b) Mrs. Cortez became a Palladist because, "Life has betrayed us. We've found that there is no heaven on earth, so we must worship evil for evil's sake."
Scene 3 - Judd makes a second, longer visit to Mrs. Cortez, indicating that he is ready to join the Palladists. In this conversation, Judd unintentionally reveals that Jacqueline is staying with Mary at the rooming house. This lets us know how the Palladists were able to trace Jacqueline to Mary's room in order to kidnap her. In the truncated print, viewers haven't a clue as to how the Palladists found Jacqueline.
Scene 4 - A final scene, which followed Jacqueline's suicide. Mary, Gregory, and Jason meet at the Dante restaurant. Gregory and Mary go off together, leaving Jason standing before the restaurant's mural of Dante and Beatrice, making clear his failure as an artist and lover; he says, "I am alive, yet every hope I had is dead. Death can be good. Death can be happy. If I could speak like Cyrano...then perhaps, you might understand."
In the British release print, Jason recites the entire Lord's Prayer to the Palladists, while only two lines of the Prayer remain in the American print, which is the one usually shown.
"I run to death and death meets me as fast,/And all my pleasures are like yesterday" are from Donne's Holy Sonnet 1, lines 3 and 4. I believe the film credits them to Donne's Holy Sonnet 7.
Details about Lewton insisting on Robson as director and the cutting of these four scenes can be found in "Fearing the Dark: The Val Lewton Career" by Edmund G. Bansak (McFarland) and "Val Lewton: The Reality of Terror" by Joel E. Siegel (Viking).
"The Seventh Victim" was intended as an A film, but four scenes that had been photographed were edited out, as "Victim" was cut to a B film's running time of 71 minutes. This was a result of Lewton insisting that Mark Robson, who'd never directed a film before, direct this one. The studio brass didn't want Robson and gave Lewton a choice: get rid of Robson or lose the A-picture budget. Lewton chose Robson.
Following are the four scenes that were cut. Were they still in the film, the film's plot would make more sense than it now does.
Scene 1 - Gregory Ward visits Mary at the day care center where she works. In this scene, Mary admits, "It would be easier if Jacqueline were dead." At the beginning of the scene which remains in the picture--of Judd visiting Mary--Mary's supervisor says to her, "Aren't you the popular one? You've a visitor again," the last word making it clear she'd had an earlier visitor, Ward, whom we don't see because of the cut.
Scene 2 - Trying to discover what the Palladists have as a hold on Mary, Judd visits Mrs. Cortez, pretending to be interested in joining the group. Two points are made in this conversation between Judd and Mrs. Cortez: (a) That if good exists, evil exists, and one is free to choose. (b) Mrs. Cortez became a Palladist because, "Life has betrayed us. We've found that there is no heaven on earth, so we must worship evil for evil's sake."
Scene 3 - Judd makes a second, longer visit to Mrs. Cortez, indicating that he is ready to join the Palladists. In this conversation, Judd unintentionally reveals that Jacqueline is staying with Mary at the rooming house. This lets us know how the Palladists were able to trace Jacqueline to Mary's room in order to kidnap her. In the truncated print, viewers haven't a clue as to how the Palladists found Jacqueline.
Scene 4 - A final scene, which followed Jacqueline's suicide. Mary, Gregory, and Jason meet at the Dante restaurant. Gregory and Mary go off together, leaving Jason standing before the restaurant's mural of Dante and Beatrice, making clear his failure as an artist and lover; he says, "I am alive, yet every hope I had is dead. Death can be good. Death can be happy. If I could speak like Cyrano...then perhaps, you might understand."
In the British release print, Jason recites the entire Lord's Prayer to the Palladists, while only two lines of the Prayer remain in the American print, which is the one usually shown.
"I run to death and death meets me as fast,/And all my pleasures are like yesterday" are from Donne's Holy Sonnet 1, lines 3 and 4. I believe the film credits them to Donne's Holy Sonnet 7.
Details about Lewton insisting on Robson as director and the cutting of these four scenes can be found in "Fearing the Dark: The Val Lewton Career" by Edmund G. Bansak (McFarland) and "Val Lewton: The Reality of Terror" by Joel E. Siegel (Viking).