Val Lewton was a master of horror. Not the gory, gross kind of horror, but a
very controlled, haunting, beautiful kind.
The Body Snatcher
is an excellent example of his mastery. Here, Robert Wise directed and Lewton produced,
but he also rewrote Philip MacDonald’s script, taking a pseudonymous credit as
Carlos Keith.
is an excellent example of his mastery. Here, Robert Wise directed and Lewton produced,
but he also rewrote Philip MacDonald’s script, taking a pseudonymous credit as
Carlos Keith.
The Body Snatcher is loosely based on the Robert Louis Stevenson short story
, referencing the Burke and Hare resurrectionist
murders. Boris Karloff is the body
snatcher Gray, chief supplier for the arrogant Dr. MacFarlane, played by Henry
Daniell. Daniell, in perhaps his
largest role, is adequate but nothing more.
His character, coldly willing to sacrifice morals for the sake of
scientific progress, tormented by Gray and by his own self-doubt, is a good
one, but his performance is less than masterful.
, referencing the Burke and Hare resurrectionist
murders. Boris Karloff is the body
snatcher Gray, chief supplier for the arrogant Dr. MacFarlane, played by Henry
Daniell. Daniell, in perhaps his
largest role, is adequate but nothing more.
His character, coldly willing to sacrifice morals for the sake of
scientific progress, tormented by Gray and by his own self-doubt, is a good
one, but his performance is less than masterful.
Karloff, in the first of his three roles with Lewton, gives
a memorable performance. He portrays a
man eaten by moral rot yet full of evil vitality; full of strong passions but
pitiless. He shows he can be monstrous
without monster makeup, although in this case he is frighteningly human as well,
brimming with bitterness and jealousy.
Karloff is very sinister here, but his portrayal is not without humanity
and sympathy. The mutual hatred between
Gray and MacFarlane is sometimes muted in Daniell’s performance, but always
strongly portrayed by Karloff. Karloff
said Lewton was “the man who rescued me from the living dead and restored my
soul”, and here Lewton (and Wise) make him shine.
Also present is Bela Lugosi, but as MacFarlane’s servant
Joseph he is underutilized. He is only there for his name on the credits,
and in fact the theatrical trailer was designed to suggest that his part would
be much larger. Suffering from stomach
ulcers and perhaps already a morphine addict, Lugosi looks quite ill, as if
even this small part is an effort for him.
This was the last Karloff/Lugosi teaming.
As usual, Lewton manages to do a lot with a little: the
shadowy world of 1830’s Edinburgh
is competently evoked through a few simple sets; Gray’s horse and cab clop down
narrow, cobbled lanes. An angelic-voiced
street singer lightens the darkness with her voice in many scenes. This is psychological horror; despite the
theme, there aren’t many shots of bodies or their parts. It suggests rather than shows: shadows on a wall of a vicious struggle while
Gray’s cat watches on, a victim murdered off-screen in a dark tunnel, grave robbing
on a dark and stormy night. The ending
sequence is perfect, a horror classic that burns into memory.
Here as in all of his films, Lewton put a great deal of
effort into all aspects of the production, elevating it above the horror film
standard. In the wrong hands, The Body
Snatcher could have been excruciatingly boring, just another B movie, but with
Lewton’s attention to detail and artistry, and Karloff’s great performance, it
really shines- a minor classic.
shambled onto the screen. The visceral fascination induced by watching a few isolated survivors fight off hordes of undead spawned a host of imitators. Like the zombies themselves, zombie movies seem to multiply until it's hard to keep track of them all. I'll be reviewing some of the most obscure, unique, or just plain odd.
