I put THE BODY SNATCHER on my list of flicks for Horrorfest thinking it would be yet another version of the alien invasion story, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn this was a Val Lewton produced vehicle for Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. I watched the Lewton-produced flicks CAT PEOPLE And CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE for Horrorfest last year and loved them. Lewton was the RKO producer known for making quality flicks, both entertaining and artistic, with small budgets, so a lot of his pictures are leave more to the imagination and deal with more abstract subjects than the Universal horror movies of the day.
THE BODY SNATCHER takes place in 1830s Edinburgh and opens with a mother (Rita Corday) taking her wheel chair bound daughter (Sharyn Moffett) to the only doctor she believes can help – Dr. MacFarlane (Henry Daniell). MacFarlane turns her down because he considers himself more of a teacher than a practitioner, though his new assistant, Fettes (Russell Wade) is young and idealistic and wants to help.
Fettes soon finds out Dr. MacFarlane is not all that he seems, however, when it becomes clear that the doctor is supplying his medical school with fresh cadavers by way of cabman by day, grave robber by night John Gray (Boris Karloff). That’s not all – there also seems to be some personal history between MacFarlane and Gray, as the commoner Gray perversely delights in forcing the gentleman MacFarlane to squirm as he insists on publicly associating with him. Meanwhile, MacFarlane’s servant, Joseph (Bela Lugosi) also catches onto the macabre scheme and formulates a blackmail plot.
Without getting into too many spoilers, I can say the movie deals mostly with moral and ethical dilemmas. MacFarlane thinks he is doing the right thing because he is helping mankind and furthering the studies of scientific medicine. He views the social taboos against the use of dead bodies in clinical settings as primitive and feels he is forced to sneak around with criminals because of these beliefs. Fettes is more naïve and idealistic, and therefore even more torn on the subject – he, too, wants to help people, and admires MacFarlane, but can it possibly be “right” to rob graves?
The only one who seems fairly comfortable with his station in life is Gray, the criminal grave robber, who hides his activities just enough not go get caught, but has no delusions about the grand scheme of things. Still, he, too, is a slave of social mores, as his obsession with the class distinction between himself and MacFarlane, despite their close association, begins to rule his life.
As is the case with these things, they quickly unravel and get out of hand, and it’s not long before murder comes into the picture. Karloff is great as Gray, delighting in every single line of dialog, rolling it over his tongue like he’s reciting Shakespeare, and using a fake geniality to frighten both MacFarlane and the audience, as opposed to acting outright sinister. Daniell is similarly captivating as MacFarlane, who quietly unravels as he attempts to keep a stiff upper lip.
My only complaint about the flick is that I would have liked to have had some more Lugosi. He has one great scene with Karloff but is otherwise wasted in what amounts to a bit part. I mean, if you can get Lugosi to fill out a small role for atmosphere’s sake, of course you have to do it. I just wish he had more screen time and a little more to do. But, that’s just a minor nitpick in an otherwise great film.
No comments:
Post a Comment