At RKO during World War II, Ukrainian-American producer Val Lewton developed a signature horror film style that influenced many subsequent filmmakers and also helped launch some notable Hollywood careers (e.g., Directors Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise, and Mark Robson). Lewton didn’t have the big budgets that let Universal Studios parade all those magnificent monsters across elaborate sets, so he often relied on the audience’s imagination of terrors they could only dimly see in the shadows (or just as often, only hear, for example in the famous swimming pool scene in Cat People). Boris Karloff, tired of making monster movies at Universal, admired Lewton’s work and made a trio of films with him. The first to be released features what is arguably the finest performance of Karloff’s career: The Body Snatcher.
The plot of this eerie 1945 film derives from the Robert Louis Stevenson story of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the Burke and Hare murders in 1820s Edinburgh. Dr. Wolfe McFarlane (Henry Daniell), a famous physician with a murky past, teaches medicine to would-be doctors, including the idealistic young student Donald Fettes (Russell Wade). Anatomical teaching requires the dissection of cadavers, which under the law are available in quite limited supply. This constrains the ability of physicians to acquire the skills that would allow them to help people like Georgina Marsh (Sharyn Moffett), a paralyzed little girl whose mother (Paula Corday) begs McFarlane and Fettes to operate on her daughter’s spine. But to attempt such a delicate operation would require careful study of a recently deceased person…maybe cabman John Gray (Karloff) could engage in a gruesome side hustle? Suspense, chills, and moral dilemmas ensue.
Lewton gave future multiple Oscar-winner Robert Wise his first chances to direct, and Wise’s ability to draw our good performances, maintain tone, and create a compelling storytelling canvas is evident even at this early point in his career. Wise and cinematographer Robert De Grasse give us an ominous looking Edinburgh, wreathed in shadow and dread (Funnily enough, in a budget-saving move that prefigured Roger Corman, the filmmakers re-used the sets of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, on which Wise had worked as an editor). The crisp script of Phillip MacDonald (with added polish by Lewton) artfully uses dialogue to reveal hidden emotions and motives, and builds tension well in the short running time that was a financial necessity.
Henry Daniell as usual gives a strong performance as a character with significant shortcomings who is also in many ways admirable. But the towering performance in the film comes from Karloff as the menacing, resentful Gray. When he’s not delivering malicious words with a cunning smile and a faux-unctuous manner he’s convincingly meting out sociopathic violence. Great horror performances, like great comic performances, are too often overlooked. Karloff didn’t even get a Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his stellar work here, so hang your head (again) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The sole disappointment of this film is that Bela Lugosi, in his last pairing with Karloff, has only a small part, perhaps because his addictions were destroying his health. He is fine in his role as one of McFarlane’s servants and his scenes with Karloff crackle, but it’s still too bad this legend of horror wasn’t able to do more on screen at this point in his career.
It would be very unjust to close on that sad note, when there is so much to appreciate in this gripping and atmospheric tale of murder and medicine. The Body Snatcher is an excellent film both as entertainment and as a 78-minute showcase of the horrifying gifts of Val Lewton and Boris Karloff.
All Good Movies 