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Film: The Body Snatcher
Year: 1945
Director: Robert Wise
Writer: Philip MacDonald and Val Lewton
Starring: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Henry Daniell
Review:
This was a film that I discovered due to it being on a double DVD with I Walked with a Zombie. This is an RKO/Val Lewton double feature. I watched both close together so I could file it away. It was one that I knew I’d come back, especially after being more versed in the history of horror cinema. I was excited since this featured Boris Karloff. I forgot that Bela Lugosi was also in this until seeing the cast list as well.
Synopsis: a ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers.
This starts by setting the stage that we’re in Edinburgh in the year 1831. We get an idea of what the city is like during this time. We then meet Donald Fettes (Russell Wade). He’s a medical student and sitting in a cemetery having lunch. He tries to feed a dog that is there, but the animal won’t get closer. An older woman then appears to feed him. She explains that this poor dog belonged to her son who passed away and won’t leave the grave.
We then see a carriage pull in front of a house. The driver is John Gray (Karloff). Emerging from his carriage is Mrs. Marsh (Rita Corday) and her daughter, Georgina (Sharyn Moffett). She was in an accident with a carriage and it paralyzed her legs. They ring the bell and Meg Camden (Edith Atwater) appears. She is the maid of this house. We see she doesn’t seem to care for Gray. This duo is here to see Dr. Wolfe MacFarlane (Henry Daniell).
He is a great doctor, but now is a teacher. He struggles with his bedside manner and Georgina doesn’t allow him to examine her. Don arrives to speak with Wolfe. This teacher sees an opportunity, asking him to work with the child. He has more success as she explains her pains. She is taken to an examining table where Wolfe finds that she has a tumor on her spine that is causing this. Mrs. Marsh thinks he will do the surgery. It devastates her doesn’t practice anymore, only teaches. This was her last option.
Wolfe is impressed with Don and is shocked to learn that he plans to leave medical school. He won’t allow this and makes Don his assistant. The big issue was financial, which this cleared up. It is from here though that Don starts to learn secrets within this place. As the viewers, we learn that Wolfe and Meg are secretly married. She doesn’t think it is a good idea to make Don his assistant. We soon learn why.
A function of this job of being the assistant is to receive the bodies that are brought in for autopsies and practice. Gray is the one that delivers them at night. He is paid ten pounds for his services. The problem though is that the next day, the cemetery had an incident with a grave robber. This robber also killed the dog.
It is from here that Don has to decide what to do morally. Wolfe and him go to the local pub to discuss. It is there that they run into Gray. He knows Wolfe quite well, calling him Toddy. He despises that nickname, pushing Gray to use it more. It is from here that we also see the lengths that Gray will go to ensure that bodies are brought in and he is paid. It involves murder.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is that this is an interesting concept since it is based on the real case of Burke and Hare. I forgot until seeing the opening credits that this also is from a Robert Louis Stevenson short story. Burke and Hare are also directly referenced by Gray along with other characters. There is an interesting commentary that stems from it as well that I’ll come back to.
Where I want to go is talking about the story here. It is interesting that Wolfe is supposed to be this great doctor who has turned to teaching to share his knowledge. He does good to keep Don around so he can develop his talents. When asked to help Georgina, he refuses. Don has to do questionable things, which results in someone else losing their life. I’ll give credit here though. This is taking the idea of what lengths you’ll go to help someone. It falls into a gray area since it involves murder and government restrictions.
Delving more into that idea, the reason that Burke and Hare did what they did was because of the laws about using bodies for medical study. You had to donate your body so it tended to be the poor. There were religious objections due to desecrating the body preventing them from getting into heaven. They started with grave robbing until they saw they could make money. When not enough people were dying naturally, they turned to other methods. This movie is using this real-life duo as well as the doctor who was paying them, Robert Knox, and incorporating them in. Now what they did was over 100 years prior to the movie being made, as a disclaimer.
I’ve given that information to say that it is interesting how it is used in the story. It is more than just a reference. Gray was a contemporary to that duo. This is trying to say that Gray was the cabman who transported the bodies. He originally was selling them to Dr. Knox where Wolfe was his assistant. For this movie, Wolfe is now the doctor and Don is his assistant. Gray was part of the trial for Burke and Hare. He was protecting the doctors so he was punished. The meshing of the truth with this fiction is something I can appreciate.
Then to fully circle back with the commentary. There is one part here where Gray is looked at as a monster for grave robbing. The doctors needed the bodies to learn. Modern medicine wouldn’t be where it is without the bodies for study. Gray becomes a monster to me when he kills a dog and then people. When it is just digging up bodies, he’s no worse than the doctors that are paying him. There is a commentary on class in that Dr. Knox is living like a gentleman in London where Burke and Hare were executed. Wolfe would probably be the same where Gray would be punished. There is an interesting idea here where the doctor does descend into madness.
That should be enough for the story and underlying elements. Let’s discuss the acting performances. Karloff is good here. He’s a bit of a drunkard. He has history with Wolfe and torments him with it. There’s almost an element of arrogance that works. Daniell is great as well as his haunted doctor. He’s done bad things. He’s struggling to come to terms with them. Wade is good as his benevolent med student who knows things. I like Corday, Moffett and Atwater to help push everyone to where they end up. Lugosi has a minor role which was good. I’d say the rest round this out for what it needed.
Let's end with the filmmaking. I thought that cinematography was good to capture the era. The costumes help there. Something that I found interesting was the framing, but that’s not until near the end of the third act. There's a great one for a scare with someone in water, waiting to be dissected. Another is at the climax. This is limited in the effects used. This is more psychological so we don’t necessarily need them. Other than that, the soundtrack fit what was needed. There are good elements with the sound design when Wolfe descends into madness.
In conclusion, I’m glad that I gave this a rewatch. I didn’t remember that this is another of the Lewton produced horror films that have more under the surface. There’s good writing here to incorporate in the real case of Burke and Hare. Then to explore class and how the court system looks at it. The acting here is great. Karloff and Daniell lead the way. This is made well enough with capturing the time and place this is set. The cinematography, costumes and framing there. Also, good things with sound design. I’d recommend it if you’re a fan of this era, especially of Lewton/RKO films.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10