Tue 17 Nov 2009
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: THE BODY SNATCHER (1945).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[6] Comments
THE BODY SNATCHER. RKO, 1945. Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, Edith Atwater, Russell Wade, Rita Corday. Based on the short story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Screenplay: Philip MacDonald & Val Lewton (as Carlos Keith). Director: Robert Wise.
Compared to the Fredric March version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, reviewed not so long ago here, RKO treated Stevenson rather more faithfully in The Body Snatcher (1945), one of their string of quality “B”s produced by the redoubtable Val Lewton.
This was directed by Robert Wise in his pre-bomb period, and allegedly written by Philip MacDonald, though he said someplace that Lewton re-wrote the whole thing under the name Carlos Keith.
Well, it’s a fine job regardless of whodunit; not a really scary pitchur as much as a brooding one, with characters a bit more complex than you usually find in a monster movie.
Karloff is at his nastiest in the title role, killing blind women and puppies with scarcely a qualm, yet he’s kind to his horse and positively dotes on the little crippled girl at the center of the story.
Opposite him is the surgeon forced into using the services of a resurrection man to help the little girl walk again, played by Henry Daniell, as cold and constipated as ever. Daniell was one of those actors (like Laurence Harvey. or Dan Duryea) who never made any claim on audience sympathy, and maybe that’s why I like him so much.
He does nothing very sinister here, yet his palpable heartlessness puts him instantly in the same camp as the Mad Scientists who typically run amok in this sort of thing.
And when the running comes, it is indeed amok. Body Snatcher is one of those rare horror films with sense enough to save the scariest part for the climax, and ends with a burst of creepy action followed by a grim coda that leaves us feeling we’ve just seen some sobering lesson — even if we can’t say quite what it was.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
In addition to the films other qualities, Lugosi gives what well may be the finest performance of his career here. There is one scene between he and Karloff over a drink that is outstanding as Lugosi’s drunken character gradually realizes Karloff is up to treachery.
Seeing this makes you wish Lewton had tackled Jekyll and Hyde.
To see Daniell is a rare sympathetic role check him out as Lloyd Nolan’s client in the Michael Shayne outing Dressed to Kill (available in the Michael Shayne set from Fox).
Dan
I agree about Duryea, Harvey, and Daniell. Oddly, some of the better known silent film villains, such as William Powell, Lionel Barrymore, and Donald Crisp had notable careers as good guys in talkies. Daniell and others seldom got that opportunity.
Daniell, George Zucco, and Lionel Atwill were usually cast as villains though once in a while they would get a chance at something different — often in comedies.
Zucco has an outstanding scene stealer in Douglas Sirk’s Lured as a droll Yard man, stealing scenes from the likes of Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Cedric Hardwicke, Charles Coburn, and Karloff almost effortlessly.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
To my mind, it’s the best of the RKO horrors. An excellent script, and the screen fairly crackles whenever Karloff and Daniell are together. In some sense, this is almost a version of ‘Jekyll/Hyde’ as the two are almost different aspects of the same character. Macfarlane and Gray manage to restore the child to health, somehow supplying the heart and the knowledge that are required.
A thought: was there ever a duller romantic lead than Russell Wade?
November 17th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
The romantic lead in Lewton films seldom had much chance. Think Kent Smith and Hugh Beaumont. Dennis O’Keefe in Leopard Man and Tom Conway in I Walked With a Zombie fared better, but surely Russell Wade is the low point.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I’ll indulge in a bit of personal history here: My wife cannot bear this film. As a girl, she had scoliosis, and a doctor more interested in research than in patients tried experimental back sugery on her that left her in a body brace for nearly 20 years.
She says that was less upsetting than the Doc’s total lack of interest in her after the experiment failed, and Daniell’s cold portrayal of a surgeon re-awakens fears that Val Lewton never intended. As a result, I have to watch this late at night, by myself.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Dan
I have a female friend who had to have a rod put in her spine and feels the same way about this one. Though that may be a back handed tribute to how much impact the film has on the viewer.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
[…] The Body Snatcher (reviewed here ) came House of Frankenstein / Dracula, the sad swan songs of the Monster Movie heyday, offering […]