THE BODY SNATCHER Review

The legendary Boris Karloff stars in 1945's THE BODY SNATCHER, from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, directed by Robert Wise for producer Val Lewton and RKO studios. Based on the real life exploits of the infamous Burke and Hare, who, during the 1850s, provided cadavers to the medical schools of Edinburgh, Scotland, by robbing the graves of the recently deceased. When the Edinburgh police staked out the cemeteries to put a stop their graverobbing ways, Burke and Hare saved themselves the time and trouble of digging up corpses by making their own, eventually murdering 16 people to supply the demand.

That's pretty much the plot of tonight's creepshow, with Karloff giving perhaps the finest performance of his career as John Gray, the villainous cabbie, who gives up graverobbing in favor of murder. Eliminate the middleman and all that. And believe you me, the middleman's corpse will fetch a good price down at the college of medicine.

Also in the cast are Bela Lugosi as a pathetic simpleton who is no match for Gray's cunning and homicidal tendencies, and Henry Daniell as Dr. MacFarlane.

Karloff and Lugosi are two of the greatest icons of horror, and made several films together, including SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE BLACK CAT, BLACK FRIDAY, and this one, arguably the best of the lot. Theri major scene together is masterfully played, and full of dark foreboding. Karloff's scenes with Dr. MacFarlane are even better, as he torments the not-so-good doctor with thinly veiled threats of exposure, blackmailing "Toddy" into yet another corpse-related payday.

Director Robert Wise began his film career as an editor, working on such classics as THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER, and working with Orson Welles on CITIZEN KANE and THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. In 1942, while Welles was in South Ameica, Wise was ordered by RKO to cut 40 minutes from THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, then asked to shoot a happy ending for the movie, thus beginning his career as a director. The films of Robert Wise include THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, BORN TO KILL, THE SET-UP, and ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW. He had his biggest successes in the 1960s, directing WEST SIDE STORY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and THE SAND PEBBLES. In 1979, he helmed STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, but would only direct two more movies before his death in 2005.

THE BODY SNATCHER is a seriously chilling piece of Grand Guignol from the glory days of Val Lewton's tenure at RKO. The great Karloff plays it to the hilt, and the shadow-strewn black and white cinematography makes it all the more creepy. Good show.

Available on DVD from Turner Home Entertainment as a two-fer with I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE or as part of THE VAL LEWTON COLLECTION.