Main Cast: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, Edith Atwater, Donna Lee, Russell Wade, Rita Corday
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 77 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were given top billing in the Val Lewton-produced The Body Snatcher, but the film's protagonist is played by Henry Daniell. A brilliant 18th century London surgeon, Daniell can only make his humanitarian medical advances by experimenting on cadavers, which is strictly illegal. Karloff plays a Uriah Heep-type cabman who is secretly a grave robber, providing corpses for Daniell's research. The low-born Karloff enjoys blackmailing the aristocratic Daniell into silence; the two actors' cat-and-mouse scenes are among the film's highlights. Eventually, Karloff turns to murder to supply fresh bodies to Daniell. The doctor can stand no more of this, and kills Karloff. But though Daniell may be able to escape the law, he cannot escape his conscience, which manifests itself in the voice of the dead Karloff, whose repeated mantra "NEVER get rid of me! NEVER get rid of me!" drives Daniell to his death. Though billed second, Lugosi has an embarrassingly small part, though the scene he shares with Karloff is one of his best-ever screen moments. The Body Snatcher was based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, which in turn was inspired by the homicidal career of notorious grave-robbers Burke and Hare. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Body Snatcher features one of Boris Karloff's best and most sinister performances, though it is the lesser known and lower credited Henry Daniell who spends more time on screen. Bela Lugosi, billed as Karloff's co-star, has a minor supporting role as Karloff's assistant. Despite (or perhaps because of) his brief screen time, Lugosi's performance is among the best of his career. Though he would continue to make films until his death in 1956, Body Snatcher is the last of Lugosi's "serious" horror films; his subsequent work would mostly devolve into parody. The production values are scant, as was the case with many RKO efforts from the 1940s, but producer Val Lewton (who also wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym Carlos Keith) and director Robert Wise create an eerie atmosphere that enhances the story. The film proved too strong for British censors, who kept Body Snatcher from being available in that country in its original form for more than fifty years. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Sharyn Moffett - Georgina Marsh; Mary Gordon - Mrs. Mary McBride; Carl Kent - Gilchrist; Milt Kibbee - Dan; Jim Moran - Horse Trader; Lawrence Wheat - Salesman; Bill Williams - Medical Student; Robert Clarke - Richardson; Aina Constant - Maid Servant
Credit
Albert S. D'Agostino - Art Director, Walter E. Keller - Art Director, Renie - Costume Designer, Harry Scott - First Assistant Director, Robert Wise - Director, J.R. Whittredge - Editor, Jack J. Gross - Executive Producer, Roy Webb - Composer (Music Score), Constantin Bakaleinikoff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Robert de Grasse - Cinematographer, Val Lewton - Producer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, John Sturtevant - Set Designer, Carlos Keith - Screenwriter, Philip MacDonald - Screenwriter, Robert Louis Stevenson - Short Story Author
The Body Snatcher (1945), is a horror film directed by Robert Wise based on the short story The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film's producer Val Lewton helped adapt the story for the screen, writing under the pen name of "Carlos Keith". The film was marketed with the tagline The screen's last word in shock sensation!.
In Edinburgh in 1831, one year before the Anatomy Act was passed, a surgeon hires a cabman to dig up graves to provide him with fresh corpses for dissection – but the body provider turns to murder to get new corpses for the doctor.
