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The Body Snatcher
1945 |
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Another Val Lewton-Robert Wise collaboration, THE BODY SNATCHER was a chilling thriller based on 19th-century Edinburgh murderers Burke and Hare.
Lewton's ability to work miracles with a meager budget served as an inspiration to Wise for this movie as well: "We used sections of the old standing sets for THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME [1939 film also edited by Wise]....That was one of Val's talents—a great facility for seeing things that were lying around and working them into the scripts."* The studio was also keen on hiring Bela Lugosi so that the names of the two horror stars, Karloff and Lugosi, could appear on the marquee together. Lewton was opposed to the idea, but relented and created the role of the porter for him. It was unfortunate that during the filming, Lugosi was ill, requiring Wise to take special care of the ailing actor in his direction.* |
In an Edinburgh graveyard in
1871, medical student
Donald Fettes reassures a bereaved mother about the security
of her little son's
grave. Soon after, Mrs. Marsh arrives at the house of Dr. Toddy
MacFarlane, seeking
a cure for her paralyzed daughter Georgina. MacFarlane orders
his student,
Fettes, to examine the girl. Although the doctor advises
an operation, he
refuses to perform the surgery, claiming that his teaching responsibilities
preclude his practice of medicine. Later, after Fettes discloses
 that he must
give up his medical studies for lack of funds, the doctor offers
him a job as
his assistant. In the lab that night, MacFarlane confides
to Fettes that not
all of the cadavers dissected by the students come from the
morgue. Later,
Fettes is awakened by a pounding at the door, and finds John
Gray, a
cabdriver by day and grave robber by night, delivering the body
of the little
boy from the cemetery. While strolling through town the
next day, Fettes
meets the boy's grieving mother, who is carrying the body of
her son's guard
dog from the cemetery. Filled with remorse, Fettes tenders
his resignation
to MacFarlane, who refuses it on the grounds that human specimens
are
necessary for medical advancement. At the inn that night, the
doctor and his
assistant are greeted by Gray, who begins to taunt MacFarlane.
When Fettes
pleads Georgina's case, Gray challenges the doctor to operate,
threatening to
expose a dark secret if he refuses. Later, when MacFarlane tries
to renege on
his promise by claiming that he has no spinal column on which
to experiment
before the surgery, Fettes visits Gray to ask him to procure
another
specimen. Along the way, Fettes offers alms to a street
singer and is
horrified later that night when Gray appears at the lab carrying
the singer's
dead body. The next morning, Fettes shows MacFarlane the
body and accuses
Gray of murder, a conversation overheard by Joseph, the doctor's
assistant.
Warning Fettes that he could be arrested as an accomplice, MacFarlane
advises
him not to notify the police. On the day of Georgina's
surgery, Meg Cameron,
MacFarlane's housekeeper and secret wife, comforts Mrs. Marsh
through the
agonizing procedure. After Georgina's incision heals,
however, the little
girl is still unable to walk, and MacFarlane, tortured by his
failure, goes
to the inn to console himself with drink. Gray finds him
there and begins to
torment the doctor with references to their shared dark past.
Upon returning
to his stable that night, Gray is visited by Joseph, who demands
money in
exchange for his silence about the cabman's illicit activities.
Gray then
tells Joseph the story of Burke and Hare, two infamous murderers
who were
hanged for procuring bodies for Dr. Knox, MacFarlane's mentor.
After
completing his tale, Gray lurches forward and suffocates Joseph
and then
delivers his body to MacFarlane's lab as a "gift." As
MacFarlane angrily
goes to confront Gray, Meg recalls the trial of Burke and Hare
in which Gray
admitted to robbing graves to shield the real perpetrator, MacFarlane.
She
then warns Fettes to leave immediately before he becomes another
MacFarlane.
Meanwhile, MacFarlane visits Gray and offers him money to stop
tormenting
him. When Gray vows that the doctor will never be rid
of him, the two men
struggle, and MacFarlane beats Gray to death. The next
day, Fettes meets
Mrs. Marsh and Georgina at the ramparts. As Fettes confides
his
disillusionment to Mrs. Marsh, Georgina hears the sound of a
horse's
hoofbeats and stands to see the animal, proving that the operation
was a
success. Rushing to the doctor's house to tell him the
good news, Fettes is
informed by Meg that MacFarlane is at the inn of a neighboring
town, where he
has gone to sell Gray's horse and carriage. At the inn,
Fettes is informed
by MacFarlane about his plans to rob a freshly dug grave. During
a storm that
night, MacFarlane unearths the coffin and loads the shrouded
body into his
carriage. As they drive into the night, MacFarlane hears
Gray calling to him
and orders Fettes to stop the carriage and examine the body.
When Fettes
steps out of the carriage and shines a light on the face of
the corpse,
MacFarlane thinks he sees Gray. At that moment, the horses
spook and run
away, plunging the carriage and its occupants over a cliff.
Running to the
wreck, Fettes observes MacFarlane's dead body with the corpse
of a woman
lying beside him.
From the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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 79 min. RKO Radio Pictures;
Distributed by: RKO Radio Pictures;
Directed by: Robert Wise;
Produced by: Val Lewton;
Screenplay by: Philip
MacDonald & Carlos Keith (Val Lewton);
Edited by: J. R. Whittredge;
Director of Photography: Robert De Grasse;
Music by: Roy Webb;
Production Design by: Albert S. D'Agostino & Walter E. Keller;
Sound by: Bailey
Fesler;
Costumes by: Renie.
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 Boris Karloff (John Gray), Bela Lugosi
(Joseph), Henry Daniell (Dr. Toddy MacFarlane), Edith Atwater (Meg
Cameron),
Russell Wade (Donald Fettes), Rita Corday (Mrs.
Marsh), Sharyn Moffett (Georgina Marsh), Donna Lee (Street singer),
Robert Clarke (Richardson), Carl Kent (Gilchrist),
Jack Welch
(Boy), Larry Wheat (Salesman on street), Mary
Gordon (Mrs. McBride), Jim Moran (Horse trader), Aina Constant
(Maid servant), and Bill Williams
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