The Body Snatcher (1945)

Directed by Robert Wise; produced by Val Lewton

In 1834 Edinburgh, young Donald Fettes (Russell Wade) is training to be a doctor under the guidance of the respected anatomist Dr Wolfe MacFarlane (Henry Daniell). Bodies for dissection and study are at a premium, and Fettes discovers that his mentor relies on the unsavoury John Grey (Boris Karloff), a cabman, to provide them by robbing the fresh graves of the newly dead. When even that source proves inadequate, however, Fettes suspects that Gray is killing people to supply the doctors’ needs. This, and the hold that Gray has over MacFarlane, creates a sinister situation which will only grow worse.

Karloff was dissatisfied with the direction his career was taking when he was offered the part of Gray. The movie not only gave him an excellent part but revitalized him professionally, and showed what he could do as an actor. It would be inaccurate to write that the movie revolves about Karloff, but his performance is top-notch and, combined with the slightly hammier part played by Daniell, does provide most of the entertainment.

Karloff’s Gray seems a menacing man right from the beginning, yet he is often amiable, in a deceptively harmless way, and it would be easy for strangers to see him as genial fellow. The actor gives his character an unpleasant edge, however, so that even those strangers would not quite trust him. Daniell’s MacFarlane, on the other hand, is a cold, unsympathetic, flawed but ultimately decent man played very highly-strung, which contrasts nicely with Gray’s almost smooth confidence.

The other actors are good but rather ordinary, though Sharynn Moffet, as the child Georgina Marsh, is highly competent, and Wade convincingly portrays Fettes as a man trying to balance his morals against medical necessity. Bela Lugosi gives a small, restrained contribution, his character pathetically naïve in his dealings with Gray.

The story is based on a tale by Robert Louis Stevenson, adapted by thriller-writer Philip MacDonald and Lewton, the latter writing under the unlikely pen-name of Carlos Keith. The significant part of the script is not the lurid story of murder and vivisection, but the intense relationship between Gray and MacFarlane.

It is clear that the real hold the former has over the latter is nothing tangible but merely that of a powerful and evil man over a weak and better man. In interpreting this relationship, the two actors show their worth. Interestingly, the script refers to Burke and Hare, ‘resurrectionists’ who killed people to provide bodies in 1828. One might have thought the story to be inspired by them, but it cleverly uses them, rather, as inspiration for Gray’s actions.

The direction by Wise (whose versatility also would bring audiences The Haunting, The Andromeda Strain and The Sound of Music) is, as may be expected, above average. It is atmospheric and gives the impression of unknown danger lurking around every corner and in every shadow. There are a number of effective moments, such as the unseen murder of a street-singer.

There are a few problems, though none ruins the movie. Foremost is the matter of accents. Though taking place in Scotland’s capital, none of the major players speaks with a local accent. MacFarlane has refined English speech (he may have been schooled in England, though Edinburgh was one of the leading centres of medicine, especially teaching medicine at that time); Gray speaks like a Cockney stranded in the far north of the British Isles, and Fettes might as well be from upper New York state: Wade doesn’t even attempt an accent. At least Lugosi’s character announces his Continental origins in his Continental speech.

Nonetheless, The Body Snatcher is a very good thriller, with fine performances, an engaging script and a creepy atmosphere.