Binding: DVD
EAN: 3346030008331
Format: PAL
Region Code: 2
Running Time: 77 minutes
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Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
"It is through error that a man tries and rises. It is through tragedy he learns. All the roads of learning begin in darkness and go out into the light." Hippocrates of Gos
This film has the psychological complexity of a Val Lewton production but is a lot more graphic than most of his productions where he just implies violence. He even takes it out on innocent dogs. I feel that some one was pushing Lewton from behind to be more vicious with this film.
A young student (Russell Wade) wants to become a doctor like the great Dr. Wolfe 'Toddy' MacFarlane (Henry Daniell.) Little does he know what it will entail?
The DVD has a voiceover commentary from the late Director Robert Wise who directed "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music." Surprisingly he said that the original basic script was written by Philip MacDonald.
Rating:  -
After veiwing all nine Val Lewton DVD Horror Collection films, I thought this one - The Body Snatcher - was, by far, the best. It was actually a crime film a lot more than horror and it had a stellar cast.
Henry Daniell, Boris Karloff, Edith Atwater,Russell Wade, Sharyn Moffet and Bela Lugosi all acted well. I had forgotten that Karloff was a decent actor, not just some Frankenstein monster who couldn't deliver a line. He had a creepy voice, too, which lent itself nicely to horror films. I just found him fascinating here.
In addition, this movie had a well-known director, Robert Wise, and the story was adaption of a Robert Louis Steevenson. So, you see, this film had good bloodlines, pun intended. This was not some schlocky Ed Wood B-film. This movie is a high class affair.
A doctor (Daniell), trying to further his knowledge and needing human specimens (dead) to continue his research, has his graveyard supply cut off to him and then has to have his helper (Karloff) kill people to provide him the bodies. Meanwhile, a young and more moral student of the doctor, gets wind of what's happening and doesn't share his mentor's view that the "ends justify the means."
At any rate, this is good one. Like the other Lewton films, it's well- photographed and looks good on DVD.
Rating: -
The Body Snatcher is a wonderful suspense and psychological thriller featuring the horror legends Karloff and Legosi for the seventh and last time together. Henry Daniell as Dr. MacFarlane runs a medical school in his home and uses the recently dead for his experiments and lessons. He acquires the dead from a cabman, John Gray, beautifully played by Karloff, in an ethically repulsive but morally justified business relationship.
The Body Snatcher is excellently directed (by a young Robert Wise) and shot in a simple, dingy, claustrophobic, shadow filled Ediburgh of 1831, and though it features many accents, several American at that, the acting is very taut. The story, by Robert Louise Stevenson plugs along twisting Dr. MacFarlane and Gray more and more to the edges of madness and murder.
This is highly recommended for a smart story, wonderful performances, especially by Boris Karloff and Henry Daniell, sharp images with strong shadows and bleak moods and a terrific ending that is positively Poe-esque.
p.s. Bela Legosi has a featured part as Dr. MacFarlane's servant, shifting about quietly and eavesdropping on the dirty goings-on. He and Karloff have a scene together that, but for it's short length is wonderfully creepy.
Rating: -
a good old Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi movie.
Boris is the bad guy.
If Boris & Bela lovers don't have it, get it.
Rating:  -
This film is based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson. It opens on "Edinburg 1831". A blind woman is singing on the street for pennies. In a cemetery a dog will not leave his master's grave; a safeguard against grave robbers? A woman brings a young girl to see Dr. McFarlan; she has become paralyzed due to a sickness. A student can elicit the answers from this girl. She has a tumor that affects a nerve. But Dr. McFarlan cannot operate on this girl, he is too busy. There is problem in getting cadavers for the medical school. The new assistant gets a new shipment of supplies. Cash and carry, no questions asked, £10 received.
A joke about Burke and Hare shows poor taste. The doctor explains why they need the learning experience: to best educate doctors. There was no anesthesia then, no knowledge of antisepsis. Surgery was followed by cauterization, blood transfusion was unknown. Most of all there was no knowledge of the spinal column. Cabman Gray goes out on the street; he returns with another specimen. Fettis recognizes the body. [Beware of what you wish for?] Dr. McFarlan operates on the little girl, nature will do the healing. But the little girl can't walk. Joseph visits Cabman Gray to ask for money; he gets what he asked for - and more. Now Dr. McFarlan has a new problem. The housemaid reveals her secret, and tells Fettis to leave the house. There is a private interview between Gray and McFarlan [or their stunt doubles]. The cab brings another specimen to McFarlan's house. Georgina can stand to see the white horse! Dr. McFarlan no longer used a contractor for material. But he can't stop thinking about Gray. There is an ironic ending with rough justice to this story.
"Man learns through error" said Hippocrates. This low-budget film warns against science that goes against morality and law using selfishness as the justification. [Was it a warning about those Nazi experiments?] Do we still need warnings like this? The controversy about the use of human embryos goes on. [This film is a simplified version of the crimes of Burke and Hare.]
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