Hot Picks
|
|
|
Bedlam
USA 1946
produced by Val Lewton, Jack J. Gross (executive) for RKO
directed by Mark Robson
starring Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House, Richard Fraser, Glen Vernon, Ian Wolfe, Jason Robards sr, Leyland Hodgson, Joan Newton, Elizabeth Russell, Vic Holbrook, Skelton Knaggs, John Beck, Frankie Dee, Hamilton Camp, Robert Clarke, Harry Harvey, Foster H. Phinney, Robert Seiter, Larry Wheat, Ellen Corby, John Goldsworthy, Bruce Edwards, Victor Travis
screenplay by Carlos Keith (= Val Lewton), Mark Robson, suggested by the painting Bedlam Plate #8 - The Rake's Progress by William Hogarth, music by Roy Webb
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
The UK, the 1700s: Young Nell (Anna Lee) lives a comfortable enough
life as the protégée of Lord Mortimer (Billy House), and the lord isn't
really too demanding as long as she brings laughter to his home. Then
though, as a lark, she goes on a tour through Bedlam asylum - and the poor
condition the inmates have to live in concern her dearly. So she tries to
improve things in Bedlam, to the extent that she makes Lord Mortimer try
to use his influence on the asylum's evil head, Master Sims (Boris
Karloff). Sims though is much too clever to be cornered by the girl, and
thus promises reforms - that would hit Lord Mortimer rather dearly in
terms of taxes. When Lord Mortimer backs out, Nell tries, with the help of
her as-good-as-boyfriend, quaker Hannay (Richard Fraser), to secure the
support of radical journalist/politician John Wilkes (Leyland Hodgson),
who's more than interested in Nell's cause - but has a myriad of other
things on his plate as well. However, when Lord Mortimer learns - from
Sims, no less - that Nell has sought help from Wilkes, he's easily
persuaded by Sims to have her declared insane and thrown into Bedlam.
Bedlam almost breaks Nell, if it wasn't for Sims who comes by every once
in a while to gloat and mock her - and especially his mockery makes her
see what she can do to improve conditions, even while on the inside, by
simply using common compassion. Seeing he has created an angel in his own
asylum makes Sims mad enough to lock her into a cell with the most violent
of inmates, Tom (Vic Holbrook) which should have been a death warrant, but
with compassion Nell manages to tame even him. And eventually, she can
instigate the other inmates to put Sims on trial, a trial that almost
certainly won't end too well for Sims ... During his short time
with RKO, Val Lewton has produced some of the most memorable horror
movies of the era, and Cat People
and I Walked with a Zombie
most readily spring to mind, though there were more. Bedlam was the
last movie he ever produced for the studio - and frankly not of the best
ones. That said, the film's heart is in exactly the right place and the
film's cause sure enough commendable. What the film lacks though is
subtlety: Good and evil are just too easily discernable (despite Boris
Karloff playing his villain as suave as possible), the film's cause is
just too straight-forward and the heroine just too unwaivering - all of
which makes the whole thing very much on-your-nose. That's not to say this
is necessarily a bad film, it's still a well-crafted period drama that's
heavy on atmosphere and boasts some very fine acting. It just at the same
time feels a little routine, especially when compared with Lewton's
earlier genre efforts.
|
|
|