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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perhaps the Greatest Horror Film Of All Time, September 18, 2003
For those of you who love great horror films from the Golden Age of Hollywood, you must purchase a copy of producer Val Lewton's and director Robert Wise's eerie 1944 screen adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, "The Body Snatcher." The ghoulish character of Cabman John Gray is perhaps the most unnerving, sinsister portrayal in Boris Karloff's long and great career. Loosely based on the real life story of grave robbers and murderers Burke and Hare who stole cadavers (and then produced even more corpses by murdering innocent men and women) for the esteemed mid-19th century Edinborough surgeon John Knox, this film is a tour-de-force of Lewton's legendary shadow and suggestion production techniques and Wise's deft directorial touch. But most of all it is Karloff at his menacing, spine-chilling best as the sinister John Gray who drives a horse and buggy cab by day but who, once the sun goes down, heads out into the foggy Scottish night in search of "bodies" with which to supply the surgeon Toddy McFarland. Both men were old friends and colleagues of Knox many years earlier when they, along with the famous surgeon and his cadaver suppliers Burke and Hare, were put on trial for murder. But whereas Knox and McFarland escaped justice unscathed, Gray took the rap by protecting both Knox and Gray on the witness stand. Now Gray refuses to allow McFarland to forget the fact that his life and reputation were ruined by mob justice. McFarland is played flawlessly by the great yet underrated British actor Henry Daniell. Daniell is excellent in portraying the virtually unfeeling and amoral Doctor McFarland, whose approach to the advancement of medical science leaves much to be desired in human terms. Indeed, Daniel's understated characterization of the self-righteous Dr. McFarland is almost as chilling as Karloff's Cabman Gray. When McFarland learns that the "redoubtable" John Gray is no longer simply grave robbing but murdering to keep his business with McFarland alive, he tries to bribe Gray out of his life and out of the city of Edinborough. When the spiteful and vengeful Gray refuses to accept McFarland's bribes and threats, McFarland decides to "rid myself of Gray once and for all." I won't tell you the haunting final thirty minutes of this extraordinary horror classic. Let's just say its ending may be unrivaled in the history of the horror genre. No better use of nightmarish atmosphere was ever accomplished on film. Also on hand is the always wonderful Bela Lugosi, in more or less a cameo role, as the great actor was now in ill health. Yet even in a relatively minor role Bela lends additional ghoulishness to this already disturbing film. All of Lewton's films were genre classics that depended not on blood or gore, but rather on suspenseful and haunting atmospheres created through the use of shadowy photography, eerie lighting, and even eerier quietness at the tensest of moments. Purchase a copy of "The Body Snatcher" for Halloween. You'll remember Daniell's "Toddy McFarland" and Karloff's "John Gray" long after you've viewed the film. Happy Halloween.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic Horror Film, March 10, 2002
By A Customer
A great tale of the macabre world of doctors who arrange for the pilfering of graveyards for dead bodies to be used in medical dissection, this film is not terrifying so much as it is creepy.
Set in Scotland in the 1830's, this is classic Hollywood horror. The tension of the story itself sets you on edge, rather than the gory special effects which are commonplace today. Although Boris Karloff was the box office draw when this film was released in 1945, with Bela Lugosi playing a lesser supporting role, the one who made the movie for me was Henry Daniell, the brilliant character actor who plays Dr. MacFarlane, a man torn between conscience and the need to expand the knowledge of the human body available to medical science. Karloff plays the coachman who does MacFarlane's dirty work of graverobbing, a humble footman who relishes the power of the secret he holds over the doctor. MacFarlane sees the graverobbing and Karloff both as necessary evils to be dispensed with at the earliest opportunity, but his old friend the coachman has other plans...
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lewton, Wise, and Karloff at their best., November 10, 2001
Based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, this venerable classic barely qualifies as a horror film, but is excellent in all departments. Surprisingly, it took a long time to be released and received mostly mediocre reviews when finally released! However, it is probably the best film produced by Val Lewton, and Robert Wise proves he was already a fine director at almost the beginning of his career. The atmosphere of early 19th century Edinburgh is fully convincing. Boris Karloff is superb as Gray, cabman by day and body snatcher (occasionally corpse- maker) by night. He rarely had a role better suited to him. Watch for a young Robert Clarke as a medical student.
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