RKO, 1945. Directed by Robert Wise. Starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, and Russell Wade.
It's sometimes hard to dissociate Boris Karloff from his career-making role as Frankenstein. But we believe that there is much more to Karloff as an actor than just his portrayal of the famous monster, and The Body Snatcher is one of the best examples of that. Not to be mistaken with the sci-fi classic The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), this movie is based on a tale by Robert Louis Stevenson and is one of the early works by the great director Robert Wise. It stars Karloff as a shady, cynical man who unearths dead bodies and sells them to a local doctor who uses them for his experiments.
The film is an excellent study of the relationship established between these two characters, and Karloff's performance is, in our opinion, one of the very best of his long career. Bela Lugosi, another actor who was almost always typecast in horror movies after his portrayal of Count Dracula, has a minor role in The Body Snatcher. He and Karloff apparently disliked each other, although they worked side by side in several films, and here they only have a couple of scenes together. Yet the main scene featuring the two of them is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the movie, a powerful, unforgettable clash of two Titans.
Director Robert Wise achieves a very fine contrast of light and shadow throughout the picture, and most of the creepiest scenes are handled with elegance and subtlety. Don't expect a low-quality B-movie like some others that Karloff and Lugosi made; this one is definitely the cream of the crop.
Anton&Erin.
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