The Body Snatcher (1945)

20k jpg of Joseph and Gray the cabman in The Body Snatcher

MacFarlane, a well-respected doctor in 1831 Edinburgh, needs cadavers for the students in his medical school, and a low-life named Gray provides them. Fettes, an idealistic young student, discovers this and investigates, finding still more secrets between MacFarlane and Gray.

Director: Robert Wise. Assistant Director: Harry Scott. Script: Philip MacDonald, Carlos Keith. Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Photography: Robert de Grasse. Editor: J.R. Whittredge. Art Directors: Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller. Set Decorators: Darrell Silvera, John Sturtevant. Music: Roy Webb. Musical Director: C. Bakaleinikoff. Songs: 'We'd Better Bide a Wee', 'When Ye Gang Awa', 'Jamie', 'Will Ye No Come Back Again' (all sung by Street Singer), 'Spit Song' (Boy), 'Bonnie Dundee' (sung by quartet of men). Costumes: Renie. Sound Recordist: Bailey Fesler. Sound Re-recordist: Terry Kellum.

Boris Karloff (Gray), Bela Lugosi (Joseph), Henry Daniell (MacFarlane), Edith Atwater (Meg), Russell 4Wade (Fettes), Rita Corday (Mrs. Marsh), Sharyn Moffett (Georgina), Donna Lee (Street Singer), Robert Clarke (Richardson), Carl Kent (Gilchrist), Jack Welch (Boy), Larry Wheat (Salesman), Mary Gordon (Mrs. Mary McBride), Jim Moran (Horse Trader), Aina Constant (Maid), Bill Williams (Medical Student).

Notes:

• The final teaming of Karloff and Lugosi. Actually, the screenplay didn't initially contain Bela Lugosi's Joseph character. The smallish part was added on at the studio's insistence specifically to take advantage of the publicity power of having the pair together.
• Movie scholar Leslie Halliwell, in Halliwell's Film Guide, calls this "The best of the Lewton thrillers."
• Carlos Keith (co-writer) is a pseudonym for Val Lewton. Although he contributed to the writing of all his projects, Lewton didn't want to take screen credit for it, fearing that it might look like just a producer using his power to take more credit than he had earned. But in this case, he did so much that the other writers demanded that he take responsibility.
• In order to be different from this movie's title, the words "Invasion of" were added to the title of the 1956 SF movie which was based on another story called The Body Snatchers.
• The story (movie and book) is a blend of fiction built on fact. The real-life Burke and Hare were grave-robbers employed by respected Dr. Knox. In 1829 they were caught. Hare gave king's evidence and was run out of town after implicating the team in 18 murders to help business, and Burke was hanged. Knox, being a prominent gentleman, took relatively little damage and later moved to London where he continued his life as a wealthy, respected physician.
• Many of the movie's sets were adapted from the standing sets of RKO's 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
• British censors cut The Body Snatcher heavily before allowing it to be released in that country. They removed shots from the film's climax, reducing its impact (I won't go into details to avoid spoilers) and also removed references to Burke and Hare including the little ditty that Karloff sings to Lugosi.
• Etext of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher, from the Gaslight mailing list, devoted to discussion of stories about mystery, adventure, or the weird written in 1919 or earlier.
• Richard Dury's Robert Louis Stevenson Home Page.
• The AFI OnLine tribute to Robert Wise has pages on The Body Snatcher with pictures, film clips, and much information.

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