Scream Factory's gives a great treatment of The Body Snatcher, giving fans of the genre a look at one of Boris Karloff's best performances. With their upcoming Karloff/Lugosi collection coming out in a few months, this is definitely one to add.
“A literary classic becomes a horror classic at the hands of masters Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Val Lewton!
Screen icon Boris Karloff plays the title role in the Val Lewton adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatcher, directed with subtle calculation by versatile Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound of Music). A doctor (Henry Daniell, The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake) needs cadavers for medical studies and Karloff is willing to provide them … one way or another. The film also features a wonderful supporting performance by fellow horror icon Bela Lugosi.”
When you hear the name Boris Karloff, you immediately think of his most iconic role as Frankenstein’s Monster. As great of a performance he gives in that film, we never get to really see what he’s capable of in the more traditional sense of acting. In The Body Snatcher, Karloff plays Cabman John Gray, responsible for illegally obtaining bodies of the dead and selling them to Dr. MacFarlane (Henry Daniell), who uses them for study and for teaching at his medical school. The story itself is fictionally connected to the Burke and Hare murders, when these two men began murdering people to obtain bodies to sell, as the law prohibited the use of any body to be used for medical research except those of prisoners, suicide victims and orphans. Karloff and the Doctor were connected to these men and never linked to the murders, thus Karloff holds this over the Doctor’s head for most of his life, continuing to provide bodies via graverobbing, always on the cusp of a threat to turn Dr. MacFarlane in.
The conflict between Dr. MacFarlane and John Gray is brilliant. Dr. MacFarlane convinced his grave robbing tactics are just in the name of medical science, but still shameful of the lengths he has to go to and the people he must associate with, namely John Gray. Gray takes advantage of the situation and calls on Dr. MacFarlane often, even socially, referring to him as Toddy as his most intimate friends call him. Although Dr. MacFarlane detests this, he must put up with it in order to continue getting bodies to use for study. This conflict builds and eventually comes to a chilling head with a suspenseful encounter between them. The one caught in the middle: Donald Fettes (Russell Wade), a student of Dr. MacFarlane who has been made assistant, protesting the new knowledge he’s gained about the source of the corpses. As he wrestles with his conscience, he befriends a woman and her young child who is bound to a wheelchair after an accident. Although Dr. MacFarlane has been recommended as her only hope, he is unwilling to perform the operation without a body to study. Fettes provides the more rational character torn between his beliefs and his desire to help people. Bela Lugosi has a very small role in the film as Joseph, a janitor of sorts who is always lurking in dark corners to hear any information he can use to his advantage. When he proposes a deal to John Gray, it ends with another amazing and thrilling sequence of these two horror icons squaring off with one another.
Karloff is absolutely brilliant in this film, giving a performance rivaling the classically trained actors opposite him. Smartly written, funny in a morbid sense, this film has Karloff at his best in a frightening role that will still deliver shivers up your spine today.
Video
The Body Snatcher is presented in 1080p High Definition 1.33:1 and features a new 4k scan of the original camera negative. This transfer looks exceptional, it’s hard to believe this is a 74-year-old film. Everything is very detailed and clear, with grain kept at a manageable level. There are a few moments that seem somewhat blurred, but these are very few and far between, with the majority of the film looking quite good.
Audio
The audio is presented in DTS-Master Audio Mono. The track sounds fine for what it is, with nothing exceptional about it nor any defects noticed.
Special Features
The set has some great features, including a new featurette as well as an older one, filled with information that fans of the genre will love.
- NEW 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative
- NEWYou’ll Never Get Rid Of Me: Resurrecting THE BODY SNATCHER Featurette
- Audio Commentary With Director Robert Wise And Writer/Film Historian Steve Haberman
- Documentary – Shadows In The Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
- Still Galleries – Posters, Lobby Cards, Movie Stills
The Body Snatcher highlights one of Boris Karloff’s best performances that isn’t The Monster, with great direction by Robert Wise. Scream Factory gives this a great treatment, and with the upcoming Karloff/Lugosi collection from them coming out in a few months, this film is a must for fans of these horror icons and the genre.
