Val Lewton - Body Snatcher/I Walked with a Zombie/Cat People. Final thoughts

 

Karloff left behind Universal and into one of his all-time best parts as sinister body snatching Cabman Gray, with a Cheshire cat grin (right before devouring the canary in one ferocious gulp), sly, conniving mind, and cold-blooded acts of murder. He can charm but behind his smile is ultimately developing cruelty or a desire to prey on a certain prestigious doctor/teacher in Edinburgh, Dr. MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) for the coin (and fun tormenting him), mocking him with the nickname, “Toddy”. Gray lords over Dr. MacFarlane the receipts of corpses for study and research, is in the pub, riding along in his cab with his white horse, or at the basement looking for his hush money. Dr. Knox, known for the many murdered bodies brought to him by notorious Burke and Hare, was MacFarlane’s mentor (and MacFarlane party to his research and studies with those victims brought to him), so Gray has his secret and uses it like a knife that cuts and cuts (Gray went to a witness stand never revealing Toddy’s identity, later blackmailing him with such knowledge).

 

Director Wise, at such a young age, really built up his stock with films such as “The Body Snatcher” (1945). The use of darkness, in terms of Edinburgh at night in 1831, not just in aesthetic but also in the deeds of Cabman Gray and also MacFarlane, how actions have consequences and the past never quite leaves you. Val Lewton, the great producer who did much with very little, had this incredible resume in the 40s he left behind and some very talented directors behind the camera. Karloff, to his credit, realized he needed a fresh coat of paint for his career, and playing off Daniell, with his tortured doctor who just wanted rid of Gray, couldn’t have had a better dance partner. Daniell with his stern, austere countenance, a genius with a frustration for laws against using bodies for dissection, hampered and irritated by Gray, a poor cabbie living in an urban dump behind a stable who thrives in bothering his “old buddy”, the two of them have real magic in the film. It was building to the big struggle, obviously near the end, and Wise effectively uses rain and lightning at the conclusion with that nagging haunted voice of Gray calling to MacFarlane in the horse carriage.

“The Body Snatcher” has the distinction of Lugosi and Karloff’s final film together, but despite having second billing, Lugosi’s part is minuscule. By this point, Lugosi is in decline, far from the debonair, commanding leading star of the previous decade and as a fan who loves him, it is so hard to watch, personally. In pro wrestling terms, Lugosi is “squashed” by Karloff, a “jobber” to Karloff’s far superior character. Lugosi is a janitor at MacFarlane’s home, school, and estate with a snooping, spying nature. Lugosi looks to get whatever goods he can in order to make a little coin on the side, and when he hopes to blackmail Karloff, he is liquored up and suffocated. Karloff bowls Lugosi over in a chair as a roaring fire lights up the little apartment, pressing his hands over the janitor’s nose and mouth, practically covering his entire face. You could almost look at this from a symbolic standpoint of one’s career overwhelming / overcoming the other, even though comparing the two is often something horror fans who love this era do more than anyone else. While Karloff would make “Isle of the Dead” and “Bedlam”, two excellent Val Lewton productions, Lugosi’s work was with Ed Wood, whose enthusiasm and passion for making movies couldn’t quite equal talent or skill…and Karloff, whether kismet or luck, found his way out of a rather disappointing 50s into Roger Corman films in the 60s. Admittedly, a fan never wants to focus his or her energies on the downward spiral or period in their hero’s life and career, so I choose to remember Lugosi when at his best…“The Raven” (1935) or “Son of Frankenstein” (1939), when Lugosi outshone Karloff instead of vice versa. I realize that many love those Wood films with Lugosi but I have a hard time watching “Bride of the Monster” where he’s clearly very sickly and not well. So for the exception of Lugosi’s unflattering role in “The Body Snatcher”, I choose to recognize what it does extremely well, such as the emphasis on just how vile and evil Gray is (the infamous “silencing” of the lovely and poor street singer, delivering Lugosi’s body for MacFarlane to be reminded of what he’s capable of, and insidious revelry in how he’ll always be there never to leave him alone), how browbeaten and cuckolded MacFarlane is (he is gung-ho to dissect bodies instead of worry about Gray being reported for his grisly activities, while his soft-spoken, meek, influential student, Fettes (Russell Wade) becomes quite guilt-stricken with it all), and the build up to a paralyzed little girl’s surgery and ability to walk again (MacFarlane wouldn’t perform it, vowed to his teaching of young men until Fettes, with “assistance” and “persuasion” from Gray, convinces him to). But the battle of wills between Gray and MacFarlane, with the Burke and Hare murders fresh on the minds while Knox escaped without prosecution for his role, is the emotional center of the film. And no better two actors could have filled those roles. Don’t want to fail to mention Edith Atwater as MacFarlane’s wife and maid (his “shame” of being her husband keeps the outside public from knowing she is married to him), very much in the loop in regards to knowing Gray’s ties to her husband, helpless to save him.

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I was looking back at other Octobers and I have talked extensively about “I Walked with a Zombie” & “The Cat People”. I basically didn’t know if the Val Lewton films would be covered this year for the last time on the blog as I have many other classics, but I have covered the “big three” (well, to many fans of the producer and his RKO slate of horror films) extensively. Reason I have is because the Lewton films really have this quality about them that just wraps me in their presentation, especially, but with subtlety, elegance, and tapped into the humanity of the characters in every film. How Frances Dee (as Betsy in “I Walked with a Zombie”) internally battles with her love for Tom Conway’s Paul Holland, although communicated to us through narration (we hear how she feels) while trying to find whatever way she can to “bring back” his wife whose mind is seemingly lost. The servants and sugar workers in West Indies very understated but occasionally opting to either communicate to Betsy what happened to the “zombie” of the film in regards to a brother’s quarrel over her or offering to help use voodoo to “recover” the mind. And the film submits bits of data to Betsy over the running time, regarding why the Jessica Holland (Christine Gordon) is in her mind state, last ditch efforts to bring back what is lost, and once visiting the voodoo practitioners in ceremony (the Hollands’ mother, a nurse, Mrs. Rand (Edith Barrett) tries to persuade Betsy against wasting her time, later admitting it was her who wanted Jessica “punished”). It doesn’t overtly clunk you over the head with anything and isn’t overwhelming in the melodrama of its love triangle but offers this mood piece that is very level-tempered, with no big, robust score although a lot happened before Betsy ever arrived to the West Indies to take care of Jessica as a nurse. She just wants to make the melancholic Paul happier while his brother, Wesley Rand (James Ellison), tries to booze ply as much booze into his system as possible to escape his misery. Even when the drama is at its greatest peak (those together practicing voodoo calling Jessica to them, with Darby Jones’ “god” looking to secure her before Mrs. Rand stopped him with a demand to return home, as Wesley desires to kill Jessica because he wanted her to have peace), nothing is bloated or extravagant. And that is the same for “Cat People”. There is another love triangle and one within it is eventually removed from the film as Simone Simon’s Irena, burdened by a curse that doesn’t allow her to be affectionate with someone she loves, leaving her eventual husband, Oliver (Kent Smith), to follow his path towards fellow co-worker and close friend, Alice (Jane Randolph). Irena wants to be with Oliver sexually, but her curse won’t allow it, as we see what happens when her psychiatrist, Dr. Judd (Conway again) attempts to be intimate with her. The Val Lewton way is implying a lot without necessarily just being confrontational in its subject matter. Oliver desires Irena and the sexual tension and lack of real intimacy is communicated. Not being able to show Oliver how she feels, crying in a tub, and Alice being able to which drives Irena towards possibly hurting her (the classic pool scene and Oliver and Alice together when the panther is prowling near) are touches that give you information but not bluntly impacting you for melodramatic effect. I guess that the style of Lewton productions isn’t only elegant but also the storytelling is. It is just a very mature style of filmmaking that went for a different approach from the Universal monster movies…and that isn’t a bad thing. I like different approaches in my horror. And that Lewton and his team had to get as much as they could with not a hell of lot is commendable.