La Chambre des Horreurs

True, the film is from horror-meister Val Lewton and stars that icon of fright, Boris Karloff; yet, beneath the credits lurks an insistent glimpse into 18th century social conscience. Apparently the film failed on release. That's not surprising since the script hews closely to what Hollywood would consider elevated speech of that day, which sounds a lot like drawing-room Shakespeare. I expect audiences turned away in droves-- Lewton was always an unsteady mix of the frightful and the literary.

Nonetheless, the story line does much to balance out the conventional conclusion. At first, the gross Billy House comes across like a sadistic nobleman who considers grim death little more than amusing party entertainment. But then we find he's simply typical of his titled class for whom commoners exist mainly to be used. If we condemn him, then we must condemn the class from which he springs. At first, Anna Lee appears to be House's arrogant plaything, elevated from the common herd by House's eye for a quick wit and a pretty face, (implausibly, the script implies her companionship doesn't extend to the bedroom).

But Lee can't suppress her natural sympathies despite the privileged standing. She turns against her benefactor and House's cruel right arm, the chief apothecary of the Bedlam madhouse, the redoubtable Karloff. Her ally and conscience, in a poorly performed part, is Richard Fraser as a free man and pacifist Quaker. Together they challenge the inhumane conditions locked into place by the conniving Karloff and the uncaring House.

Now, much of this can be read as political allegory with House standing in for decadent nobility, Karloff as his Machiavellian enforcer, Lee as the collaborator turned fiery reformer, and Fraser as the principled free man foreshadowing the rise of the productive class and the American revolution. The "loonies" compose the most damaged and victimized of the commoners, while their "trial proceeding" shows a repressed potential among even the most benighted. In short, there's a strong carry-over of Progressive reformism in this 1946 production.

One scene in particular suggests the film's underlying ambition. Karloff is being tried before the inmates he has so callously abused. Ordinarily a horror script would simply assume Karloff' wicked nature. Here, however, he confesses to the fear he feels at losing his standing in the class hierarchy should he not flatter those on the rungs above and demean those on the rungs below. As a scholar, his position is necessarily an ambiguous and perilous one. So he takes the easy way out, in effect selling his soul to the undeserving House in return for a measure of power and prestige. Thus he is exposed not as a monster, but as a weak man simply overcome by an understandable fear-- which is not your usual horror-level motivation behind wicked behavior.

Allegories aside, the performances are excellent, with the exception of Fraser. Lee's and Karloff's verbal sparring in House's bed chamber amounts to a minor masterpiece of upper-crust sarcasm. In fact, the attractive but unglamorous Lee remains persuasive throughout. House too adds considerable color, as does the venerable Ian Wolfe as the loony lawyer, along with the small uncredited boy who manages some characterization as House's well-upholstered attendant.

This may not be cult-favorite Lewton's best or scariest film. But it does show real heart, along with the usual number of intelligent Lewton touches.

If you're watching a classic horror movie and you see the words 'produced by Val Lewton' sprawled across your screen, you know that you're in for a great movie! While Bedlam doesn't represent Lewton's best work, or even his best collaboration with the great Boris Karloff, it's still a great atmospheric horror film. The story takes place in an eighteenth century 'Looney bin' called "Bedlam", and stars Karloff as the apothecary general. Lunatic asylums make for great settings for horror movies, especially when they're set in the time period that this one is set in. Nowadays, hospitals are more geared towards helping the patients; but back then, they weren't; making the setting more horrifying and therefore riper for a horror movie. The plot sees a young woman who becomes concerned at the way the patients are being treated at Bedlam. After trying to get the asylum to reform their practices, the powers that be decide to have her committed in order to save themselves money and stop her revealing how badly the patients are treated.

As usual with Lewton, the film breathes a thick and foreboding atmosphere and this is the main star of the show. The atmosphere is complimented by a nice story which, although there's maybe slightly too much talking, plays out well and features a great ending that is seething with irony. Mark Robson isn't as great as the other directors that Lewton has worked with; Jacques Tourneur and Robert Wise, but he knows his stuff and the three films that he made with Lewton, while falling somewhat short to the others', are still nice horror movies. The Body Snatcher will remain the finest collaboration between Karloff and Lewton - but that film was exceptional and the fact that this one doesn't live up to it isn't a commentary on it's quality. Karloff himself puts in another awesome performance and his screen presence combines with his mannerisms to create an eerie performance from the great horror legend. This film comes with high recommendations from yours truly. I'm a big fan of Lewton, and after seeing a number of his films; I don't see how anyone couldn't be.

Master George Sims runs the famous mental asylum Bedlam for his own personal amusement – using the inmates for his own ends (such as entertaining powerful guests) even if it means his patients die as a result; although even when they do, it matters naught to Sims or his political peers. However the arrival of Nell Bowen with Lord Mortimer exposes Sims to his first critical voice as she tries to reform the asylum to actual treat the patients rather than abuse them. Although Sims can initially control her by pushing the right political buttons on Mortimer, she continues to strive for change and Sims is forced to take further steps to protect his cruel way of life.

A strange mix of well-written dialogue with some comic touches, a solid story, an interesting debate and chiller; however I think those that are disappointed in the film tend to put to much onus on the latter rather than the former qualities. I agree that the film really does fall flat when it comes to drawing the horror and tension out Nell's imprisonment but there was enough going on to cover for it. The early stages are quite light, with flowing dialogue and some moments of wit that are enjoyable and offer a bit of menace just below the surface where I'd hoped it would gradually be revealed as more. Sadly in the second half this menace didn't come out enough and it wasn't as chilling as I would have liked. Despite this it is still interesting and is a polished film that is very engaging.

The basic story is simple enough and the debate over Sim's methods versus the "Quaker lies" is a nice addition despite it always falling on the side of Nell. The dialogue contains too many "thee's" and "thou's" for its own good but it is still nicely poetic and flows well, adding to the classy feel of the film. With these words the cast mostly stand up well to it. Karloff has fun with the words and enjoys mixing intelligent wit with his usual brand of menace. Lee is good despite being a bit too liberal for her won good, although she gets off better than Fraser, who stumbles across nearly every word he has to say and comes across about as natural as PVC. Hodgson, House and others all give good support but mostly the film is best when Karloff and Lee are on screen together.

Overall not a chiller or horror by any means, although you can see why people expect it to be. However it is still a professional period piece that flows well with the dialogue and most of the actors to produce an enjoyable story that is worth seeing.

Boris Karloff stars as a sinister administrator of an asylum in the 18th century, who manages to manipulate a socially conscious young, and sane woman (Anna Lee) to be placed under his care.

Karloff is reliable as always,and Lee's character, while she can be somewhat ignorant of the mentally ill, does eventually realize that even the mentally ill are human beings and should be treated as such.

The movie doesn't seem to me so much a horror film, as much as a commentary on how insane asylums were run and the inmates treated in those days. But I think the movie falls a bit short on that. I realize that, because of the times and the Code, they couldn't show all the true horrors that went on in the mental wards in those days, but the inmates in here aren't actually shown to be mistreated all that much, save for being locked in a cage or chained to a wall.

Still the film is watchable, and Karloff makes it so.

There aren't many films that feature the mentally ill in institutions. One of the most famous is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But that was mild compared to seeing how they existed in the 16th Century.

It wasn't too much better in the United States, and this created the push to Community Mental health instead of institutions. It was too easy in these facilities to abuse and neglect patients, and it was also too easy, as illustrated in the film, for families to quietly get rid of unwanted wives or barriers to wealth.

Boris Karloff is excellent in his role as the warden and the film does manage to keep from being too morose with attempts at humor, and what is probably a prettier picture of the institution that really existed.

Anna Lee, probably better known as Lila Quartermaine on "Port Charles" and "General Hospital," did a very good job as someone who was taken aback by the conditions at Bedlam and fought for reform to the point that she, herself, was committed. She then worked from within to defeat Karloff, and manged to endear herself to the residents to the point that the film had a really great ending.