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.

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.

"Bedlam" (RKO Radio, 1946), directed by Mark Robson and produced by Val Lewton, is an underrated gem that expertly combines factual material and horror elements.

In a story set in 18th century London at St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum (BEDLAM) for the insane, Boris Karloff stars as Master George Sims, the head warden of the asylum who specializes with his own techniques of sadistic therapy. Then comes Nell Bowen (Anna Lee), a nurse who comes the asylum only to learn of the cruel treatments of the inmates, and because she plans to expose these inadequate conditions, Sims, feeling she knows too much for her own good, and with the help of the committee board, has her declared insane confined within the walls of a hellish nightmare for which she is surrounded by screaming patients and the watching of waving hands churning in and out between the bars from the cells through dark corridors. At first she sits there motionless, trying to ignore what's happening around her, but Miss Bowen decides not give in to Sims' methods by going completely insane herself. Eventually this strong-willed woman tries to work along with the patients to improve conditions and their self esteem, with the hope that she will eventually see release. But when Sims learns of what she is trying to do, he comes up with some other plans to break her.

As with most previous Val Lewton's psychological horror films, "Bedlam" starts off slowly, and with the help of an intelligent and worthwhile script, the story then moves briskly until its harrowing climax. There are no real scenes of suffering presented on screen but the story suggests sufficient misery, which is what makes the Lewton films so different from other films of its day. Aside from Paramount's rarely seen 1935 production of "Private Worlds" starring Claudette Colbert, "Bedlam" predates the even more popular but then controversial drama about mental institutions, "The Snake Pit" (20th Century-Fox, 1948) which starred Olivia De Havilland, but until then, little has been dealt on screen with such controversial topics.

Although Karloff offers one of his best on screen menacing characterizations, with Anna Lee coming a close second in one of her finer movie roles up to that time, the supporting cast of not-too-familiar names, which consists of Billy House (Lord Mortimer); Richard Fraser (William Hannay); Jason Robards Sr. (Oliver Todd, an alcoholic sent to the institution to sober up); and Elizabeth Russell (a regular in several Val Lewton productions), should not go unnoticed. Veteran character TV actress Ellen Corby can also be seen briefly as one of the asylum patients known as The Queen of Antichokes!

Val Lewton, whose unique style of story telling and horror, is said to have made little impression with critics in the 1940s, but seeing these movies today, they are considered rediscovered masterpieces. Of the nine psychological thrillers Lewton produced at RKO, "The Body Snatcher" (1945), which also starred Karloff, is regarded the finest of them all. The occasionally underrated "Bedlam" not only became Karloff's third collaboration with Lewton, but the end of the line for them both in the RKO horror unit. As for Lewton, he moved on to produce films for other studios, but none recaptured his psychological mood and style. Thanks to frequent revivals on television and later video cassette distributions, the Lewton thrillers made from 1942 to 1946, can be seen, studied and appreciated by each new generation of horror movie enthusiasts.

On the plus side, from what I can observe, "Bedlam" appears accurate in every detail in sets, costumes and background. "Bedlam," which formerly played on cable's American Movie Classics for many years, can be seen occasionally on Turner Classic Movies, especially during the month of October in honor of Halloween, but it's worth seeing on all counts, especially during the cold, gloomy rainy afternoon or evening to set the mood of fear. What's even more harrowing is that since this movie is based on fact, it makes one wonder how many people have been sent to an nonreturnable horror who didn't need to be there? (***)

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.

This film is yet another outstanding example of Karloff during his time at RKO. I find this film to be eerie and genuinely disturbing, when one sees inside the mental institution. Although Karloff gives a fine performance, my own particular favourite here has to be Anna Lee as Nell, who appeared later as the nosy neighbour in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" It is such a tragedy that so many similar films of the period have been lost due to decay of the archives. Luckily, this one has survived, and my advice is to see it if you get the chance.