Bedlam (1946)

The final of producer Val Lewton's trilogy with Karloff, as well as the formers last horror film period. Inspired by the last panel in 18th century artist William Hogarth's 'A Rake's Progress', Bedlam concerns Bedlam, also known as the Bethlem Royal Hospital, a London facility founded in 1247 and the worlds oldest mental hospital. Throughout much of its history Bedlam was known for the poor conditions under which its charges were kept, something aptly illustrated in the Hogarth panel. The story here is an original composition from the time the movie was made, but it plays like its source material was native to the time in which it was set, namely 1761. The dialogue feels fantastically period, and the story one you can imagine coming from a historical novel.

The central figure of the story is Nell Bowen (Anna Lee), an actress who has become the kept women (but because of the production code a chaste one) of the wealthy and rotund Lord Mortimer (Billy House). When an acquaintance of Mortimer's dies trying to escape from Bedlam, which in this movie goes by the fictionalized name of  St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum, the apothecary general Master George Sims (played by Karloff, and a fictionalized version of real Bedlam head physician John Monro) decides to make it up to him by having some of the inmates put on a play for Mortimer and his guests (in real life as in the film, the wealthy could pay money to go inside and "gawk at the loonies"). During the 'play' one of the patients/performers dies as a result of having his whole body covered in sparkling gold makeup. This is too much for Nell, who with the help of a sympathetic Quaker (Richard Fraser) and the real period Whig politician John Wilkes (Leyland Hodgson) trys to reform the asylum. Sims is threatened by this an cooks up a story which allows him to commit Nell to the asylum. Nell is at first horrified, but in time comes to serve her fellow inmates in Florance Nightingale type capacity. Fearing what Nell will do when she is eventually released Sims plots on inflicting a server "treatment" on her, but will the other inmates stand for it.

This is a really good, unusual story, well made and interesting. These characters feel more literary then cinematic, the historical setting is very well pulled off, and the subject matter reasonably enlightening. A strong note for the horror films of Val Lewton to go out on. Also Anna Lee's got a very strong, commanding, but still feminine face that serves her quite well in this role. ***1/2