Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces (2014)
Movie
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces is a 2014 feature-length compilation of deleted and extended scenes...
Bolted Global Podcast
Podcast
Mike Foyle presents Bolted, the freshest in trance and progressive music from accross the globe....
The Long Arm of Lee: The History of the Artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia: Volume 2: Chancellorsville to Appomattox
Gary W. Gallagher and Jennings Cropper Wise
Book
Originally published in 1915, when Jennings Cropper Wise was commandant of the Virginia Military...
The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds
Book
'By far the best book this year, brilliant, discursive and wise' BEN GOLDACRE. The strange tale of...
Good Night, And Good Luck (2005)
Movie Watch
Good Night, And, Good Luck takes place during the early days of broadcast journalism in 1950s...
The World According to Noddy: Life Lessons Learned in and Out of Rock & Roll
Book
What makes Noddy Holder tick? Godfather of glam, national treasure and thinking grandmother's...
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
Movie Watch
The price of honor. The power of friendship. THE KARATE KID, Part II. Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki...
Dumfries House: An Architectural Story
Book
On 18 July 1754, William Crichton Dalrymple, the 5th Earl of Dumfries, laid the foundation stone of...
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Body Snatcher (1945) in Movies
Oct 17, 2020
The plot: Dr. Toddy MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) needs cadavers for his medical experiments, ultimately intended to treat a young disabled girl. However, they are not easy to come by, so he enlists the help of taxi driver John Gray (Boris Karloff) and his assistant, Joseph (Bela Lugosi), to unearth bodies from the cemetery. When Donald (Russell Wade), Dr. MacFarlane's assistant, recognizes one of the corpses Gray delivers, the true source of the bodies is called into question.
It is based on the short story "The Body Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film's producer Val Lewton helped adapt the story for the screen, writing under the pen name of "Carlos Keith". The film was marketed with the tagline "The screen's last word in shock sensation!" The frequent mentions of Burke, Hare, and Dr. Knox, all refer to the West Port murders in 1828.
The Body Snatcher was one of three films that Boris Karloff did with RKO Radio Pictures from 1945 to 1946, which were produced by Val Lewton. The other two films were Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946).
Bela Lugosi, who became famous with another Universal classic, Dracula (1931), also signed a deal with RKO. Lewton and MacDonald eventually wrote a small role for him; it became the last film Lugosi and Karloff made together.
Robert Wise – later best-known for his work in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), West Side Story (1961), The Sound of Music (1965), and The Sand Pebbles (1966) – was assigned to direct the film. Longtime film editor at RKO, he had replaced the original director on The Curse of the Cat People (1944) when it fell behind schedule and Lewton, who produced it, decided to promote him to his superiors.
Its a excellent film.
West Side Story by Stephen Sondheim
Album
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of West Side Story, one of the best-loved musicals of all time,...