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Bedlam
Bedlam
	Theatrical release poster by William Rose
Directed by	Mark Robson
Written by	William Hogarth (A Rake's Progress); Val Lewton; Mark Robson;
Produced by	Val Lewton
Starring	Boris Karloff; Anna Lee; Billy House;
Cinematography	Nicholas Musuraca
Edited by	Lyle Boyer
Music by	Roy Webb
Production; company	RKO Radio Pictures
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	May 10, 1946;
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$350,000

Bedlam is a 1946 American horror film directed by Mark Robson and starring Boris Karloff, Anna Lee and Richard Fraser, and was the last in a series of stylish horror B films produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures. The film was inspired by William Hogarth's 1732–1734 painting series A Rake's Progress, and Hogarth was given a writing credit.^[1]^[2]

Plot

It is 1761 in London at an asylum for the mentally ill and an acquaintance of Lord Mortimer dies in an attempt to escape from the asylum. Master George Sims appeases Mortimer by having his "loonies" put on a show for him. Mortified by the treatment of the patients, Mortimer's protégée Nell Bowen seeks his aid, then seeks the help of Whig politician John Wilkes to reform the asylum, threatening Sim's corrupt practices.

Mortimer and Sims conspire to commit Nell to the asylum, where her initial fears of the fellow inmates do not alter her sympathetic commitment to improving their conditions as she tends to the comfort of her fellow inmates. Alarmed by Bowen's imminent release, following legal pressure from Wilkes, Sims plans to apply his most drastic "cure" to her, but his attempt is thwarted by the inmates whom Nell has helped.

Sidney Long, an inmate who used to be a lawyer, insists on a fair trial for Sims. Sims' "defense" reveals his own mental instability. An inmate stabs Sims from behind with a trowel that Nell had obtained from her Quaker friend Hannay, a mason by trade. Believing Sims to be dead, the inmates bury him inside the walls. At the last minute one of Sims' eyes opens and he realizes he is being walled up alive.

Nell is rescued by Hannay. They decide that Sims' fate should remain a mystery to the outside world. The "insane" inmates could not be held legally responsible under the law in any event. She addresses Hannay with the archaic familiar pronouns thee and thou, suggesting that they have formed a closer relationship.

Cast

Boris Karloff as Master George Sims
Anna Lee as Nell Bowen
Billy House as Lord Mortimer
Richard Fraser as Hannay
Glen Vernon as The Gilded Boy
Ian Wolfe as Sidney Long
Jason Robards Sr. as Oliver Todd
Leyland Hodgson as John Wilkes
Joan Newton as Dorothea the Dove
Elizabeth Russell as Mistress Sims
Frankie Dee as Pompie
Skelton Knaggs as Varney (uncredited)
John Goldsworthy as Chief Commissioner (uncredited)
Ellen Corby as Queen of the Artichokes
Robert Clarke as "Dan The Dog"

Production

Mark Robson said he reproduced "much of Hogarth’s The Rake's Progress in our film; in fact, we virtually used Hogarth as our art director. The dialogue was an amalgam of all kinds of eighteenth-century characters, including Lord Sandwich and various others."^[3]

Release

Theatrical release

The movie recorded a loss of $40,000.^[4]^[5]

Home media

The film has been released on DVD by Warner Bros. as part of a double release with Isle Of The Dead^[2] and as part of the Val Lewton Horror Collection, and features a commentary by film historian Tom Weaver.^[6] A Warner Bros “Archive Collection” blu-ray double bill with Lewton’s The Ghost Ship was released in the US and UK in 2023 (also directed by Mark Robson), retaining the Tom Weaver commentary.

Reception

Initial reception

Variety called it "morbid and depressing, but fascinating at the same time."^[7]

Later reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 18 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 6.4/10.^[8] Film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of a possible four stars, commending the film's atmosphere.^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011, pp 309-10^{[ISBN missing]}
^ ^a ^b Lineberger, Rob (2005-10-24). "Review: Isle Of The Dead/Bedlam". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 2006-01-07. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
^ Higham, Charles (1969). The celluloid muse: Hollywood directors speak. p. 211.
^ Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14, No 1, 1994, p. 46^{[ISBN missing]}
^ Richard B. Jewell, Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures, Uni of California, 2016
^ Scapperotti, Dan (2008-01-08). "Out of the SHADOWS". Fangoria. Starlog Group. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
^ "Bedlam". Variety. 24 April 1946. p. 8.
^ "Bedlam (1946)". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
^ Leonard Maltin (2015). Classic Movie Guide: From the Silent Era Through 1965. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4.