Bedlam (film)

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Bedlam
theatrical poster
Directed by	Mark Robson
Produced by	Val Lewton
Written by	William Hogarth (A Rake's Progress) Val Lewton Mark Robson
Starring	Boris Karloff Anna Lee Billy House
Music by	Roy Webb
Cinematography	Nicholas Musuraca
Editing by	Lyle Boyer
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)	10 May 1946
Running time	79 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Bedlam (1946) is a film starring Boris Karloff and Anna Lee, and was the last in a series of stylish B films produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures. The film was inspired by William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress, and Hogarth was given a writing credit.^[1]

1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Releases
4 See also
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Set in 1761 London, England, the film focuses on events at St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum, a fictionalized version of Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as "Bedlam". After an acquaintance of aristocrat Lord Mortimer dies in an attempt to escape from the asylum, apothecary general Master George Sims (played by Karloff, a fictionalized version of an infamous head physician at Bethlem, John Monro) appeases Mortimer by having his "loonies" put on a show for him. Mortified by the treatment of the patients, Mortimer's protege Nell Bowen (Lee) seeks the help of Whig politician John Wilks to reform the asylum. Mortimer and Sims conspire to committ Nell to the asylum, where her initial fears of the fellow inmates do not sway her sympathetic commitment to improving their conditions. Frustrated by Nell's progress with the inmates, Sims threatens her with his strongest "cure" but his attempt is thwarted by the very inmates that Nell helped. Ultimately, Sims is deposed and Nell is rescued by her Quaker friend who had counseled her through the whole process.

[edit] 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

Cast notes

Elizabeth Russell, the sister-in-law of Rosalind Russell, was a regular in films produced by Val Lewton, appearing in Cat People (1942), its sequel The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Seventh Victim (1943) and Youth Runs Wild 1944.^[2]

[edit] Releases

William Hogarth's "The Madhouse" from A Rake's Progress

The film has been released on DVD by Warner Bros. as part of a double release with Isle Of The Dead^[1] and as part of the Val Lewton Horror Collection.^[3] It features a commentary by film historian Tom Weaver.