BEDLAM
Also
titled as: Chamber of Horrors and A
Tale of Bedlam
Theatrical Release Date: May 10, 1946
Running Time 80 minutes
RKO Production #515
Filming began July 18, 1945
Finished August 17, 1945
Image gallery here.
"In 1946, Val made Bedlam, with Boris
Karloff and Anna Lee, his most expensive and probably
his least successful picture at RKO, in spite
of the real horrors it showed of London's truly
infamous Bedlam. The studio was completely unappreciative
of the picture's very fine film qualities and
almost sloughed it off after its release."
From the book More
From Hollywood, by DeWitt Bodeen, 345
pages, A. S. Barnes & Company, 1977, page
320
"The animal imagery in Cat People and The
Leopard Man, that of the sea in I Walked with
a Zombie and The Ghost Ship, or the images of
ancient Greece and its mythic heritage which dominate
Isle of the Dead show how the Lewton films draw
upon this fantasy language, granting it a say
on the commonplace and thoroughly rational worlds
that their surfaces describe. It is in his last
film of the RKO series, Bedlam (1946), however,
that this imaginal realm was tapped for its most
disconcerting challenge to the modern world and
its rule or reason. This film's examination of
the Age of Reason focuses on one of the period's
most telling creations, the mental asylum, to
lay bare a feared image, that of unreason in its
undeniably human aspect."
The
force of reason and the perspective which it affords
on man and his world are recurrent concerns of
the Lewton films." From the book Dreams
of Darkness: Fantasy and the Films of Val Lewton,
By
J. P. Telotte, 224 pages, University of Illinois,
1985, quotation from page 168-169.
MATTHEW WANDERSKI discusses BEDLAM at horror-wood.com
"It's been argued that Lewton's final three films, The Body Snatcher, Isle Of The Dead, and Bedlam, in being period pieces, removed Lewton from the theme that was his greatest strength: that of the intrusion of the outmoded or irrational thought upon the enlightened thinking and experience of modern-day man. This argument, while not without merit, fails to consider some of the plusses Lewton gained in making these films.
On one simple level, the different time periods and settings help to insure that the series has a pleasing variety to it. But, more importantly, they helped Lewton to achieve one of the things I like best about the series--the way the films almost always straddle at least a couple of genres. Some fans find this effect one of dilution, but I think it a strength."
"It's
been argued that Lewton's final three films,
The Body Snatcher, Isle Of The Dead,
and Bedlam, in being period pieces, removed
Lewton from the theme that was his greatest
strength: that of the intrusion of the
outmoded or irrational thought upon the enlightened
thinking and experience of modern-day man.
This argument, while not without merit, fails
to consider some of the plusses Lewton gained
in making these films.
On
one simple level, the different time periods
and settings help to insure that the series
has a pleasing variety to it. But, more
importantly, they helped Lewton to achieve one
of the things I like best about the series--the
way the films almost always straddle at least
a couple of genres. Some fans find this
effect one of dilution, but I think it a strength."
"The standing church from Bells of St.
Mary's was used for the notorious asylum.
Hogarth's paintings were also used throughout
the film as a transitional device. Inevitably,
these were usually deleted from television prints."
From the book The Films of Boris Karloff,
published by Citidel, 1974, page 197.
William
Hogarth • The Rake's Progress: the Rake in
Bedlam • 1735
Oil on canvas • 62.5 x 75 cm (24 5/8 x 29
1/2 in)
Sir John Soane's Museum, London
"Like The Body Snatcher, much
of Bedlam is rather high-handed,
its script often too literate and
affected (m'lord this and m'lord
that) for its own good. The lively
dialogue is eminently quotable,
but there is little of the visual
flair that once proved a Lewton
trademark. Too many of Bedlam's
horrific passages, especially once
Nel is locked away, are offset by
ponderous exposition."
"Bedlam
is a handsome, well-intentioned
film, but its humanitarian postures
are self-righteous or, at best,
self-conscious. Earlier Lewton films
had conveyed more sincere messages
about society's wrongs in less preachy
portrayals of society's victims:
Irena Dubrovna (Cat People),
Barbara Farren (Curse of the
Cat People), Mimi (The Seventh
Victim), even Elizabeth Rousset
(Mademoiselle Fifi)."
From the book Fearing
the Dark: The Val Lewton Career,
By Edmund G. Banzak, 571 pages,
Published by McFarland & Company,
1995, quote from page 323.
Gallery of images from BEDLAM
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LINKS:
The
Whiskey Loose Tongue
web site has the entire BEDLAM script
as part of the Val
Lewton Screenplay Collection.
You can read it by clicking on the
icon below::
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Director:
Mark Robson
Assistant
Directors
Doran Cox
Anthony Jowitt
Cast:
Boris
Karloff
Anna
Lee
Billy
Hous
Richard
Fraser
Glenn
Vernon
Ian
Wolfe
Jason
Robards
Leland
Hodgson
Joan
Newton
Elizabeth
Russell
Victor
Holbrook
Robert
Clarke
Larry
Wheat
Bruce
Edwards
John
Meredith
John
Beck
Ellen
Corby
John
Ince
Skelton
Knaggs
John
Goldsworthy
Polly
Bailey
Foster
Phinney
Donna
Lee
Nan
Leslie
Tom
Noonan
Jimmy
Jordan
George
Holmes
Robert
Manning
Frankie
Dee
Frank
Pharr
Harry
Harvey
Victor
Travers
James
Logan
Betty
Gillette
|
|
George
Sims
Nell
Bowen
Lord
Mortimer
William
Hannay
Reason:
the gilded boy
Sidney
Long
Oliver
Todd
"The
Devil" John Wilkes
Dorothea
the Dove
Mistress
Kitty Sims
Tom
"the Tiger"
Dan
"the Dog"
Podge
The
warden
First
inmate
Solomon
Queen
of the Artichokes
Judge
Varney
Chief
commissioner
Scrubwoman
Lord
Sandwich
Cockney
girl
Cockney
girl
Stonemason
Stonemason
Stonemason
John,
the footman
Pompie
Second
commissioner
John
Lard
Sam's
friend
Bailiff
Cast
Member |
Director
of Cinematography:
Nicholas Musuraca
Second Camera:
Fred Bentley
Writer:
Carlos Keith
Mark Robson
Producer:
Val Lewton
Executive Producer:
Jack J. Gross
Film
Editing:
Lyle Boyer
Music
Director:
C. Bakaleinikoff
Music:
Roy Webb
Art Direction:
Albert S. D'Agostino
Walter E. Keller
Special Effects:
Vernon L. Walker
Matte
paintings:
Al Simpson
Optical Effects:
Lynn Dunn
Transparency
projection shots:
Harold Stine
Gowns:
Edward Stevenson
Set
Decoration:
Darrell Silvera
Sound:
Jean L. Speak
Terry Kellum
Earl B. Mounce (mixer)
