Bedlam (1946)

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

William Hogarth (engravings The Rake's Progress)
Val Lewton (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

10 May 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Sensational Secrets of Infamous Mad-house EXPOSED! (1946 one-sheet poster)

Plot:

Nell Bowen, the spirited protege of rich Lord Mortimer, becomes interested in the conditions of notorious St...

Plot Keywords:

Asylum | Quaker | Reform | B Movie | Period Piece

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Master George Sims
Anna Lee	...	Nell Bowen
Billy House	...	Lord Mortimer
Richard Fraser	...	Hannay
Glen Vernon	...	The Gilded Boy (as Glenn Vernon)
Ian Wolfe	...	Sidney Long
Jason Robards Sr.	...	Oliver Todd (as Jason Robards)
Leyland Hodgson	...	John Wilkes (as Leland Hodgson)
Joan Newton	...	Dorothea the Dove
Elizabeth Russell	...	Mistress Sims
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Polly Bailey	...	Scrub Woman (uncredited)
John Beck	...	Solomon (uncredited)
Hamilton Camp	...	Pompey (voice) (uncredited)
Robert Clarke	...	Dan the Dog (uncredited)
Ellen Corby	...	Queen of the Artichokes (uncredited)
Frankie Dee	...	Pompey (uncredited)
Bruce Edwards	...	The Warder (uncredited)
John Goldsworthy	...	Chief Commissioner (uncredited)
Harry Harvey	...	John Gray (uncredited)
Vic Holbrook	...	Tom the Tiger (uncredited)
George Holmes	...	2nd Stonemason (uncredited)
John Ince	...	Judge (uncredited)
Jimmy Jordan	...	3rd Stonemason (uncredited)
Skelton Knaggs	...	Varney (uncredited)
Donna Lee	...	Cockney Girl (uncredited)
Nan Leslie	...	Cockney Girl (uncredited)
James Logan	...	Bailiff (uncredited)
John Meredith	...	1st Maniac (uncredited)
Tommy Noonan	...	1st Stonemason (uncredited)
Frank Pharr	...	2nd Commissioner (uncredited)
Foster H. Phinney	...	Lord Sandwich (uncredited)
Robert Seiter	...	John the Footman (uncredited)
Victor Travers	...	Sims' Friend (uncredited)
Larry Wheat	...	Podge (uncredited)

Directed by
Mark Robson

Writing credits
William Hogarth		(engravings The Rake's Progress)
Val Lewton		(screenplay) (as Carlos Keith) &
Mark Robson		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jack J. Gross	....	executive producer
Val Lewton	....	producer

Original Music by
Roy Webb

Cinematography by
Nicholas Musuraca

Film Editing by
Lyle Boyer

Art Direction by
Albert S. D'Agostino
Walter E. Keller

Set Decoration by
Darrell Silvera

Costume Design by
Edward Stevenson

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Doran Cox	....	assistant director (as Dorian Cox)

Art Department
John Sturtevant	....	set designer

Sound Department
Terry Kellum	....	sound
Jean L. Speak	....	sound

Special Effects by
Vernon L. Walker	....	special effects

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV) (syndication)
• Image Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Turner Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Chamber of Horrors (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 (1986) | USA:Approved (PCA #11077, Adult Audience) | UK:PG

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The falling inmate's scream at the beginning of the movie was from one of the falling sailors in King Kong (1933)

Goofs:

Factual errors: Nell Bowen's bird is a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, native to Australia. As the movie is set in 1761, nine years before Captain Cook discovered Australia and 27 years before European settlement, it is impossible that Nell Bowen would have such a bird as a pet.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Goldfinger (1964)

Thoughtful Film Provides Atmospheric Chills

The Apothecary General of BEDLAM finds his asylum a convenient place to immure his personal enemies.

This was the third of three RKO thrillers which Boris Karloff starred in for producer Val Lewton (the other two being ISLE OF THE DEAD & THE BODY SNATCHER, both 1945). Lewton had the knack of producing films full of atmosphere & menace on a very low budget. BEDLAM is no exception and Karloff gives an especially compelling performance. Gaunt & leering, calmly accepting death and torture as part of his grim business, he shows the monstrous depths to which brutish humanity is able to sink while yet retaining a veneer of civility. His behavior is the stuff of nightmares & his fate is thoroughly deserved.

Anna Lee is spirited in the role of a nobleman's protégée who gradually becomes a champion of fairer treatment for the inmates. Richard Fraser quietly underplays his part as a stern Quaker stonemason who attempts to rescue Miss Lee from Bedlam. Billy House as an obese lord & Ian Wolfe as a barrister confined to Bedlam both offer fine support.

Movie mavens will spot an unbilled Ellen Corby as one of the lunatics.

*****************************

Built as a priory in 1247 for the order of the Star of Bethlehem, the structure was first used as a hospital in 1330. Mental patients began arriving by 1403 and Henry VIII made it exclusively a lunatic asylum in 1547. At the time portrayed in the film, the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem had been moved from Bishopsgate to Moorfields and the name had generally been corrupted to ‘Bedlam.' Great abuses did take place there during the 18th Century and members of refined society were allowed for a fee to view the inmates. Now located in Shirley, near Beckenham, it is known as the Bethlehem Royal Hospital and is England's leading facility for the treatment of the mentally ill.

The term ‘bedlam' has come to mean ‘a confused uproar.'

The paintings seen throughout the film are by William Hogarth (1697-1764), whose 1735 series A Rake's Progress included a scene set in Bedlam.