TCM Schedule for Wednesday, October 31 -- BORIS KARLOFF

[Longhorn]

3:15am Objective, Burma! (1945)
An American platoon parachutes into Burma to take out a strategic Japanese outpost.
Cast: Errol Flynn, George Tobias, Henry Hull. Dir: Raoul Walsh. BW-142 mins, TV-PG

5:38am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: March On, Marines (1940)
C-20 mins

6:00am Devil Bat, The (1940)
A mad scientist trains killer bats to respond to a special scent.
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien. Dir: Jean Yarbrough. BW-68 mins, TV-PG

7:17am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Have You Ever Wondered? (1947)
BW-10 mins

7:30am Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, The (1964)
An unearthed mummy returns to life to claim the reincarnation of his lost love.
Cast: Terence Morgan, Jeanne Roland, Fred Clark. Dir: Michael Carreras. C-80 mins, TV-PG

9:00am Bride of the Monster (1955)
A mad scientist fights to create a race of supermen.
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Loretta King, Tor Johnson. Dir: Edward D. Wood, Jr. BW-69 mins, TV-PG
10:13am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Mouse (1946)
C-7 mins

10:30am Revenge of Frankenstein, The (1958)
After escaping execution, a mad scientist moves his experiments to a German hospital.
Cast: Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews, Eunice Gayson. Dir: Terence Fisher. C-90 mins, TV-PG

12:15pm Cry of the Werewolf (1944)
A young gypsy girl turns into a wolf to destroy her enemies.
Cast: Nina Foch, Stephen Crane, Osa Massen. Dir: Henry Levin. BW-63 mins, TV-PG

1:30pm Werewolf, The (1956)
A scientific experiment turns an innocent man into a bloodthirsty monster.
Cast: Steven Ritch, Don Megowan, Joyce Holden. Dir: Fred F. Sears. BW-80 mins, TV-PG

3:00pm Mystery Of The Wax Museum, The (1933)
A disfigured sculptor turns murder victims into wax statues.
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-77 mins, TV-PG

4:30pm House Of Usher (1960)
A young man tries to rescue the woman he loves from her demonic brother.
Cast: Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey. Dir: Roger Corman. C-79 mins, TV-PG

6:00pm Haunting, The (1963)
A team of psychic investigators moves into a haunted house that destroys all who live there.
Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-112 mins, TV-PG

What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: BORIS KARLOFF

8:00pm Bedlam (1946)
When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-79 mins, TV-PG

9:30pm Invisible Ray, The (1936)
A scientist becomes contaminated resulting in the death of anything he touches.
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Frank Lawton. Dir: Lambert Hillyer. BW-79 mins, TV-PG

11:00pm Body Snatcher, The (1945)
To continue his medical experiments, a doctor must buy corpses from a grave robber.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Bela Lugosi. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-78 mins, TV-PG

12:30am Old Dark House, The (1932)
A storm strands travelers in a house full of dangerous eccentrics.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton. Dir: James Whale. BW-72 mins, TV-G
1:52am Short Film: From The Vaults: Poltergeist (1982)
C-7 mins

2:00am Die, Monster, Die ! (1965)
On a trip to meet his girlfriend's family, a young man uncovers deadly secrets.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Nick Adams, Freda Jackson. Dir: Daniel Haller. C-79 mins, TV-PG

3:30am Walking Dead, The (1936)
A framed man comes back from the dead to seek revenge.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Edmund Gwenn, Marguerite Churchill. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-65 mins, TV-PG

4:45am Isle Of The Dead (1945)
The inhabitants of a Balkans island under quarantine fear that one of their number is a vampire.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Helene Thimig. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-72 mins, TV-PG

[Longhorn]

1. The Body Snatcher (1945)

"Foul Fingers Crimson with Dead Men's Blood" read the bold lettering on one poster for The Body Snatcher (1945). "Midnight Murder! Body Blackmail! Stalking Ghouls!" read another. The publicity department at RKO worked overtime to scare up an audience equal to the one that made Cat People such a success for producer Val Lewton three years earlier and, for the most part, they succeeded. The Body Snatcher, despite the lurid ad campaign, is a literate and atmospheric shocker, based on a Robert Louis Stevenson short story, that marked the first of three collaborations between horror star Boris Karloff and producer Lewton (The other two films were Bedlam and Isle of the Dead).

Whereas Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was inspired by a dream, The Body Snatcher was based on a historical incident in Edinburgh in 1827. At that time, medical schools lacked sufficient funding or the resources to provide their students with cadavers for study. Seeing a financial opportunity there, William Burke suggested to his landlord, William Hare, that they sell the body of a recently deceased boarder to Dr. Robert Knox, an instructor at a Surgeon's Square anatomy school. Knox was grateful to have a specimen for his class and Burke and Hare began a lucrative operation that quickly moved from grave-robbing to murder. It was estimated that the duo murdered up to 28 people, preying on drunks, prostitutes, and the destitute elderly.

In Stevenson's account of the tale, told in flashback, a respected Edinburgh surgeon, Dr. MacFarlane enters into a secret agreement with a menacing cabbie named John Gray, who robs graves for his medical research. When MacFarlane realizes that Gray has turned to murder for his bodies, he attempts to end his relationship with Gray, only to be threatened with blackmail.

Producer Val Lewton ran into some difficulties bringing The Body Snatcher to the screen. RKO executive producer Jack J. Gross insisted on more gore in the film while the Hays Office warned against it and any explicit treatment of grave-robbing and the dissection and pickling of human corpses. Somehow, Lewton managed to walk a fine line between the two while effectively recreating the look of 1831 Edinburgh on a ridiculously low budget and accelerated shooting schedule. Albert Dekker, John Emery, George Coulouris, and Alan Napier were all considered for the part of MacFarlane before Henry Daniell was cast in the role. Bela Lugosi, who was used mainly for extra marquee value, was cast in the role of Joseph, MacFarlane's servant, a role that was added for Lewton's film and didn't exist in the Stevenson story.

Film critic James Agee, an admirer of Lewton's work, reviewed The Body Snatcher and wrote that it provides "an anthology of eminently nasty creeps and jolts. The sudden snort of a horse is timed to scare the daylights out of you; there is a grisly shot of Lugosi's slaughtered head, distorted beneath brine; and the last passage in the picture is as all-out hair-raising a climax to a horror film as you are ever likely to see."

Director: Robert Wise
Producer: Val Lewton
Screenplay: Philip MacDonald, Carlos Keith (a pseudonym for Val Lewton)
Cinematography: Robert de Grasse
Editor: J. R. Whittredge
Art Direction: Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller
Music: C. Bakaleinikoff
Cast: Henry Daniell (Dr. MacFarlane), Boris Karloff (John Gray), Bela Lugosi (Joseph), Russell Wade (Donald Fettes), Edith Atwater (Meg Camden).
BW-79m. Closed captioning.

by Jeff Stafford