Bedlam

Growing up, I thought the word 'Bedlam' referred to a state of near-anarchy and extremist behaviour with people saying things like "It's Bedlam in there" and it wasn't until I saw the rather forgettable Liz Hurley movie Beyond Bedlam when I was 14 that I actually realised Bedlam was a mental institution from where the expression came.

Inspired by The Rake's Progress, a series of paintings by William Hogarth, Bedlam was one of many B-movies produced by Val Lewton and follows a young society woman, Nell Bowen, who is shocked and saddened by the way the 'loonies' are treated by the head of St Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum, apothecary general Master George Sims.

The film begins in 1761 with a man trying to escape from the asylum and is hanging on the guttering when one of the guards notices him and stamps on his fingers causing the man to fall to his death. As he was a friend of Lord Mortimer, Master Sims must make amends and puts on a show using some of the inmates but, rather unfortunately, the first act, the gilded boy, collapses and dies on stage because of the gold paint in which he has been covered from head to foot. Unlike the other guests, Nell Bowen does not laugh and applaud, but leaves to tell a friend of hers, a Whig politician called John Wilks. Saying he would like to help but that he has too much on his plate because of an upcoming election, Bowen decides to take matters into her own hands and pleads with Lord Mortimer and Master Sims to improve the conditions.

When her meddling becomes too much of an inconvenience and she takes to the town with her parrot which is far from complimentary about Lord Mortimer, he and Sims conspire to have her admitted even though they both know she is completely sane. Once inside the institution, which most people call Bedlam, she notices that most of the inmates have very little, if anything, wrong with them and one man is only there because he was a heavy drinker and his family have had him committed so that he can concentrate on his writing with all the royalties going to them. There are comments about it being a convenient place to put an unwanted wife and, as Master Sims can manipulate the panel which evaluates every potential inmate, he has complete control.


Nell had caught the eye of a young Quaker, Hannay, but he has refused entry when he tries to visit her as he has no arms to leave at the entrance and, as Sims tells him, people can be admitted unless they leave their arms at the entrance. Fortunately, he is a stonemason and he and his fellow Quakers are working on an area of Bedlam so he is able to go down a corridor and speak with Nell who asks him to get in touch with Wilks, tell him where she is and to try and help her.

Val Lewton was a great producer who was responsible for some of the finest films of the 20th century and I half expected something of a similar quality to Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie or The Body Snatcher as this has Boris Karloff in the lead and I can't think of another actor who seems to play sadistic with such pleasure. Unfortunately, the direction by Mark Robson is rather pedestrian so, although this runs at just over 70 minutes, it doesn't move with the tempo required of a film that should be a thriller as well as a horror film and the underlying sense of dread that really should be there throughout is absent for long periods. One of the standout scenes is where Nell is assessed and you really feel her growing sense of unease and panic as the hopelessness of the situation dawns on her.


The Disc

Extra Features
The disc only comes with a photo gallery which is worth a look but will hardly sets people's hearts racing.

The Picture
The disc doesn't seem to have undergone any significant restoration so the film is replete with white spots, some graining and print damage with the 'cigarette burns' extremely evident in the 1.33:1 frame. The sets and locations are very good, as are the costumes and other parts of the period detail and, in general, the mise en scène is extremely impressive.

I have no doubt that Lewton and Robson would have liked the film to be slightly more expressive in showing the kind of conditions that would have existed in Bedlam at that time but censors were much harsher in 1946 than today. One of the more interesting aspects of the film is the use of Hogarth's paintings from The Rake's Progress which tend to appear in between scenes before a dissolve moves on to the next part of the story.


The Sound
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track is perfectly serviceable but, like the visuals, is not as clean as it could be with some background hiss, crackles and pops throughout. The dialogue is clear enough and the actors enunciate well so their lines are very easy to understand.

Roy Webb's score is fairly typical for B-movies from the mid-1940s and does a good job with both the horror and romantic elements in the film, leaving the viewer in no doubt that Bedlam is a truly awful place and Master Sims is a real cinematic villain.


Final Thoughts
Bedlam is a very well written and acted film that, with a more accomplished director, could have been a cinematic masterpiece to rank alongside the very best films produced by Val Lewton but it is a shame that Mark Robson chose to go for character rather than tempo as it could have been a real thrill ride of a movie which would keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. That being said, it is a very well made movie with a great performance by Boris Karloff at its centre and Anna Lee doesn't disappoint in her role as Nell Bowen who comes across as feisty, determined and vulnerable in equal measures depending on the situation.

Although releases like this are normally barebones, it is a shame that there is no commentary by the likes of Kim Newman or Alan Jones (or even both as they did for The Body Snatcher DVD). I would imagine that there are precious few extra features that could be included as this was made when behind the scenes or 'making ofs' featurettes weren't even considered so a photo gallery with some press material is about the best that one could hope for.