Dark Dignitaries: When Karloff met Lewton Part III: Bedlam
As part of this week's ongoing Boris Karloff blogathon , we take a look at the Uncanny One's final collaboration with distinguished producer Val Lewton – the 1946 Period-Horror-‘Message’-movie hybrid, Bedlam . Be sure to check out a list of links to other Karloff related goodness over at Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog . After the success of The Body Snatcher and with Isle of the Dead finally wrapped and ready to be released, RKO decided to ‘reward’ Lewton by upping his budget for what would transpire to be his last B Horror movie for them. As well as receiving $350,000 Lewton was also given a staggering 8 months for post-production – unheard of for a B movie at the time. Following on from Isle of the Dead and The Body Snatcher , Bedlam was another ‘period’ film with astounding attention to detail lavished upon it, and like Isle of the Dead was also inspired by a painting – William Hogarth’s Bedlam Plate 8: The Rake’s Progress . The script was written by directo...