''Bedlam'' is a 1946 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

starring

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film '' Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

and

Anna Lee Anna Lee, MBE (born Joan Boniface Winnifrith; 2 January 1913 – 14 May 2004) was a British actress, labelled by studios "The British Bombshell". Early life Anna Lee was born Joan Boniface Winnifrith in Ightham, (pronounced 'Item'), Kent, th ...

, and was the last in a series of stylish horror B films produced by

Val Lewton Val Lewton (May 7, 1904 – March 14, 1951) was a Russian-American novelist, film producer and screenwriter best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. His son, also named Val Lewton, was a pain ...

for

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

. The film was inspired by

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...

's 1732–1734 painting series ''

A Rake's Progress ''A Rake's Progress'' (or ''The Rake's Progress'') is a series of eight paintings by 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–1734, then engraved in 1734 and published in print form in 1735. The series ...

'', and Hogarth was given a writing credit.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011, pp 309-10

Plot

Set in 1761 in London, the film focuses on events at an asylum for the mentally ill, a fictionalized version of Bedlam (the Bethlem Royal Hospital). After an acquaintance of Lord Mortimer dies in an attempt to escape from the asylum, Master George Sims (a fictionalized version of an infamous head physician at Bethlem, John Monro), appeases Mortimer by having his "

loonies ''Loonies'' ( nl, Loenatik - De moevie) is a 2002 Dutch family film, based on a Dutch TV series ''Loonies'' (Dutch ''Loenatik''). The film received a Golden Film The Golden Film ( nl, Gouden Film) is a film award recognizing domestic box ...

" put on a show for him. Mortified by the treatment of the patients, Mortimer's protégée Nell Bowen seeks his aid, then seeks the help of Whig politician

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he f ...

to reform the asylum, threatening Sim's corrupt practices. Mortimer and Sims conspire to commit Nell to the asylum, where her initial fears of the fellow inmates do not alter her sympathetic commitment to improving their conditions as she tends to the comfort of her fellow inmates. Alarmed by Bowen's imminent release, following legal pressure from Wilkes, Sims plans to apply his most drastic "cure" to her, but his attempt is thwarted by the inmates whom Nell has helped. Sims is deposed, and Nell escapes and is reunited with her

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

friend Hannay, who counselled her through the whole process.

Cast

Release

Theatrical release

The movie recorded a loss of $40,000.Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951', ''Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television'', Vol 14, No 1, 1994, p. 46Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Uni of California, 2016

Home media

The film has been released on DVD by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

as part of a double release with '' Isle Of The Dead'' and as part of the ''Val Lewton Horror Collection'', and features a commentary by

film historian The history of film chronicles the development of a visual art form created using film technologies that began in the late 19th century. The advent of film as an artistic medium is not clearly defined. However, the commercial, public scree ...

Tom Weaver.

Reception

Initial reception

Later reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on , with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating of 6.4/10. Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

awarded the film three out of a possible four stars, commending the film's atmosphere.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedlam (Film) 1940s horror thriller films 1946 films American horror thriller films American black-and-white films Films scored by Roy Webb Films directed by Mark Robson Films produced by Val Lewton RKO Pictures films Films set in London Films set in psychiatric hospitals Films set in 1761 Works based on art 1946 horror films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films