Review – The Body Snatcher

Val Lewton produces. Robert Wise directs. Boris Karloff stars. Bela Lugosi even has a small role. The source story was by Robert Louis Stevenson. And the best this team of greats could come up with was this dreary little piece about a med school teacher tormented by his association with a “resurrectionist” who turns out to be a bit too zealous in his procurement tactics. The syrupy-sweet paraplegic child is either an interesting contrast to the cynical world of body snatching or just a dumb cliché, it’s hard to say exactly which. But by the time the movie draws to its “telltale heart” conclusion, there’s no doubt about the weakness of the script. The wanton killing of a small dog also served to knock this one down a peg. See if desperate