Bedlam

Val Lewton completes his remarkable run of low-budget, genre-transcending near-masterpieces at RKO by writing this script based on Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress. Amazingly ambitious, it examines not just the notorious asylum in 18th century London but the concept of madness in the Age of Reason, and presents the Quaker case for reform in a more intelligent manner than I’ve ever seen in a film. Anna Lee is up to the task of playing the saucy actress pet of a lord, who has her conscience awakened by a Quaker stonemason, and winds up thrown in the madhouse herself. And Boris Karloff is just right as the asylum warden. Mark Robson may be the least adept of Lewton’s directors at suggesting horror without showing it, but still manages to do a lot with a little. The ambition exceeds the budget at times, but the intention remains honorable. (1945, dvd, n.) *7-*