I might be wrong, but I definitely think Bedlam falls into the category of films that really wouldn't be allowed today. In a similar manner to Tod Browning's Freaks, it focuses on people with disabilities. The only noticeable difference is how the ones shown in this movie are mentally deranged, as opposed to Freaks' characters who suffer from physical ailments. Being another Val Lewton film starring Boris Karloff, I had high hopes for this movie after watching Isle of the Dead, which also featured Karloff in the role of the protagonist. Here, it's basically the opposite. In Isle of the Dead, Karloff played a paranoid military officer who is determined to find evil spirits on a remote island, and so (at least some of) the audience sympathized with him. For Bedlam, Boris plays a reckless, despicable human being whose cruelty really stretches the definition of the term "human". The movie takes place in mid 18th century england, and an insane asylum in london is Karloff's place of employment. A nobleman named Lord Mortimer (Billy House) becomes aware one day that a friend of his, who was held in the asylum, has escaped and subsequently died. George Sims (Karloff) the owner of the asylum tries to make Mortimer feel better by having his "lunatics" do performances in his presence. A girl who serves under Mortimer, Nell (Anna Lee) is appalled at the way Sims treats his patients, which leads to her attempting to implement better living conditions for them with the help of John (Leyland Hodgson). Meanwhile, Sims isn't pleased that someone is trying to alter the way he runs his asylum from right under his nose, as it poses a direct threat to his wicked authority. Even though Mortimer knows Nell personally, he plots with Sims behind her back to have her thrown into the mental hospital herself. This eventually succeeds, and she is found mentally incompetent during a trial. Undaunted, she still tries to improve conditions in the asylum. This is something that is made especially risky by the fact that she's dealing with a large amount of inmates who aren't really in control of their minds anymore. Later on, Nell is due to be released from the asylum due to John threatening to sue Sims, which leads to Sims threatening Nell with a "cure" that will make her just as mindless as the other inmates (but the film doesn't actually say what it is). In the film's climax, the inmates remember all the hard work Nell did for them and swarm Sims when he threatens Nell. Nell escapes the asylum and meets up with John, who is convinced that Sims needs to be saved before the inmates kill him, in spite of all the horrible things he's done. While Sims in on trial, he is stabbed by one of the inmates with a garden trowel that was stolen from Nell earlier, and his "corpse" is placed in a walled area which is then bricked up. It's then revealed that Sims was still alive after being trapped, and Nell is united with John. This is quite a good movie. Like other Val Lewton films, the budget was small, but a lack of money is no obstacle to having a good atmosphere. There aren't many things more disturbing than a mental hospital, and the scenery and behavior of the inmates does a lot to show that. If you've never seen a Boris Karloff movie, this is a great place to begin since it really shows his acting abilities. He's a thoroughly horrible person all through the movie, and I think seeing what happens to him at the end is going to be extremely satisfying for people. Overall, Bedlam is another film that I had to review right away after watching it because hardly anyone online knows of it. Pity.
Review of Bedlam
