The Body Snatcher (1945)





In 1832, Edinburgh was outraged by the practice of grave robbing to supply the medical profession with corpses. One doctor, Dr. MacFarlane, managed to escape punishment for his involvement in the practice. His assistant, Gray, kept his past hidden and took pleasure in the power he held over MacFarlane. A young medical student, Fettes, is horrified to discover that Gray, posing as a cab driver, procures stolen bodies for the doctor. When MacFarlane is unable to cure a paralyzed child due to a lack of corpses, Gray provides him with the body of a recently murdered street singer. MacFarlane successfully operates on the child, but is plagued by guilt and fear of discovery. He ultimately turns on Gray, killing him and delivering his body to the doctor for dissection. In the end, MacFarlane's obsession with obtaining corpses leads to his own demise when he dies in a carriage accident while retrieving a body from a cemetery.


Books with substantial mentioning of The Body Snatcher

Gary J. Svehla and Susan Svehla (editors)
Boris Karloff
Baltimore, 1996

Danny Peary
Alternate Oscars, One Critic's Defiant Choices for Best Picture, Actor, and Actress - From 1927 to the Present
New York, 1993

Scott Allen Nollen
Boris Karloff, A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, television and Recording Work
Jefferson, NC, 1991

William K. Everson
Klassiker des Horrorfilms
München, 1982

Richard Bojarski
The Films of Bela Lugosi
Secaucus, NJ, 1980

Richard Bojarski and Kenneth Beals
The Films of Boris Karloff
Secaucus, NJ, 1974

William K. Everson
Classics of the Horror Film, From the days of the Silent Screen to The Exorcist
Secaucus, NJ, 1974

Books with an entry on The Body Snatcher

Michael F. Keaney
Film Noir Guide, 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London, 2003


Year: 1945
Country: United States
Language: English
 
IMDb: 0037549