The Body Snatcher
Edinburgh, 1831. Among those who undertake the illegal trade of grave robbery is Gray, ostensibly a cab driver. Formerly a medical student convicted of grave robbery, Gray holds a grudge against Dr. MacFarlane who had escaped detection and punishment.
Discussed in these episodes
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38 At Least the Cat Survives
It’s 1830s Edinburgh, home of some of Europe’s finest medical schools — but where are they getting the cadavers to hone their students’ knowledge of anatomy? Well, provided you’ve got ready cash on hand, and you don’t ask too many questions… Horror auteur Val Lewton and still-rookie director Robert Wise adapt Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story with typically eerie elegance — but you’ll come away remembering Boris Karloff, in maybe the greatest performance of his career, as a deceptively cheerful cabman with a grisly side hustle. A much-diminished Bela Lugosi’s also in it, barely — but the key scene he shares with Karloff will stick with you long after you’ve seen this relatively little-known and underrated classic.