Karloff runs an 18th-century asylum where the rich pay to gawk at the mad—until one woman fights back.
London, 1761. St. Mary's of Bethlehem, a sinister madhouse, is visited by wealthy people who enjoy watching the patients confined there as if they were caged animals. Nell Bowen, one of the visitors, is horrified by the deplorable living conditions of the unfortunate inhabitants of this godforsaken place, better known as Bedlam.
Production
Val Lewton's shadowy asylum sets—low-budget Gothic perfection.
Acting
Karloff's oily, theatrical villainy at absolute peak smarm.
Director
Mark Robson
Boris Karloff
George Sims
Anna Lee
Nell Bowen
Billy House
Lord Mortimer
Richard Fraser
The Stonemason
Glen Vernon
The Gilded Boy
Ian Wolfe
Sidney Long
Jason Robards Sr.
Oliver Todd
Leyland Hodgson
'That Devil' Wilkes
Joan Newton
Dorothea the Dove
Elizabeth Russell
Mistress Sims
Larry Wheat
Podge (uncredited)
Skelton Knaggs
Varney (uncredited)
Robert Clarke
Dan (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Producer Val Lewton made this after RKO rejected his 'Jane Eyre with a madhouse' pitch—so he made it anyway, sneakier.
Based on William Hogarth's 'A Rake's Progress' engraving series—this film literally animates 18th-century satirical art.
US
