The first of three films Boris Karloff made for Val Lewton and they were three of his best roles. He is terrific here - he wasn't the best actor in the world, Karloff, but he did have charisma and style. He plays a cab driver who moonlights as a grave robber for Henry Daniell (also very good).
There is a wet ingenue doctor character whose scruples about grave robbing crumble in the face of a cute crippled orphan and her widowed mother, a scullery maid who turns out to be married to the doctor, a dopey servant (played by Bela Lugosi in an effective scene) who tries to blackmail Karloff. This scene could act as a metaphor for Karloff and Lugosi's professional standing: poor old Lugosi, drug wracked and over the hill, trying to match it with Karloff only to be over powered and killed.
Spooky finale - Lewton again employs wind and rain, and throws in a literary quote at the end, enjoyable period flavour (despite the English accents for 19th century Edinburgh), intriguing relationship between Karloff and Daniell (heavily influenced by class structure). Wonderful.
Followed by Isle of the Dead.
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