The Body Snatcher -- 1945

Based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, this story follows a doctor who hires out a cabman to bring his "specimens." Unfortunately, these specimens come from the local graveyard, and this makes the town citizens none too happy. Add to this that these two have some sort of history that unfolds as the films tells on.

Helping to drive the plot is the story of a girl who is paralysed from the waist down, and the good Dr. believes with a surgery "that only he can perform", she can be made to walk again. Of course, he refuses to do it because he is so busy teaching, so the girl's mother implores the assistant to intercede, which is where the fun really begins.

I was on and off with this film. On the one hand, the story was fairly intriguing and I wanted to see it play out. On the other, it got a little slow in some areas, and I just wanted to see it move a little quicker. My only real complaint had to do with a bit near the end. The doctor's assistant had some moral objections to graverobbing, and yet he helped the doctor at one point to do it. Didn't quite understand why, since he had little to gain by doing so.

So, it worked decently, and a solid story was told. I thought the characters were fairly well rounded, especially the history between some of the leads. There was a little bit of thinness in some of them, and the students just seemed like an unnecessary addition to the overall mix. So not a bad thriller here.

And as an added bonus, you get to see Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi battle it out...