When RKO told Val Lewton that Boris Karloff would be starring in his next film, Lewton was outraged. Lewton’s style was, to some extent, a reaction against the Universal horror movies that had made Karloff a star. What Lewton did not know was that Karloff himself was tired of the formula that gave him increasingly little to do.
Karloff and Lewton were grateful, each to the other, for the rest of their lives - Lewton’s short, Karloff’s long*. The Karloff/Lewton collaboration: The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise) - 1945, Isle of the Dead (Mark Robson) - 1945, Bedlam (Mark Robson) - 1946.
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