Val Lewton’s final horror production for RKO is typical of his (and director Mark Robson’s) approach. For him, an elegantly told story is as important as the scares—and the scares are always well-earned. The 18th century English insane asylum here is a disturbing sunless litterbox of shadows, catatonic souls, madmen and disembodied hands that reach out from cages. Boris Karloff runs the place like a torture chamber. He’s your classic refined sadist who behaves like a monster and speaks in the florid language of a gentleman of the highest order (Karloff, in a great performance, sells this delicious dialogue well). The beautiful Anna Lee, the current plaything of a fat and frivolous Lord (Billy House), learns about the horrible conditions and tries to stop it. Karloff’s response: Get her committed to the asylum.
The screenplay by Robson and Lewton (under his Carlos Keith pseudonym) takes direct inspiration from #8 of William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress series of paintings. Lewton even saw fit to formally credit Hogarth on the film.