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Bedlam

 Bedlam
type
TVTItem
 Bedlam
label
Bedlam
 Bedlam
page
Bedlam
 Bedlam
comment
Bedlam is a 1946 horror film directed by Mark Robson, starring Boris Karloff, produced and co-written by the master of 1940s horror, Val Lewton.It is set in 1761 at St. Mary of Bethlehem hospital, the oldest continually operating mental institution in the world, more popularly known as "Bedlam." Karloff plays George Sims, the master of Bedlam. Sims is a cruel and vicious man who beats and starves his inmates and locks them in cages. He also treats them as zoo animals, putting them on exhibit for anyone who forks over two pence.One of the people who pays tuppence to see the inmates of Bedlam is Nell Bowen (Anna Lee), an actress and paid companion of Lord Mortimer, a patron of Bedlam House. Nell is shocked by the abuse suffered by the inmates of Bedlam, and repulsed by the oily Sims, who sucks up to Lord Mortimer and arranges for his mental patients to put on a show for Mortimer's amusement. She resolves to reform Bedlam, which makes an enemy of Sims. When she insults Lord Mortimer for his chumminess with Sims, she makes an enemy of him as well, and the two of them conspire to have Nell committed to Bedlam as a patient.Third and last collaboration between Karloff and Lewton. Not to be confused with television series Bedlam.
 Bedlam
fetched
2023-08-04T02:59:24Z
 Bedlam
parsed
2023-08-04T02:59:24Z
 Bedlam
processingComment
Dropped link to CallBack: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Bedlam
processingComment
Dropped link to HistoricalDomainCharacter: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Bedlam
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Bedlam / int_208dca13
type
Compensated Dating
 Bedlam / int_208dca13
comment
Compensated Dating: Essentially what's going on with Nell and Lord Mortimer. She makes pains to let people know that she is not The Mistress. In fact she is a paid companion whose job is to amuse Lord Mortimer and make him laugh.
 Bedlam / int_208dca13
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_208dca13
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_208dca13
 Bedlam / int_46cd696
type
Eye Open
 Bedlam / int_46cd696
comment
Eye Open: The horrifying moment in which Sims's eyes fly open to reveal he's still alive, right before he's Buried Alive by the last brick in the wall.
 Bedlam / int_46cd696
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_46cd696
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1.0
 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_46cd696
 Bedlam / int_4b86a724
type
Getting Crap Past the Radar
 Bedlam / int_4b86a724
comment
Getting Crap Past the Radar: When Nell is introducing herself to John Wilkes, he makes clear that he expects more than Compensated Dating with his companions; if she lives with him she'll have to put out. He isn't gross about it, though, and they shake hands and part as friends; still, this isn't the sort of thing that Section II of the Hays Code allowed.
 Bedlam / int_4b86a724
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_4b86a724
 Bedlam / int_55ec42d7
type
Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe
 Bedlam / int_55ec42d7
comment
Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Practiced In-Universe by Hannay the Quaker, who not only uses "thee" but uses it all the time, including when he should say "thou." This is how Quakers of the day really talked
 Bedlam / int_55ec42d7
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_55ec42d7
 Bedlam / int_5d3e7c6
type
Kangaroo Court
 Bedlam / int_5d3e7c6
comment
Kangaroo Court: The ridiculous farce of a sanity hearing by which Sims gets Nell clapped into Bedlam. Sims is whispering in the ear of the head examiner throughout.
 Bedlam / int_5d3e7c6
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_5d3e7c6
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_5d3e7c6
 Bedlam / int_75e2bf23
type
Chiaroscuro
 Bedlam / int_75e2bf23
comment
Chiaroscuro: Used several times to make the asylum's interiors more creepy, most dramatically in the scene where Hannay has snuck in and has to make his way through the detention wing for the violently insane, who reach out and grab at him from their cages as he passes.
 Bedlam / int_75e2bf23
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_75e2bf23
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_75e2bf23
 Bedlam / int_83a55c8e
type
Napoleon Delusion
 Bedlam / int_83a55c8e
comment
Napoleon Delusion: One inmate believes himself to be King Solomon, and his advice is to apply the Judgment of Solomon to Sims.
 Bedlam / int_83a55c8e
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 Bedlam / int_83a55c8e
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Bedlam / int_83a55c8e
 Bedlam / int_96144372
type
Aristocrats Are Evil
 Bedlam / int_96144372
comment
Aristocrats Are Evil: Lord Mortimer isn't as overtly, actively evil as Sims, but he really is quite the bastard nevertheless. He chortles and guffaws like the fat pig he is when the inmates of Bedlam make a show for his entertainment, and he doesn't bat an eye when one of the mental patients collapses and dies from the golden paint all over his body.
 Bedlam / int_96144372
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 Bedlam / int_96144372
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_96144372
 Bedlam / int_b09c818
type
"Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word
 Bedlam / int_b09c818
comment
"Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Bribery instead of blackmail, and inverted in any case. But when Hannay the mason asks for a construction job, and Sims demands a two-guinea kickback in return for giving him the job, Hannay says a lot of words to the effect of I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That. An indignant Sims shoots back with "What kind of cant is this? I've asked you for a bribe, man!"
 Bedlam / int_b09c818
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_b09c818
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_b09c818
 Bedlam / int_ba8b13ad
type
Catch-22 Dilemma
 Bedlam / int_ba8b13ad
comment
Catch-22 Dilemma: How Sims keeps Hannay from visiting Nell in the asylum. There's a rule stating that all visitors must deposit their weapons in the front before taking the tour of the asylum. Hannay can't deposit his weapon because he doesn't have one; he's a Quaker. So since he won't deposit a weapon, Sims won't let him in.
 Bedlam / int_ba8b13ad
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_ba8b13ad
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_ba8b13ad
 Bedlam / int_c6c5ce4
type
Bedlam House
 Bedlam / int_c6c5ce4
comment
Bedlam House: Surprised? The Real Life Bedlam is the Trope Namer and was every bit the hellhole that it's portrayed in this movie.
 Bedlam / int_c6c5ce4
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_c6c5ce4
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1.0
 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_c6c5ce4
 Bedlam / int_d61c0620
type
Joker Jury
 Bedlam / int_d61c0620
comment
Joker Jury: The inmates of the asylum "try" Sims near the end. Subverted that they let him go...
 Bedlam / int_d61c0620
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-0.3
 Bedlam / int_d61c0620
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_d61c0620
 Bedlam / int_dde7da12
type
Come to Gawk
 Bedlam / int_dde7da12
comment
Come to Gawk: For two pence, Sims lets visitors come in and gawk at the inmates of Bedlam. This really happened at the real Bedlam in this era.
 Bedlam / int_dde7da12
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_dde7da12
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1.0
 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_dde7da12
 Bedlam / int_df4edb04
type
Corrupt Bureaucrat
 Bedlam / int_df4edb04
comment
Corrupt Bureaucrat: Sims maneuvers his way into getting people he doesn't like chucked into his asylum. He also takes kickbacks from contractors who work at Bedlam.
 Bedlam / int_df4edb04
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_df4edb04
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_df4edb04
 Bedlam / int_e1f90397
type
Body Paint
 Bedlam / int_e1f90397
comment
Body Paint: Nearly 20 years before Goldfinger embedded an Urban Legend in the public consciousness, one of Sims's inmates dies from the full body-paint job he got to play a role in Sims's little pageant. The nonsense about breathing through the skin is even discussed.
 Bedlam / int_e1f90397
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1.0
 Bedlam / int_e1f90397
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_e1f90397
 Bedlam / int_e3c36782
type
Call-Forward
 Bedlam / int_e3c36782
comment
Call-Forward: One of the inmates demonstrates a page-flip cartoon he's made of Nell ministering to the other inmates, and remarks that "If I could only get a light behind these pages I could throw them large as life up on the wall." The person he's addressing says they could charge admission.
 Bedlam / int_e3c36782
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 Bedlam / int_e3c36782
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_e3c36782
 Bedlam / int_f604f64b
type
Dude, She's Like in a Coma
 Bedlam / int_f604f64b
comment
Dude, She's Like in a Coma: When characterizing his various inmates as "dogs" who need beating, or "tigers" who need to be locked in cages, Sims brings Nell to a very young attractive who is standing against a support beam, staring out in a catatonic trance. He says "Some, like this one, are doves," and creepily caresses her cheek. It's strongly implied that he's sexually abusing her. Notably, at the end it's the catatonic woman who stabs Sims In the Back.
 Bedlam / int_f604f64b
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 Bedlam / int_f604f64b
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_f604f64b
 Bedlam / int_f8f71b5f
type
Buried Alive
 Bedlam / int_f8f71b5f
comment
Buried Alive: After the catatonic woman stabs Sims In the Back with the trowel, the inmates panic. They resolve to hide the body by walling it up, and to make out that Sims ran away in order for them to avoid blame. They proceed to do so—only for Sims to open his eyes and reveal that he is still alive right before the last brick is put in place.
 Bedlam / int_f8f71b5f
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 Bedlam / int_f8f71b5f
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_f8f71b5f
 Bedlam / int_fdb3b2b5
type
Lady Drunk
 Bedlam / int_fdb3b2b5
comment
Lady Drunk: Sims's niece, who is brought to Sims by Mortimer as a much more low-rent replacement for Nell. She insists on drinking gin instead of being more genteel and drinking wine as Sims tells her. She's also rather bitter and sarcastic.
 Bedlam / int_fdb3b2b5
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 Bedlam / int_fdb3b2b5
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 Bedlam
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Bedlam / int_fdb3b2b5
 Bedlam / int_name
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ItemName
 Bedlam / int_name
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 Bedlam / int_name
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Bedlam / int_name
 Bedlam / int_name
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Bedlam

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Bedlam
hasFeature
Bedlam House / int_7bca2171
 Bedlam
hasFeature
Body Paint / int_7bca2171
 Bedlam
hasFeature
Come to Gawk / int_7bca2171
 Bedlam
hasFeature
Compensated Dating / int_7bca2171
 Bedlam
hasFeature
Getting Crap Past the Radar / int_7bca2171
 Bedlam
hasFeature
The Place / int_7bca2171