Lewton's last film for RKO was inspired by a scene from William Hogarth's Rake's Progress. A sardonic title card establishes the setting as London in 1761, the “Age of Reason.” Wealthy and worldly wits visit the St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum to gawk at those whose reason has departed: “Are there any who come to Bedlam and say the entertainment is not worth the tuppence they pay?” asks asylum-keeper Sims (Boris Karloff), anticipating many a Hollywood huckster. When one of the wits, Nell Bowen (Anna Lee), shows stirrings of reformist impulse, she is herself condemned to Bedlam, where calls of her name echo through the chambers like voices in her head, and social satire turns to social nightmare. With asylum inmates who mumble lines from Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno between bestial cries, Bedlam may be the pinnacle of Lewton's mad penchant for combining artistic, literary, and historical reference with studio-marketable sensation. It's worth far more than the few pence you'll pay.
—Juliet Clark