Burke & Hare (1972)

Two men go into business supplying medical colleges with cadavers by robbing graves.

Director:

Vernon Sewell

Writer:

Ernle Bradford (screenplay)

Stars:

Paul Luty, Roy Macready, Derren Nesbitt

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Luty	...	Cruncher
Roy Macready	...	Merrilees
Derren Nesbitt	...	Burke
Susan Coates	...	Polly
Françoise Pascal	...	Marie
Christine Pilgrim	...	Rosie
Joan Carol	...	Madame Thompson
Robin Hawdon	...	Lord Angus McPhee
Kenneth Thornett	...	Councillor Gordon
Yutte Stensgaard	...	Janet
Katya Wyeth	...	Natalie (as Katya Wyath)
Caroline Yates	...	Annie
Glynn Edwards	...	Hare
Yootha Joyce	...	Mrs. Hare
Dee Shenderey	...	Mrs. Burke

Storyline

Two men go into business supplying medical colleges with cadavers by robbing graves.

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Plot Keywords:

cadaver | grave robbing | fetish | catfight | caning | 

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Taglines:

The pimps and the prostitutes and the body-snatchers. The brothels and dens of iniquity.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 February 1972 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Bodysnatchers

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Armitage, Kenneth Shipman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final feature film of Frederick Piper.

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Goofs

When "Daft Jamie" is being shown at the medical school, in the close up of his foot, his toe's move.

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Quotes

[telling an anecdote over dinner with Dr Selby]
Dr. Knox: He was a great barrel-chest of a man - heart like a steam engine, lungs like a pair of bellows. "Slip your trews down, man," I say. So he lets his trews fall down round his feet. "And your under-drawers," I say. "How can I examine you with your drawers on?" "I'd rather not," he says. "I'm very sensitive - it's my person, it's very small". "Good heavens, man!" I say, "That's nothing to worry about. I see dozens of them every day - big ones, small ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

A "European" version was issued, with considerably more female nudity.

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Connections

Version of Horror Maniacs (1948)

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Soundtracks

Burke and Hare
Music by Roger Webb
Lyrics by Norman Newell
Sung by The Scaffold

User Reviews

BURKE & HARE (Vernon Sewell, 1972) **1/2

Fairly maligned but, in retrospect, reasonably enjoyable version of the notorious body-snatching double act – played here by Derren Nesbitt (a regular in director Sewell's work) and Glynn Edwards (surprisingly, for a title role, played by a prolific character actor rather than a star or even a familiar face); both men are now married and their spouses get wind of their nefarious activities before long. The end is also closer to the truth, with Hare turning State's Evidence (eventually dying blind and destitute), leaving Burke to hang alone, and Dr. Knox (a typically full-blooded Harry Andrews, with an eye-patch over his right eye and given to cracking dirty jokes for his colleagues' amusement!) – the eminent surgeon they sold the bodies to – being expelled from his profession but subsequently setting up a traveling medicine show! Oddly enough, the rivalry between Knox and the other surgeon-lecturers is all but inexistent here!

The style is agreeably redolent of Hammer Films (nicely book-ended by recreations of period illustrations dealing with the case), though like the brand-new John Landis rendition, the tone is bawdily comic rather than the sleazy seriousness adopted by two more British treatments of these events (unfolding in 1820s Edimburgh) by notable directors – John Gilling's THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS (1959) and Freddie Francis' THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS (1985), both of which I had reviewed soon after their first viewing. For the record, the screenplay is the handiwork of Ernle Bradford; his major claim to fame was penning the bestselling chronicle of The Great Siege of Malta of 1565 and, not only is a street in my hometown named after him, but he was to die on our shores in 1986!

The brothel scenes (ostensibly demonstrating Knox's students' leisure time, as well as provide convenient victims for the titular duo, but all-too-obviously mandated by the new-fangled permissiveness) feel rather like padding – incidentally, former Hammer starlet Yutte Stensgaard appears briefly as one such prostitute (which she unconvincingly plays drunk much of the time!). One unexpected asset, however, is a rollicking folk-tune sung by The Scaffold during the film's opening and closing titles.

I do not know if the copy I acquired is culled from the film's DVD edition (through Redemption) but it came accompanied by an interesting 12-minute 'lecture' featuring an unusual-looking (displaying tattoos and piercings galore!) female Professor who, amongst other things, parallels the real-life Dr. Knox's dabbling in body parts so that others may live with the literary figure of Baron Frankenstein attempting to re-animate composites of dead tissue (especially since both came by them illegally).