L'impasse aux Violences

Solid, well-crafted but rather patchy cinematic treatment of the saga of notorious 19th Century "Resurrectionists" Burke and Hare and their unorthodox employer Dr. Robert Knox; in the vein of Hammer horror (featuring two of their most notable participants in Cushing and Gilling) though the lack of color makes it seem a half-hearted attempt (even if, with an eye on the low-budget, it was probably a conscious choice by the film-makers as the intentions were clearly of a serious undertaking)!

Anyway, the best thing about the film - apart from the vivid recreation of the era - are the performances of Peter Cushing (as the cold Dr. Knox, not unlike Baron Frankenstein), Donald Pleasance (an impressive early performance as the oily but quick-thinking Hare - his come-uppance is especially eerie) and Billie Whitelaw (as the proverbial "tart with a heart of gold" who ends up as one of the victims); Burke is played as a scurrilous but jovial brute (but who murders with the apparent complicity of his own wife) by character actor George Rose. Dr. Knox's condescending attitude towards his fellow colleagues also provides a number of entertaining confrontation scenes (my favorite line is during their face-off at his house, when he brusquely terminates the discussion by instructing them to "incline their heads slightly to the left...{in order to} observe the door...{and could they} please use it!"); Cushing, of course, is equally commanding while addressing his lectures or when scrutinizing the newest corpse.

The film makes a fine, though essentially unpleasant, companion piece to the more literate and subtle THE BODY SNATCHER (1945); the theme was again handled (by another horror veteran, Freddie Francis) a quarter of a century later in THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS (1985) - while Gilling himself had contributed to the script of an earlier variation, THE GREED OF WILLIAM HART (1948), starring Tod Slaughter! By the way, the producing team of Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman (who doubled as cinematographer) also brought to the screen the nefarious deeds of other historical figures such as JACK THE RIPPER (1959) and THE HELLFIRE CLUB (1961; upcoming on DVD from Dark Sky Films).

Image's DVD also includes the "Continental Version" which contains about a minute of more explicit violence and nudity (in the many tavern sequences) - though this only helps render it even more unsavory than it already is! The prints are distractingly soft throughout, and the severe widescreen ratio (2.35:1) hampers somewhat the viewer's complete involvement (at least on a normal T.V. screen); the "Continental Version" fares even worse, showing more damage and having rather scratched audio to boot! Unfortunately, the liner notes by Jonathan Sothcott were not available with my copy: it's probable that the disc was initially released as a snapper-case (with the essay on the inner sleeve) but was then dropped when re-issued in the more manageable keep-case!

John Gilling's (The Mummy's Shroud) film is listed as a horror film, but it is really an exciting thriller about an anatomy teacher (Peter Cushing) and grave-robbers (Donald Pleasence - Halloween, Dracula, & George Rose).

Billie Whitelaw (Hott Fuzz, The Omen), with two BAFTA wins and four more nominations, plays a prostitute that falls for one of the medical students (John Cairney).

The grave-robbers find that it is easier just to kill someone and sell them, than to dig them up. It wasn't long before Mary (Whitelaw) had a spat with Chris (Cairney) and fell into the clutches of the murderers.

Imagine Chris' surprise when she shows up on the slab in class the next day.

Soon, the grave-robbers were committing murders to cover up their murders.

Excellent performances by Pleasence, who got what he deserved in a weird sense, Cushing, and Dermot Walsh, as Cushing's assistant. A fascinating story that is supposedly based upon a true event.

Nice film boasts a main and support cast are frankly magnificent , here standing out the starring trio : Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, George Rose , doing equally compelling turns . A suspenseful and interesting terror romp about two men go into business supplying Edinburgh medical college with cadavers by robbing graves . Good Horror flick with with excellent dark and light atmosphere creating an eerie and ghastly scenario . It is set in 1828, Edinburgh , Scotland, murderers William Hare (Donald Pleasence) and William Burke (George Rose) provide corpses to surgeon Dr. Knox (Peter Cushing) who does medical research on cadavers he buys them , without questioning the unethical procurement methods .Meanwhile , an obstinate officer begins to suspect the origin of the numerous corpses Hare and Burke deliver . The peculiar couple of no-count grave robbers and murderers who are supplying fresh anatomical specimens to esteemed professor Dr. Knox of the Edinburgh Medical College in 19th century Scotland by embarking on a lucrative killing spree . Along the way, one of Knox's students, Chris Jackson (John Cairney) , meets barmaid Mary Patterson (Billie Whitelaw) when he goes to the tavern to pay off the grave robbers and become involved with her . As Burke and Hare decide to embrace and continue a proactive approach and embark on a grisly slaughter more and more horrible . Then Dr. Geoffrey Mitchell (Dermot Walsh) starts suspecting the weird origin of the several bodies from Hare and Burke . Murder was their business!.Coffins Looted! Cadavers Dissected! No Job Too Small. No Body Too Big. No Questions Asked. They're making a killing. True love costs an arm and a leg. The pimps and the prostitutes and the body-snatchers. The brothels and dens of iniquity.

A scary and violent yarn about two heinous grave-robbers providing dead bodies for illegal medical research in charge of Dr. Knox , including terrific acting from Donald Pleasence and George Rose as sinister gravediggers , they create authentic macabre set pieces as well as displaying frightening and panic. This true story has been adapted a number of times , in fact this engaging tale was adapted by prestigious writer Robert Louis Stevenson himself in the novel The Body Snatcher . In Burke and Hare (2010) medical experimets meet terror movie with extreme violence and nudism at the time. Tension , horror, thriller , and eerie scenes appear lurking , menacing in graveyard , dark slums , home stairs , rooms and cementery . All characters in the story are present and partially correct , with Donald Pleasence and George Rose actually doing very well as the eponymous and disturbing duo and both of whom share compellingly the astonishingly creepy as well as sadistic scenes together . And Peter Cushing is on hand to ham it as the stubborn scientist Dr Knox. This pair really convey the whole sleaziness/perversity of the subject, and do so in a fun way , too ; it's a good double-act . As Donald Pleasence and George Rose give deliciously hammy portrayals , displaying a lively and engaging chemistry as our titular gruesome twosome, while Peter Cushing is perfect , as always as Dr. Robert Knox . And enjoyable secondary cast contributing likable turns , such as : Billie Whitelaw lending appropriate support as the shrewish Mary Patterson , June Laverick as Martha Knox , Renee Houston as Helen Burke , Dermot Walsh as Dr. Geoffrey Mitchell , John Cairney as student Chris Jackson , Melvyn Hayes, among others . The film gets the adequate and evocative atmosphere in luxurious black and white , thanks to cameraman Monty Berman. Being well produced by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman who financed a lot of terror movies with their company : Triad Productions . The motion picture was competently directed by John Gilling . He was a good craftsman , a notorious writer/producer/director with a long career who made movies of all kinds of genres such as : The Gilded Cage, The Guilty Person, The Embezzler, Double Exposure, Escape by Night, Recoil , Deadly Nightshade , The Voice of Merrill, The Frightened Man , The Quiet Woman ; but he standed out in Horror genre , such as : The Plague of the Zombies, Panic , The Mummy's Shroud , The Gamma People, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire , Devil's Cross, The Reptil and The Flesh and the Fiends.

This Buke and Hare story has been also rendered in the following films : ¨The Body Snatcher¨ (1945) by Robert Wise with Boris Karloff , Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell ; ¨The Flesh and the Fiends¨ (1960) by John Gilling with Peter Cushing, June Laverick , Donald Pleasence , George Rose ; ¨Burke & Hare¨ (1972) by Vernon Sewell with Darren Nesbitt , Harry Andrews , James Hayter , Yutte Stensgaard . And Burke & Hare (2010) by John Landis with Simon Pegg , Andy Serkis , Tom Wilkinson , Michael Smiley, Tim Curry , Bill Bailey , among others.

(aka: MANIA)

This is sort of a variation of the Val Lewton film, THE BODY SNATCHER (1945) starring Boris Karloff with the original story written by Robert Louis Stevenson.

This version is quite good (although I still prefer the earlier film) with an effectively creepy atmosphere that has the look of a Hammer flick, even though Hammer Studios didn't participate in this one.

Peter Cushing plays a medical professor who employs grave robbers (Donald Pleasance and George Rose) in order to steal freshly buried corpses for his medical anatomy classes. The robbers get greedy for more money so they start killing people in order to supply more fresh corpses. At first it's done without the doctor's knowledge, but then when some evidence turns up casting doubt upon the whole affair, he turns a blind eye about it and doesn't seem to care.

We all know justice prevails in the end although I thought the last minute of the film where Cushing restores faith in his students, looked a little too down-pat to me. But only the lower classes suffer the consequences while the upper class gets off scot-free, right?

The Image DVD has both the censored UK version and the Continental version that contains scenes of barmaids with their tops slipping down exposing their breasts. You can also tell because the quality of these deleted scenes is grainer that the film as a whole. I guess they needed something racier for the continental audiences to watch, although Billie Whitelaw gets to keep her top on. Bummer.

The widescreen b/w print is in fair condition with some bad splices and flaking in some scenes, but it's a vast improvement over the old Sinister Cinema VHS tape that was floating around a few years back. Other extras include posters and stills.

6 out of 10

Now that this film has been restored for DVD by Image Entertainment, it is a joy to watch -- nice but not flashy photography and directing, and masterful but not overbearing acting make this a good find. But it's not quite as satisfying as "The Body Snatcher" on the same Burke/Hare theme because it doesn't engage the dark undertones of the human psyche through its sadistic "graverobbers" as much as the Karloff film, but instead dwells more on the scientific ethics issues. Still, some sick, slightly scary scenes with Pleasence. Cushing is excellent as always. If you saw this on video or TV, you might want to give it a second look (like I did) on DVD because it looks a whole lot better.