The Greed of William Hart

1948
1h 20m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A story of body snatchers in Edinburgh, based on Burke and Hare.A story of body snatchers in Edinburgh, based on Burke and Hare.A story of body snatchers in Edinburgh, based on Burke and Hare.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

249

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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9:57

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Trivia
The script was originally written and filmed as a tale of William Burke and William Hare, real-life partners in the selling to medical schools of cadavers they obtained by both murder and grave-robbing (Burke was hanged in 1829; Hare avoided this fate by testifying against him). However, the British censors refused to allow the film's release because of national sensitivities toward the infamous "resurrectionists." Therefore, to get the film out, the producers had to re-record the soundtrack, replacing the names of Burke with Hart, Hare with Moore, and Dr. Knox with Dr. Cox. The new names were then meticulously cut into the original soundtrack: one can easily lip-read "Burke", "Hare" and "Knox" as applicable, however. Due to the cost of this activity, there was no money left for a music track.

Goofs
Names of some characters dubbed (see trivia entry.)

Connections
Features Pour sauver sa race (1916)

A generous slice of ham horror

Surprising to find this was filmed in 1948, it has that same very slow pacing of the pre-war classic horrors such as the incomparable Dracula in 1936. It is very much in the tradition of Victorian stage melodrama and there was no greater exponent and resurrectionist of the genre than Todd Slaughter, florid theatrical actor-manager and famous ham who here makes his last film outing. Surrounded by some excellent character actors - Henry Oscar and Aubrey Woods, the normally OTT Slaughter is more confined but perhaps more effective. In a way this is a film noir - for reasons perhaps of economy, exteriors are all studio bound at night but in portraying the dingy canyon like lanes of Edinburgh works very well. The production is rather stagey - but stage melodrama was Slaughter's speciality. The plot is wordy but quite involving and genuinely grim

Not exactly a must-see but for those interested in the more curious British films certainly well worth watching. Thanks yet again to Talking Pictures TV for screening it

A 6.5