The Flesh and the Fiends

Plot synopsis:
In 1828 Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr. Knox (Peter Cushing) is a highly skilled anatomist who draws large crowds of medical students to his lectures on the human body. Though he is constantly at odds with his stuffy, backwards colleagues, he is highly venerated by his students and believes his duty is to push the medical profession forward. Unfortunately, due to the laws of the time very few cadavers are legally available to the medical profession, necessitating the use of graverobbers or "Resurrection men" to procure additional specimens. Dr. Knox's assistant Dr. Mitchell (Dermot Walsh) and a young student named Jackson (John Cairney) and are given the task of buying the bodies, which are worth a small fortune... especially when fresh.
Meanwhile, drunken miscreants William Burke (George Rose) and William Hare (Donald Pleasence) discover that a lodger at Burke's boarding house has died still owing £4 in rent. When they find that the body can make them a handsome profit, they begin a career of murdering locals and selling them to the medical school. When Jackson goes to a local tavern to give Burke and Hare their pay, he becomes involved with tempestuous local prostitute Mary Patterson (Billie Whitelaw), who is also well-known to the killers.
Over time, Jackson and Mitchell begin to suspect that the bodies supplied by Burke and Hare are victims of foul play. Despite their concerns, Dr. Knox dismisses any attempt at going to the police. When Jackson's new girlfriend Mary becomes their latest victim, Jackson discovers her body in the lecture room and he too is killed when he confronts the murderous duo. When they murder a well-known mentally ill youth (Melvyn Hayes), however, they quickly become murder suspects and are caught by an angry mob. Hare agrees to turn King's Evidence against his former partner and is set free, though vindictive locals catch him and burn out his eyes. Burke is executed by hanging, still complaining that Dr. Knox never paid him for the final body.
Knox, for his part in the killings, is the object of widespread public outrage, but ultimately not punished or censured by his colleagues (to whom Dr. Mitchell eloquently defends him). Though he is free to continue lecturing, he ultimately feels guilt over his part in the horrors, admitting to his devoted niece Martha (June Laverick) that the murder victims "seemed so small in my scheme of things. But I knew how they died." The film ends with Knox, who assumes his lectures will now be empty, instead finding himself greeted with applause from a packed hall of students. Apparently a changed man, he begins his lecture with the Hippocratic Oath which includes the promise to "never do harm to anyone."

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
"The Flesh and the Fiends" tells the true story of William Burke and William Hare, corpse-suppliers to the ambitious surgeon and university professor Dr. Robert Knox.
I reckon that writer/director John Gilling then added some fictional elements to his film, like the characterizations of the main roles, since Hare's persona is almost blackly comical and Dr. Knox' attitude is stubborn and typically obnoxious like nearly every scientist in horror cinema.
Still, the escalation of the tragedy is truthfully illustrated with Burke and Hare getting into the body-snatching business coincidentally at first, but quickly specializing in it because of the good cash money and eventually even converting to murder in order to deliver the most 'quality'."The Flesh and the Fiends" isn't just a great historical film, it also is a praiseworthy horror achievement with a uniquely grim atmosphere and very convincing acting performances.
Peter Cushing is excellent in the  for him  familiar role of brilliant doctor but it especially are Donald Pleasance (hypocrite and self-centered) and George Rose (a simple-minded killer) who impress as Hare and Burke.
Peter Cushing plays a lecturing doctor in 19th century Edinburgh who must buy fresh corpses to teach his students about the mysteries of anatomy.
While the emphasis is on the doctor and the moral dilemmas he faces, Pleasance and Rose steal the show as Burke & Hare, no-goods who hit on the idea of providing their own, surprisingly fresh corpses ...This is an unbelievably vivid horror tale, gruesome and perverse, years ahead of its time.
Director John Gilling went on to make the Hammer classic 'The Plague Of Zombies' later in the 1960s, and stars Peter Cushing ('Twins Of Evil') and Donald Pleasence ('Halloween') both made a strong impact on the horror genre, so fans will be interested to see this for those reasons alone.
Cushing is excellent as the stubborn and driven Dr. Knox who needs a steady supply of corpses to dissect, and Pleasence plays the slimy William Hare, who along with his equally creepy colleague William Burke (George Rose), gleefully fills that need.
But it certainly is entertaining and worth watching for the terrific performances by Cushing, Pleasence and Rose, and also for Billie Whitelaw ('The Omen') who has a small but important supporting role as the love interest for one of Dr. Knox's medical students (John Cairney - 'Jason And The Argonauts')..
John Gilling's film is based on the true case of William Burke and William Hare who supplied the surgeon Dr. Robert Knox with fresh corpses in Edinburgh of the 1820s.
Determined to provide the best possible conditions for research, the ambitious and brilliant Dr. Knox (Peter Cushing) engages corpse-snatchers to supply his University with fresh bodies.
Two of the grave robbers, William Hare (Donald Pleasence) and William Burke (George Rose), however, have their very particular methods to bring in corpses that are especially fresh...Aditionally to the terrifying and fascinating story and the gloomy atmosphere, "The Flesh And The Fiends" also profits from a brilliant cast.
The great Peter Cushing, was doubtlessly one of the most remarkable and brilliant actors the World of Horror has ever seen (and ever will see), and he is once again excellent in the role of the dedicated scientist - a role that is familiar to Cushing, who is probably most famous for his portrayal of Baron Victor Frankenstein in the Hammer films.
The Flesh and the Fiends is nothing-less than a fairly truthful accounting of the original 'bodysnatchers,' Burke and Hare who resorted-to-murder after running-out of 'fresh' corpses for a Dr. Thomas Knox, of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dr. Knox was definitely aware at some point that Burke and Hare were murdering human-beings for money (this all paid-handsomely at the time), to provide him bodies.
Cushing's performance is also nuanced, illustrating the moral-dilemma that Knox must have felt utilizing the kind-of cadavers Burke and Hare provided him.
However, the script is a largely accurate version of the history of the body snatchers, Burke and Hare, and their main customer, Dr. Robert Knox.Although there are memorable performances in this film, it is Peter Cushing's work as Dr. Knox that ultimately stands out.
The film takes place in Edinburgh, and director John Gilling does an excellent job of ensuring that the city looks as foreboding as possible, and the perfect home for a story as macabre as this one.
The film follows the idea of having to break eggs to make an omelette, and sees Doctor Robert Knox buying corpses from a couple of murderous grave robbers in order for him to have subjects, from which new surgical procedures can be ascertained.
They begin their careers by simply taking bodies from graves; but once they realise how lucrative the business of selling cadavers is, they soon resort to making a few corpses of their own...The biggest name in the cast is the one belonging to the great Peter Cushing.
Peter Cushing plays the doctor who needs bodies in this fine adaptation of the Burke and Hare grave robbing case.Donald Pleasance and George Rose are both excellent as the infamous grave robbers.The film is truly atmospheric-full of packed bars,foggy streets and deep shadows-and the performance by Peter Cushing is simply amazing-Cushing is probably one of the most recognizable faces in the horror genre.The film has an eerie cinematic style reminiscent more of films from the 1940's than 1959.The first half of Gilling's story moves extremely slow,but the second half has some gruesome murder scenes.A must-see for fans of British horror!.
The film starts out promisingly with Dr. Knox lecturing medical students in anatomy, scoffing at his fellow physicians for their hypocrisy and old fashioned ways, and receiving cadavers from two questionable fellows - Hare (Donald Pleasance) and Burke (George Rose)- as subjects for the study of his students and himself.This is where he goes wrong.
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.
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.
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!
The story covers old ground here(The Body Snatcher with Boris Karloff for instance precurses this)about those two infamous body snatchers of Scotland Burke and Hare and the doctor who needs dead bodies to help find cures for the sick - Dr. Knox.
But as good as these two are, the real star of the film is that wonderful, under-appreciated British screen stalwart Peter Cushing, who makes cold stoicism seem so easy.
The fact that this movie is based on the true story of Burke and Hare-, two murderers who sold their victims to professor Knox, who uses them for his research, makes the movie even more interesting to watch.This movie is not really an horror movie, I would prefer to describe it as a dark-thriller.
My only complaint about the style is that it is a bit too dark at times, which makes the movie sometimes hard to follow.Peter Cushing is most certainly good in his role as Dr. Robert Knox but it really is Donald Pleasence who uplifts the movie with his performance.
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.
The notorious exploits of 19th century cadaver peddlers Burke & Hare have been the inspiration for numerous films, but none perhaps as faithful to the facts as 1959's "The Flesh and the Fiends." Although other movies have depicted the pair as grave robbers, here they are correctly shown to be not so much ghouls as brutal murderers who think nothing of slaying any drunkard, trollop or easy mark they come across to make a few extra guineas, selling their "fresh as a new-cut cabbage" wares to Dr. Robert Knox at a nearby Edinburgh medical school.
Though the pair's murders took place from 1827-28 in real life, here, the action is compressed to the span of a few days' time, and whereas in actuality Burke was a lodger at Hare's home, this picture reverses those roles, strangely.
Playing the real-life Dr. Knox, Peter Cushing gives one of the finest performances I have ever seen him contribute; he is truly superb here in his morally conflicted role.
The film is an aggressive recounting of the Burke & Hare horrors, with some love interest and of course a good deal of "wherefore art thou the medical profession?".
"The Flesh and the Fiends" has a lot going for it, including a cast of familiar genre faces (Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, and Billie Whitelaw), decent production values, and a distinctly eerie atmosphere.
Unfortunately, the story of an anatomy professor (Cushing) who uses fresh corpses brought in (and often killed) by two bums (including a pre-bald Pleasence) plays more as a straight drama than a horror film; there would be nothing wrong with this if the story had a hint of interest, but it doesn't.
An excellently made and acted British film that retells the true story of the Burke and Hare horrors of the 19th century.
Not Bad. FLESH AND THE FIENDS, THE (1959) D: John Gilling** (of ****)Okay film for one viewing, though I wish Peter Cushing was given more to do in it (he does have some good lines).
Interesting to see Donald Pleasence in the role of Hare (as in Burke & Hare) who supplies bodies for Dr. Knox (Cushing)..
In this film, Peter Cushing,(Doctor Robert Knox), Monster Island",'81 plays the surgeon who teaches and desires fresh bodies to experiment with and Donald Pleasence (William Hare),"Safe Haven",'95, does everything he can to help Dr. Knox with his experiments and at the same time earn schillings and pounds for his assistance.
The three central actors are Cushing (as Knox), Rose (ironically himself a murder victim a quarter century later - as Burke), and Pleasance (as Hare).
It was based on a Robert Louis Stevenson novel which was a fictional story based on real-life serial killers, William Burke and William Hare, who were WAAAY over-zealous in procuring corpses for the local medical school in Edinburgh.
Years later, in 1960, another variation of the William Burke and William Hare story came to the theaters, but this one (starring Peter Cushing) was not based on the Stevenson novel but the actual crimes.
The Flesh And The Fiends gives us the oft-told story of Burke And Hare - with a surprising amount of accuracy and some excellent performances.First of all we have Peter Cushing as Dr. Knox, a somewhat ruthless medical lecturer who is not exactly scrupulous as to where he gets his bodies for medical dissection.
He gives a layered and fascinating performance, only at the end of the movie displaying a conscience in a marvellous scene with a street gamin.And in George Rose and Donald Pleasence we have a Burke and Hare to savour.
A surprisingly effective retelling of the adventures and ultimate fates of the two grave robbers and murderers -- William Burke (George Rose) and William Hare (Donald Pleasance) -- and Dr. Knox, the lecturer on anatomy (Peter Cushing) who was complicit in their crimes.At the time, the mid-1800s in Edinburgh, Scotland, it was difficult for medical schools to come by cadavers for dissection.
The lighting seems to come from nowhere and what we're looking at appears to be a rather stark movie set instead of an atmospheric Edinburgh street.Burke and Hare eventually go too far -- knocking off victims that are well known and fondly thought of by some of the community -- but they don't really change.
Sterling casts highlights one of the better versions of the Burke and Hare story of the grave robbers who turn to murder to keep the flow of bodies flowing for the anatomy professor.
Here the cast includes Donald Pleasance as one of the grave robbers, Peter Cushing as the doctor buying their wares and the always wonderful Billie Whitelaw as a tavern girl caught up in the ghoulish proceedings.
Shocking, surprisingly potent horror feature about the possible downfall of Edinburgh anatomy professor Dr. Robert Knox(Peter Cushing with one eyelid collapsing)who illegally accepts murdered bodies from supposed graverobbers Hare & Burke(Donald Pleasence and George Rose).Burke and Hare's scheming of killing and supplying works until they murder Knox's apprentice Chris Jackson(John Cairney), Chris' prostitute lover Mary(Billie Whitelaw), and especially well-liked young Jamie(Melvyn Hayes).Cushing as the cold, logical doctor who abandons emotion because it just gets in the way of his work, and Pleasence as cruel scoundrel Hare are both chilling in their own way.This film should be quite an interesting pairing with the 1987 film, "The Doctor and the Devils" because both films deal with the same themes yet change in certain ways.
The movie features two horror icons  Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence  in performances that I consider to be among the best of their careers.
Well written and directed by John Gilling, this low budget British film is a surprisingly accurate rendering of the true story of body snatchers Burke and Hare in 1820's Edinburgh.
Peter Cushing is in fine form as the sarcastic and brilliant Dr. Knox, who doesn't ask questions as to where all the fresh bodies are coming from.
The team of Donald Pleasance ("Halloween") and George Rose (veteran musical comedy star) create a deadly duo here as they procure bodies for doctor Peter Cushing's medical class on performing autopsies.
Two local drunken lay abouts, William Burke (George Rose) and William Hare (Donald Pleasance), out to make a fast buck, are only too happy to oblige by murdering local people and then selling their bodies on to the doctor.
Aside from Cushing's customary excellent performance, his co-stars also do outstanding work, most notably Donald Pleasance and George Rose who are both funny and terrifying in equal measure as Burke and Hare.
Not only are Knox and the grave-robbers fleshed out, we also get three-dimensional medical students, their respective lovers (including a standout turn from Billie Whitelaw as a drunken young girl) and some bizarre characters thrown into the mix too – from blind street beggars to Daft Jamie, an affectionate village idiot played excellently by Melvyn Hayes.The film has a relatively slow pace to it, but builds up throughout, leading to a climax which also features some of the best acting work of Peter Cushing (as Doctor Knox), who is somewhat relegated to the sidelines midway through the film only to emerge at the finale with some stupendous acting work.
Cushing is outstanding in the part, just as good here as he was as Baron Frankenstein or Van Helsing.Also excellent are George Rose and Donald Pleasence as the twin pairing of Burke and Hare.
In 1820 Edinburgh, two man Hare and Burke are looking for a quick buck by turning to body snatching and suppling their corpses to an anatomist Dr. Knox.
But things change when they go one step to far and get caught in the act.'The Flesh and the Fiends' is a historically realistic account of the true story about the murders that were committed by Burke and Hare in Edinburgh of the early 19th century.
While, Cushing's stern performance is transfixing, Donald Pleasence and George Rose were incredibly persuasive as the colourfully upbeat body snatchers Hare and Burke that held such a cold-hearted and malevolent nature, with the carelessness of their greed causing their own downfall.