Burke and Hare (1971)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1971
Running Times: 98 mins
Length: 8,833 ft
Format: colour     35mm
Ratio:
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Kenneth Shipman Prods / Armitage
Executive Producer: Kenneth Shipman
Producer: Guido Coen

SCRIPT
Script: Ernie Bradford

DIRECTION
Director: Vernon Sewell

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Desmond Dickinson

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: John Colville

MUSIC
Music: Roger Webb

SOUND
Re-Recording Mixer: Gerry Humphreys

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Pat Moore

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Scott Macgregor

CAST
Derren Nesbitt (Burke)
Harry Andrews (Dr Knox)
Glynn Edwards (Hare)
Yootha Joyce (Mrs Hare)
Dee Shenderey (Mrs Burke)
Françoise Pascal (Marie)
Alan Tucker (Arbuthnot)
Robin Hawdon (Lord Angus McPhee)
Paul Greaves (Ferguson)
Joan Carol (Madame Thompson)
Yutte Stensgaard (Janet)
Katya Wyeth (Natalie)
Kerry Nesbitt (Flora)
Keith Anderson, Brian Croucher (clients in brothel)
Roger Avon (2nd guard)
Stewart Bevan (Bruce)
Victor Brooks (butler)
John J. Carney (Guard MacKenzie)
Susan Coates (Polly)
Noel Coleman (fire chief)
Maudie Edwards (woman passer-by)
Caron Gardner (Maggie)
James Hayter (Dr Selby)
Thomas Heathcote (Paterson)
Charles Houston (barman)
Alan Judd (Mr Murdoch)
Duncan Lamont (Dr Saint)
Paul Luty (Cruncher)
Reg Lye (Old Joe)
Roy Macready (Merrilees)
Lindsay Marsh (Liz)
Stanley McGeagh (Sergeant MacTavish)
John Moore (boy)
Ken Parry (fat man in brothel)
Christine Pilgrim (Rosie)
Frederick Piper (lodger)
David Pugh (Daft Jamie)
Joan Rhodes (Hairy Mary)
Bill Shine, Jerold Wells (landlords)
Madoline Thomas (Mary Doherty)
Kenneth Thornett (Councillor Gordon)
Bob Todd (Guard Campbell)
Caroline Yates (Annie)

PLOT SUMMARY

Edinburgh surgeon Dr Knox employs the dubious services of Burke and Hare, a pair of grave robbers to find corpses for his anatomy classes. Grave robbing turns to murder as the pair get out of hand and Knox is eventually implicated in the crimes.

CAPSULE REVIEW

Vernon Sewell gave a rest to his increasingly desperate attempts to remake The Medium (1951) and instead, working from a lacklustre script, made this very poor take on the infamous tale. The attempts to critically rehabilitate Sewell and rescue him from the oblivion to which he has been cast are given no support by this tedious effort which simply reaffirms the long held believe that Sewell is nothing but a hack. The fact that he was capable of interesting work like Man in the Back Seat (1960), Ghost Ship (1952) and above all House of Mystery (1961) suggest that his talents were no accident - Burke and Hare, on the other hand, suggest that maybe his detractors have been right all along. His reliance on dull sex scenes to pep things up a bit smack of desperation - in truth, it really needed a dose of historical accuracy, or the very least a semblance of authentic ambience. Here, late 19th century Edinburgh looks like - and seems to be populated by rejects from - a particularly bad Carry On farce.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: United Artists

USA
Theatrical Distributor: New World
Video Distributor: New World Home Video
Laserdisc Distributor: Image Entertainment (ID 7442 RG)

UK
Rating: X (with cuts)

USA
Rating: R

1971
August
12: UK - rated X by the BBFC (for theatrical release)

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

The Horrors of Burke and Hare

SEE ALSO
The Anatomist (1939)
The Anatomist (1961)
Play of the Month: The Anatomist (1980)
The Body Snatcher (1945)
The Doctor and the Devils (1985)
Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
The Flesh and the Fiends (1959)
The Greed of William Hart (1948)

MAGAZINES

Monthly Film Bulletin February 1972 p.28 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Variety 12 May 1971 p.117 (USA)
credits, review

Video Watchdog no.11 pp.20-21 (USA)
review

BOOKS

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.58
credits, review

Horror and Science Fiction Films Volume II p.48
credits

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.51
credits

Ten Years of Terror pp.87-89
illustrated credits, review (by Kim Newman)

body snatchers; true crime; doctors