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The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)

Dir: John Gilling

1828, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dr. Robert Knox (Peter Cushing) is a driven man who will use any and all means to improve medical procedure and train a new breed of highly skilled Doctors and Surgeons.
To this end he is happy to use the service of ‘Resurrection Men’…Grave robbers…to get him the fresh corpses he needs to further his experiments, as the legal supply of the bodies of executed criminals is few, and far between and they are often very ripe once they get to the Doctor’s slab.

One such medical student of Knox’s is Chris Jackson (John Cairney) who is struggling in his studies despite the extra help the Doctor is giving him. A situation made worse when he catches the eye of feisty good time girl and some-time prostitute Mary (Billie Whitelaw, “The Omen.

Meanwhile, with the help of his uncertain but loyal assistant Dr. Mitchell (Dermot Walsh), who is currently courting Knox's niece Martha (June Laverick), Dr. Knox secretly experiments on the bodies brought to him by the unscrupulous, Irish immigrant, body snatchers Burke (George Rose) and Hare (Donald Pleasence).

When a chance opportunity sees Burke and Hare able to deliver a newly dead corpse to Knox for an even bigger fee, the two men take it upon themselves to ensure all their corpses are of such fresh quality by murdering those unfortunate enough to cross the threshold of their lodging house that they run with Burke’s equally nasty Wife, Helen (Renee Houston, “Repulsion“).

Soon though things start to spiral out of control and the already besieged Knox finds himself drawn into direct complicity with Burke and Hare and their dastardly crimes….

Director John Gilling ("The Mummy's Shroud") had walked the shadowy Edinburgh streets before with the notorious real life grave robbers Burke and Hare in 1948‘s Tod Slaughter vehicle “Horror Maniacs”, for which he wrote the screenplay. The film ran into ’national sensitivity’ censor trouble though and the characters of ‘Knox’, ‘Burke’ and ‘Hare’ had to all have their names changed by re-dubbing the entire film!
No such problems were forthcoming in 1960 though and Gilling had Leon Griffith alter his original “Maniacs” screenplay so it would morph into “The Flesh and the Fiends”. And they've created one hell of a script in the process.

A wonderfully atmospheric (wobbly tombstone aside) graveyard opening signposts the pretty strong images the film will show us as we watch a corpse being dug up.
For a film of this time it's quite shocking to actually see the stiff, burial shroud dressed, corpse being dragged from it's earthen bed, the dead eyes staring into the night.
In fact the film, like indeed Knox himself, treats the many corpses we see as so much meat and matter of factly displays them laid out on slabs, hauled around , dropped, dumped and coldly tossed into brine filled tanks with surprising explicitness.

Actually the violence in the film, at least in this non-BBFC censored ‘Continental’ version on the 'Image' DVD that is being reviewed, is like those aforementioned shots of the corpses as it's explicit in detail and cold blooded in attitude.
The smothering of an old woman is extremely uncomfortable viewing due to the (relatively as far as film's go) extended time it takes her to die and the shots of her bulging, terrified eyes staring out above the grimy hand that is killing her. The cruelty is heightened also by Hare's gloating mockery of her stifled struggles.

This being the longer 'Continental Print' we not only have this extra smattering of violence but the odd exposed breast here and there as well. Something that still looks weird in a gothic, black and white, British film.
Such moments are most welcome though as the violence honestly documents the way Burke and Hare kill and essays this violent period in history in general and the nudity adds a touch of authentic sleaze to the dingy bars and smoky back rooms. And the nude scenes are used in such a way that they feel naturally part of the film and not crude, after the fact, additions. Something helped by the appearance of the main actors in them.

The sets are wonderfully crafted and the Edinburgh set itself is large and detailed allowing for some nice crowd scenes. In fact, a briefly blinking corpse and that rocking tombstone aside, the film is technically as sharp as the acting performances in it.

And yes, above all this is actor’s film.
Under a subtle make-up appliance that makes one eyelid droops, this is Peter Cushing in fine and eloquent form as the morally complex Knox (like his Baron Frankenstein, only without the murderous urges) and the charged scenes with his fellow Doctors are an absolute joy as he calmly rips into their pomposity and shreds reputations with his barbed wit and a daring attitude towards speaking the truth no matter how much it shames these men of professional standing.
The viewer's skin tingles with delight as Cushing circles his prey, his hands clasped behind his back, letting loose poison dart after poison dart of masterly exhaled truths and hard facts at the men who would take him on, piecing darts that strike home each time and kill just a little bit more of the grandiose self-worth that these blustering fools pump themselves up with.
It's prime Cushing and shows just how great he was at not just delivering his lines, but also in his mastery of the frame as he ensures the audiences eyes are nowhere else other than on his prowling form. And it has to be acknowledged that the script by John Gilling and Leon Griffiths bristles with the kind of dialogue any actor would love.
"Croak your miserable way to the Law courts, if you dare! I shall meet you on the steps with a torchlight to scorch into your souls, and leave them bare as a warning to your future victims!
Now if you would be so good to incline your heads to the right you will observe the door...please use it".
Utterly wonderful!
Only when he finally feels dead weight of Burke and Hare's crimes on his shoulders does this confident front crumble, and here we have another side of Cushing's ability, to essay the soft spoken delivery of a damaged man.

Knox is given some grand dialogue throughout the entire film in fact.
Be it comic slights like "Oh yes, Parliament. With 500 walking corpses there you'd think they could spare one. The member for Edinburgh would do nicely", or those withering speeches as Cushing delivers the astute views and cutting remarks of his character with all the skill of a surgeon's knife.
A prime example is during a dinner party when he is arguing that the 'resurrection men' do a valuable job in getting corpses to Doctors so they can experiment and learn.
A nearby Reverend states that it is a desecration of the soul to unearth the dead from their hallowed ground. To which Knox replies:
Knox: "I can show you the heart dear Reverend. can you show me the soul"?
Rev: "It is there".
Knox: "Where? Beneath the armpit, between the eyes, deep in the abdomen"?
Rev: "Just because you can't see it does not disprove it's existence".
Guest: "After all, you can't see a thought".
Knox: "No. But you try having one without a brain"!

As we can see Knox is no man of God, although he obviously keeps an open mind. But if he does believe in some Higher Being he sees it as an outer force that has no meaning to the inner workings of mankind and it's society.
There is no place for God in an operating room where a Surgeon's hard learnt scientific knowledge of the human body can kill or cure. And if God’s supposed will, as preached by his earthly apostles, stands in the way of learning then death can be swifter and more certain than any supposed celestial lightning bolt could ever be.

The other Doctors are essayed as the complete opposites of Knox. They would never be so open in their use grave robbing and would draw the line at handling suspiciously fresh corpses, Heaven forbid!
But their callous attitude towards their patients and their willingness to shrug off, (or even cover up) , moments of glaring incompetence that cost people their lives are just as immoral.
The plain fact is that despite Knox using the services of grave robbers and knowingly accepting murdered bodies for his experiments...it is he you would want operating on you and not the others!

George Rose and Donald Pleasence (here still very much up and coming) are in wonderful form as the pitch black comedy creations of Burke and Hare. The matter of fact brutality of their murders, as they happily pocket Knox's money as their latest victim stares up from a crate at their feet, makes them a couple of true grotesques and Pleasence in particular is in fine impish form as a man who willingly dances on the dead to ensure he is first at the bar with a murderous glint in his eye.

The sub-plot involving Jackson and Mary seems of little importance to the main plot at first and does takes screen-time away from the more interesting Knox, Burke and Hare characters. But this aspect of the story becomes slightly more important later on and really it's only because Cushing, Pleasence and Rose (and their characters) are so fascinating to spend time with that we initially resent their encroachment on the main body snatcher plot.
Billie Whitelaw (a genuinely sexy firebrand in her youth) is very good though as the desperate prostitute who wants to break out of the drudgery of her life on the more socially acceptable arm of Chris Jackson. Her speech during a backroom orgy is expertly delivered with all that passion she would bring to all her later roles.

Badly mistreated on VHS for years this mini-classic of the genre has at last been made available in a fully restored (at least in the ‘Continental’ Version), widescreen DVD from ‘Image‘. The non-nudity, slightly trimmed for violence, British release version is also on there, but you will want the full strength experience when you watch this great dialogue filled, superbly acted slice of gothic melodrama and shock. And it’s an absolute must see for any Peter Cushing fans as he gives one of his finest performances ever.