Burke & Hare

Briefly, this is not a patch on the Boris Karloff version.

The introductory 70s music/soundtrack is pathetic and cheesy.

Some elements are macabre (no surprise there), but, gratingly, these are mixed with some feeble quasi-comic elements and some cheap 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner' style sex scenes with prostitutes.

This could have been 6.5 for a decent remake. Harry Andrews plays Dr. Knox and rises above the material and script. Derren Nesbitt Gestapo Officer in Where Eagles Dare) and Glynn Edwards (Dave from Minder) are also above average.

Overall disappointing. Feel free to watch it as a curio, but make sure you have something else to do at the same time such as ironing, mending something or reading a newspaper.

Two men go into business supplying medical colleges with cadavers by robbing graves.

What you might recall about this film more than anything else is its theme song, which is certainly rather fun and moving. Bringing this tale to life is important and a great addition to horror cinema. Sure, it had been done before as "The Body Snatcher" and "The Flesh and the Fiends"... but it is my understanding that this was the first to be so explicit in the title.

The film also asks another question, perhaps philosophical or ethical: do dead bodies have value? Certainly murder is a terrible crime, but what of people who died naturally? Certainly their owners do longer need them -- why not be taken for medical science? (We now have donor cards and the like, but indeed, how were surgeons to learn their craft without practice?)

I recently watched the UK picture 🇬🇧 Burke & Hare (1972) on a random streaming service. The storyline follows two men in 1800s Britain looking to make a quick buck when they discover a medical school will pay handsomely for corpses-the fresher, the better. Naturally, they must find a way to keep supplying the school with "premium" bodies...

This film is directed by Vernon Sewell (Terror Ship) and stars Paul Luty (Juggernaut), Derren Nesbit (Where Eagles Dare), Françoise Pascal (The Iron Rose), and Robin Hawdon (When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth).

This horror-comedy is far smarter than it has any right to be. It cleverly depicts the wealthy exploiting the poor to achieve their goals while keeping class divisions firmly in place. The film also features a terrific opening and closing song, with sets, costumes, and props that feel authentic and pull the audience into its gritty world.

The dark humor is sharp, especially in the way the bumbling grave robbers stumble and fail through various schemes. There's also no shortage of attractive women, along with the era-typical topless horror nudity that's expected from this era.

In conclusion, Burke & Hare is a surprisingly clever mix of comedy, horror, and social commentary. I'm glad I stumbled upon it and would score it a solid 7/10.

Disappointing horror/comedy account of Irish body snatchers who were operating in Edinburgh in the 1820's. More comic than horrific, much of the focus is on sexual comedy with a lot of the film taking place in a brothel. Plenty of nudity, very popular in the early 1970's, horror specialists Hammer themselves were doing this. Pity Hammer didn't do a straight horror version of this, likewise the Carry On team could have undoubtably made a much funnier movie. Lucky Derren Nesbitt as Burke shares a topless threesome romp with beauties Francoise Pascal and Yutte Strensgaard, and at least his accent sounds Irish. Glynn Edwards was great as Cockney barman Dave in ITV's "Minder" but is sadly quite poor as Hare, he is among several characters who have very unconvincing accents. It has a few good moments but overall I found this movie rather dull, the 2010 version is far better.

How to tell the true story of notorious grave robbers Burke and Hare? As a bawdy sex comedy of course! Throw in an extremely silly theme song that tells of the lads escapades and you soon begin to wonder just what in hell they were trying to achieve with this one. At points it takes its material seriously but quite a lot of the rest of the time, it's a knockabout comedy, with the central characters a pair of lovable rogues who go about killing people. I know time is a healer but it makes you hope that in several years time film-makers don't think enough time has passed to make a musical comedy called Fred & Rose.