Like so many early 1970s British horror movies, I first saw BURKE & HARE at a drive-in as part of a double or triple bill. I don’t remember what else was showing that night but this was the movie that I came to see and it wasn’t the first feature on the program. I knew director Vernon Sewell from two earlier films, THE CRIMSON CULT and THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR (both 1968) and from being mentioned in David Pirie’s landmark study of British horror cinema, A HERITAGE OF HORROR. Neither of the two movies I mentioned were particularly good but they were entertaining and well made and boasted powerhouse horror casts (Peter Cushing, Robert Flemyng, Christopher Lee, Barbara Steele, Michael Gough, and Boris Karloff). This one didn’t have the cast but it was about Burke & Hare.
I am fascinated by the Burke & Hare saga. Though he was hanged in 1829 Burke’s skeleton, along with a calling card case made from his skin, is still on display in Edinburgh. I am also a huge admirer of John Gilling’s 1959 version of the story THE FLESH & THE FIENDS. I have all 5 of the major cinematic versions of the story and this one is by far and away the weakest of the set which is too bad because there was real potential here. The problem is that the producers wanted to have their cake and eat it too. They combined a horror movie with a period sex romp in the vein of FANNY HILL. The bordello scenes look like a completely different movie. The lighting is different, the music is cheerful, and the editing between the two storylines is very haphazard. This is really too bad because the B & H scenes are well staged and well acted by Derren Nesbit & Glynn Edwards. Yootha Joyce and Dee Shenderey are also very good as the women behind the men. Harry Andrews looks the part of Dr. Knox but lacks the depth of Peter Cushing’s characterization but then he doesn’t appear to be trying.
I suspect that director Sewell envisioned a different film altogether as this lacks the tight editing of his other movies. What he thought of BURKE & HARE is probably best summarized by the fact that he quit the business after this one. Producer Kenneth Shipman, taking advantage of the new relaxed standards, made sure that there was plenty of female flesh on display including Yuute Stensgaard’s (she had been in Hammer’s LUST FOR A VAMPIRE the year before). Throw in a little kinky behavior witnessed through peepholes and you have what looks like a spread for PLAYBOY magazine (or maybe it’s PENTHOUSE since they’re British). I can’t really recommend the film except for B & H completists (LOL) but this Redemption DVD looks gorgeous and there’s even a Blu-Ray edition for those so inclined. John Landis obviously borrowed the film’s overall comic tone for his 2010 BURKE & HARE with Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis.
The Capsule Critic 