The Flesh and the Fiends *** (1960, Peter Cushing, June Laverick, George Rose, Donald Pleasence, Renée Houston, Billie Whitelaw, Dermot Walsh) – Classic Movie Review 10,872

The 1828-set real-life Burke and Hare story is one of the staples of horror movies and here it is again in a fair-to-good chiller from writer-director John Gilling in the 1960 British black and white horror film The Flesh and the Fiends [Mania].

Strong performances from British stalwarts Peter Cushing, June Laverick, George Rose, Donald Pleasence, Renée Houston, Billie Whitelaw and Dermot Walsh propel the old tale about grave robbers Burke (Rose) and Hare (Pleasence) supplying bodies for medical dissection anatomical research experiments, especially those of medical doctor Robert Knox (Cushing), in ye anciente Edinburghe.

Alas, with supply trailing behind demand, Burke and Hare graduate from grave robbing to killing to sell the bodies for anatomical research to please their eager customers.

This fast-paced, well-plotted, atmospheric chiller was quite dark and gruesome for its time.

John Gilling previously wrote the screenplay 12 years earlier for another film about Burke and Hare, The Greed of William Hart (1948), but in the end that time the film was unable to use the actual names of the killers, thanks to intervention by the British Board of Film Censors, who demanded all references to the real-life murderers were removed, leading to last-minute re-titling and re-dubbing with different character names.

Also in the cast are John Cairney, Melvyn Hayes, June Powell, Geoffrey Tyrrell, Beckett Bould, Andrew Faulds, Philip Leaver, George Woodbridge, Garard Green, and Esma Cannon.

Writers: John Gilling (original story), John Gilling (screenplay) and Leon Griffiths (screenplay).

It follows The Body Snatcher (1945) and The Greed of William Hart (1948).

See also Burke and Hare (1972).

Burke and Hare murdered at least 16 people. William Burke was hanged in 1829 but William Hare avoided this fate by testifying against him.

It is made by Triad Productions at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, and is released by Regal Films International (1959) (UK) and Valiant Films (1961) (US). It runs 94 minutes uncut and 74 minutes in the re-release as The Fiendish Ghouls. Mania is the original US title. It is bewildering that they would change it when The Flesh and the Fiends is such a good title.

There are not too many Scots in the film, but Renee Houston was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and John Cairney was born in Glasgow, Scotland.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,872

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