- Actors: Harry Andrews, Derren Nesbitt, Glynn Edwards, Yootha Joyce, Françoise Pascal
- Directors: Vernon Sewell
- Producers: Burke & Hare ( Horrors of Burke and Hare ), Burke & Hare, Horrors of Burke and Hare
- Format: PAL
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: To be announced
- Studio: Simply Media
- DVD Release Date: 16 Mar 2009
- Run Time: 90.00 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B001PQB3F4
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 32,238 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Set in Edinburgh Burke (Nesbitt) & Hare (Edwards) embark on the profitable enterprise of supplying the dead bodies of lodgers from the poorhouse to the medical pioneer Dr Knox (Andrews). As the supply of corpses dries up and driven by their money grabbing wives the pair move onto murder in order to maintain their income. Dr. Knox suspicions become alerted when he's presented with the corpse of a club footed beggar who he's seen alive earlier in the day. ...Burke & Hare ( Horrors of Burke and Hare )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Burke & Hare (1971) will really only appeal to those who appreciate low-budget British horror films of the 70's. If you want to learn about the crimes committed by these two men then there are better films available than this one. This film does stick closely to the actual events, though parts of the story have been omitted.
1820's Edinburgh is presented as a city whose inhabitants are either wealthy or impoverished. Rich men wear expensive clothes and visit high-class brothels, while the poor are reduced to begging for pennies and shovelling up horse manure. Burke and Hare aren't portrayed as evil monsters, but as hard-up immoral men driven by their greed for money and want of a better life.
For a low-budget film Burke and Hare actually stands up well compared with other similar films of the time. The costumes and sets are very good (though nowhere close to what Hammer were capable of in the early 70's). The actors all turn in fine performances with no one letting the side down. Highlights include a scene where elderly doctors exchange amusing stories about their patients over dinner. There's some enjoyable scenes set in a brothel featuring a bevy of incredibly attractive young ladies. And there's some particularly impressive black humour such as "Show a little respect for the dead man, and get yer arse off the coffin!".
What really lets this film down is the music. The film opens with a totally inappropriate upbeat, Chas & Dave-style, Cockney knees up theme tune (complete with lyrics such as: Burke and Hare, Beware of them, Burke and Hare, The pair of `em, Out to snatch, Your body from you!). The film is also peppered with Carry On-style incidental music that completely ruins the atmosphere. When the filmmakers do get the music right the film works well - such as in the graveyard scene at the beginning). I think the director should have been aiming more for a tone similar to 10 Rillington Place (also 1971). After all, we are dealing with real-life murders here.
As far as the DVD goes, it's as bog-standard as you can get - no extras, no subtitles, just the film and nothing else. The picture quality is not up to the standards we've come to expect from DVD, but is still perfectly watchable.
If you enjoy this film, then may I recommend you check out Hammer's Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971) if you haven't already seen it.
1820's Edinburgh is presented as a city whose inhabitants are either wealthy or impoverished. Rich men wear expensive clothes and visit high-class brothels, while the poor are reduced to begging for pennies and shovelling up horse manure. Burke and Hare aren't portrayed as evil monsters, but as hard-up immoral men driven by their greed for money and want of a better life.
For a low-budget film Burke and Hare actually stands up well compared with other similar films of the time. The costumes and sets are very good (though nowhere close to what Hammer were capable of in the early 70's). The actors all turn in fine performances with no one letting the side down. Highlights include a scene where elderly doctors exchange amusing stories about their patients over dinner. There's some enjoyable scenes set in a brothel featuring a bevy of incredibly attractive young ladies. And there's some particularly impressive black humour such as "Show a little respect for the dead man, and get yer arse off the coffin!".
What really lets this film down is the music. The film opens with a totally inappropriate upbeat, Chas & Dave-style, Cockney knees up theme tune (complete with lyrics such as: Burke and Hare, Beware of them, Burke and Hare, The pair of `em, Out to snatch, Your body from you!). The film is also peppered with Carry On-style incidental music that completely ruins the atmosphere. When the filmmakers do get the music right the film works well - such as in the graveyard scene at the beginning). I think the director should have been aiming more for a tone similar to 10 Rillington Place (also 1971). After all, we are dealing with real-life murders here.
As far as the DVD goes, it's as bog-standard as you can get - no extras, no subtitles, just the film and nothing else. The picture quality is not up to the standards we've come to expect from DVD, but is still perfectly watchable.
If you enjoy this film, then may I recommend you check out Hammer's Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971) if you haven't already seen it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This film has had a bit of a hammering on various film websites over the years but I thoroughly enjoyed it when it first came out, and I am delighted that it has come out on DVD. Cheap and cheerful, uptempo, never boring, and with a pitch black sense of humour, it tells the true story of bodysnatchers and murderers Burke and Hare. Reasonably well made film, half decent acting, and at times it has its tongue firmly clenched in its cheek. What more can you ask for!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
With opening music from Liverpool's finest "The Scaffold" my heart sunk. The music doesn't fit in with the film at all. Sounds like the Liverpudlian characters from Harry Enfield's show singing the opening song Burchhh & Air, Burchhh & Air.
It's all well-acted but very much a B movie. There's a total cacophony of accents, I never realised 19th Century Edinburgh was so English. Or that William Hare had changed his nationality to English & his name to Tom. I was under the impression Burke & Hare were both Irishmen & both called William. First but biggest mistake.
It's definitely not historically accurate, far too sanitised. From a real Scotsman's point of view the accents are atrocious, BUT as a B Movie it's not too bad. There's the usual 70's titillation in the form of Francoise Pascal & Yutte Stensgaard topless in a few scenes. 19th Century Edinburgh is a touch too clean as it was known as Auld Reekie at this time. Don't expect an Oscar winning film think more a poor man's Hammer Horror & you won't go too far wrong. All in all it' not a bad film, just let down by the bad accents. Quite enjoyable for it genre
It's all well-acted but very much a B movie. There's a total cacophony of accents, I never realised 19th Century Edinburgh was so English. Or that William Hare had changed his nationality to English & his name to Tom. I was under the impression Burke & Hare were both Irishmen & both called William. First but biggest mistake.
It's definitely not historically accurate, far too sanitised. From a real Scotsman's point of view the accents are atrocious, BUT as a B Movie it's not too bad. There's the usual 70's titillation in the form of Francoise Pascal & Yutte Stensgaard topless in a few scenes. 19th Century Edinburgh is a touch too clean as it was known as Auld Reekie at this time. Don't expect an Oscar winning film think more a poor man's Hammer Horror & you won't go too far wrong. All in all it' not a bad film, just let down by the bad accents. Quite enjoyable for it genre
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