Flesh & The Fiends [DVD] [1959] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

The Flesh and the Fiends is a thoroughly enjoyable horror thriller. With the impeccable Peter Cushing, sporting a disturbingly droopy left eyelid, playing the misguided Dr. Knox, Donald Pleasance giving an awe-inspiring performance as half of the murdering duo of Burke and Hare, and plenty of illegal traffic in dead bodies, this movie can hardly do less than succeed admirably. Dr. Knox is an instructor at a medical school in Edinburgh during the 1820s. The number of bodies available for dissection by his students, limited to the bodies of executed criminals, is much too low to satisfy him, so he turns to alternative means of acquiring specimens for study. He has no problem paying grave robbers for corpses, so long as they are fresh enough to be useful; in fact, he openly admits the improper solicitation of corpses, much to the dismay of the leading surgeons in town. Eventually, two shiftless vagabonds by the name of Burke and Hare come to realize that traffic in corpses offers them an unusual economic opportunity. When a lodger in Burke's apartment house passes away, he and Hare box her up and trade her in for several guineas. Since the doctor wants the freshest corpses possible, they set out to give him what he wants by murdering individuals and bringing them in almost immediately. Things start to go wrong when the pair murders the sweetheart of one of Dr. Knox's students, yet Knox remains steadfast in his dealings with the loathsome creatures. Murder will out, of course, and Knox must eventually face the music for his actions. This movie, while very good, is by no means perfect. June Laverick gets second billing in her role as Knox's niece, yet her character really serves no purpose at all in the story. Knox's assistant, beset early on with doubts and fears over Knox's acceptance of suspicious corpses, is never fleshed out and ends up behaving somewhat strangely in my opinion. Most of all, the ending (not the real climax, but the ending itself) is just plain weird and makes little sense to me in the context of the story.
Peter Cushing is always fantastic, but the real star of this movie is Donald Pleasance. Even though I knew the future Dr. Loomis from Halloween was in the movie, I quite frankly did not actually recognize him initially. His portrayal of Hare is simply incredible. His calm, assured manner is rarely breached, even in the midst of potential trouble, and his droll manner of explaining his dastardly activities makes of him one of the best truly evil villains I have ever encountered. He is almost capable of convincing anyone, especially his partner, that killing each victim is actually a kindness, for that person will surely be of more use on a dissecting table than he/she is in life. It's thrilling to watch this master criminal mind at work.
The Flesh and the Fiends has been unduly neglected over the years and has itself suffered the noxious wounds of the dissection table of the censors. It was quite graphic for its time (1959): one of the first scenes features a pale corpse being dragged out of a grave by its head, then the murders of Hare and Burke are shown more realistically than one might expect from a film of this particular era. Its bitingly realistic presentation of early 18th century life, complete with rowdy barrooms and miserable living quarters, along with its moments of unusually graphic violence, give the film a superb believability factor. In fact, the basic story of Burke and Hare is indeed a true one, which makes the horror qualities of this film even more affective than they already are.
For years, this movie has only been available in edited form, bearing the title of Mania in the U.S.; it has also been pawned off with the titles The Fiendish Ghouls as well as The Psycho Killers. The complete, 97-minute version of the movie is the one you want, so don't accept a copy of Mania and deny yourself six minutes of delightfully horrific entertainment. Despite the weird ending, this movie ranks among the best horror films of the 1950s and 1960s and stands as much, much more than a mere precursor for the later Hammer films starring the inimitable Peter Cushing.

Although my true field of interest remains the silent film (see my other reviews), I just cannot pass up the opportunity to say something about this movie which has been one of my favorites for many years. I first saw it on television back in the 1960's and it has been with me ever since. Despite the lurid title and packaging THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS is not really a horror film. It is a historical drama with horrific overtones. The movie is based on the lives of Burke and Hare, graverobbers in 1828 Edinburgh, who began to murder people in order to supply the local medical school with fresh corpses to dissect.

Robert Louis Stevenson based his story THE BODY SNATCHER (which was made into a film in 1943 by Val Lewton starring Boris Karloff) on their exploits. Filmmakers Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman mounted this project in 1959 hoping to cash in on the burgeoning horror boom created by Hammer Films. They hired Peter Cushing plus a host of character actors to bring the story to life. Special mention should be made of the vivid performances given by George Rose as Burke and Donald Pleasance as Hare. It is really their movie. The film also features Billie Whitelaw in a colorful early role. Like PSYCHO which it predates, THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS. is also a psychological thriller (it was called MANIA in the U.S.). It even eliminates its young protagonists halfway through the film. I wonder if Hitchcock was familiar with it?

John Gilling, the director and co-writer, would move on to Hammer after the success of this film where he would make THE REPTILE and THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES. FLESH is well acted, tightly directed, and in the Continental version (also available on this DVD) extremely daring in its use of nudity. An influential film that was ahead of its time, it has only been available in substandard public domain copies up until now. Thanks to Image Entertainment for making it available at last in a beautiful print made from the camera negative. As the film approaches its 50th anniversary, the power of its brutal imagery has not diminished.

Another marverlous performance by Peter Cushing as a doctor whose visions overshadow morality. This may be the best role Donald Pleasance ever had. Fresh bodies being more in demand and worth more in cash, Pleasance (Hare) and his partner Burke decide to "manufacture" a few bodies. The DVD contains the U.K. version and the more violent and adult (nudity) Continental version. If you like the Hammer Horror films, you will love this movie.

*Spoilers
One of the most underrated films of Peter Cushing's career is this low budget British offering from the late 50s made to cash in on the success of Hammer films. It never once makes one suspect it of it's low budget origins thanks to great sets, good direction and excellent acting by the entire ensemble.

Cushing shines as the real life Edinburg Surgeon/Professor, Robert Knox, who assigns "Ressurection Men" to secure him cadavers for Medical research and dissection. He portays the character with intense determination and a sense of humor that reminds one of his portayals of Baron Frankenstein. However, unlike the Baron, this is largely a sympathetic character. He is a man who believes in doing right but not aware of the consequences of his decisions. He creates two "monsters" in the form of Burke and Hare(George Rose and Donald Pleasance) who first bring Knox a fresh cadaver of a man who recently died and than commit murder to continue there partnership.

An absolutely harrowing, emotionally powerful Horror/Drama emerges that could easily stand beside the best that Hammer pictures offered at the time. Director John Gilling works with Black and White as effectively as Terence Fisher would with Technicolor. The black and white echoes German expressionism at times and brings to life the horrors of the story more vividly. One can get a real feel for Edinburg's seedier districts and the terror that lurks by night.

The film also surprises with shocking violence that is quite graphic for the times and plot twists that really do shock.* Rarely in such films are the audience identification characters of the young couple actually KILLED off, but Gilling's film allows it and first time viewers will have a decided shock upon this discovery. It creates more tension within the film and adds to the dramatic weight admirably. Besides THE BODY SNATCHER(1945, this is the definitive take on grave-robbing ever committed to celluloid.

This particular DVD includes two versions of the film offered in the original Letterbox format. They are both handsome prints, the U.K. and the Continental version. The latter proves interesting with liberal doses of female nudity which was virtually unheard of at the time and adds an extra level of titilation. This is a highly recommended DVD.

Also available under the title MANIA. Accept no substitutes. This is the DVD to get.

When last shown on UK television this movie was billed as "Mania" and it has at least two other titles apart from that and the one under which I am reviewing it here. They are "The Fiendish Ghouls" ,and "Psycho Killers" .By whatever title it is known it is a darkly atmospheric and explicitly scary movie which relates the true story of Edinburgh "resurrection men " the bodysnatchers Burke and Hare,who provided medical schools in Victorian Scotland with a supply of cadavers without being over scrupulous in the way they acquired these grisly artefacts .
Their main cuatomer is the aloof and didainful Doctor Knox ,an anatomy lecturer at the local Medical School .Knox is yet another superb performance by Peter Cushing).He is cold and detached and knows perfectly well that his suppliers are not merely unearting corpsdes but creating them in the first place .When tackled about this he replies -with perfect self possession and smugness "I neither condone nor condemn.I accept" and spouts lines such as "Emotion is a drug that dulls the intellect" Indeed ,while it Burke and Hare who are the killers many will believe that Knox is the real "monster" here.

Events are set in train when a lodger staying in the home of Burke (George Rose)dies he and Hare (Donald Pleasance )see a business opportinity ;they decide to supply bodies to Knox and if that means killing people to ensure a ready supply then so be it.Among their first victims is the local village idiot -a touching performance by MelvyN Hayes .Eventually the law and local vigilantes close in on the vile duo
and the trail is traced back to Knox

this is a genuinely frightening movie .The scenes of corpses being dragged from the grave and the brutal murder of Jamie are disturbing and unflinching and the camera does not shy from the grim reality of squalor in underprivileged slum area during the nineteenth century .The stark monochrome photography adds to the grimness of the environment and lends an oppressive air to proceedings
In some ways this movie -like Hammer's contemporaneous The Plague of The
Zombies-is as much about class and privilege as it is about murder and ghoulishness.the movie contrasts the grim milieu of the resurrectionists with the affluence of Knox's world and that of his niece Martha (June Laverick)and her fiancee Dr Mitchell( Dermot Walsh),The contrast between social niceties in polite society and the casual violence and cruelty within the underclass is pointed out ;the movie ,like Knox ,does not condone nor condemn -it observes .
It is an unflinching, brilliantly acted movie of human evil which is all the more frightening in its cold and detached tone