Der Arzt und die Teufel

John Gilling's (The Mummy's Shroud) film is listed as a horror film, but it is really an exciting thriller about an anatomy teacher (Peter Cushing) and grave-robbers (Donald Pleasence - Halloween, Dracula, & George Rose).

Billie Whitelaw (Hott Fuzz, The Omen), with two BAFTA wins and four more nominations, plays a prostitute that falls for one of the medical students (John Cairney).

The grave-robbers find that it is easier just to kill someone and sell them, than to dig them up. It wasn't long before Mary (Whitelaw) had a spat with Chris (Cairney) and fell into the clutches of the murderers.

Imagine Chris' surprise when she shows up on the slab in class the next day.

Soon, the grave-robbers were committing murders to cover up their murders.

Excellent performances by Pleasence, who got what he deserved in a weird sense, Cushing, and Dermot Walsh, as Cushing's assistant. A fascinating story that is supposedly based upon a true event.

The Flesh and the Fiends is similar, in a lot of ways, to the Val Lewton produced Robert Wise film, The Body Snatcher, but for some reason; this one has flown further under the radar. It's odd, because despite the greatness of the other film; The Flesh and the Fiends is a lot better, and has the added malevolence of being based on a true-life story. The film takes place in Edinburgh, and director John Gilling does an excellent job of ensuring that the city looks as foreboding as possible, and the perfect home for a story as macabre as this one. The film follows the idea of having to break eggs to make an omelette, and sees Doctor Robert Knox buying corpses from a couple of murderous grave robbers in order for him to have subjects, from which new surgical procedures can be ascertained. The real stars of the show, however, are the graverobbers themselves; Burke and Hare. They begin their careers by simply taking bodies from graves; but once they realise how lucrative the business of selling cadavers is, they soon resort to making a few corpses of their own...

The biggest name in the cast is the one belonging to the great Peter Cushing. Cushing has shown throughout his career that he is capable of a number of different roles, and his role here is one of the best he's had. He gets to sink his teeth into the character of Doctor Knox. In fact, this man isn't a world away from Cushing's world-beating turn as Doctor Frankenstein in Hammer's classic series, which explains why Cushing is so good at it. George Rose and Donald Pleasance give the film its extra dimension in the roles of the graverobbers. Rose is good, but it's Pleasance who really stands out in this film. Seeing him in a role like this is actually quite heartbreaking; as here we see how great he can be, rendering his roles in films like Halloween even more of a waste of time. The plot plays out from a number of different angles, ensuring that there's always enough going on around the central plot to ensure that the film never dries up and becomes boring. It's strange that a film of this quality could fly straight under the radar; but somehow it has. However, copies of this are out there; and it definitely is well worth tracking down!

Peter Cushing plays the doctor who needs bodies in this fine adaptation of the Burke and Hare grave robbing case.Donald Pleasance and George Rose are both excellent as the infamous grave robbers.The film is truly atmospheric-full of packed bars,foggy streets and deep shadows-and the performance by Peter Cushing is simply amazing-Cushing is probably one of the most recognizable faces in the horror genre.The film has an eerie cinematic style reminiscent more of films from the 1940's than 1959.The first half of Gilling's story moves extremely slow,but the second half has some gruesome murder scenes.A must-see for fans of British horror!

Nice film boasts a main and support cast are frankly magnificent , here standing out the starring trio : Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, George Rose , doing equally compelling turns . A suspenseful and interesting terror romp about two men go into business supplying Edinburgh medical college with cadavers by robbing graves . Good Horror flick with with excellent dark and light atmosphere creating an eerie and ghastly scenario . It is set in 1828, Edinburgh , Scotland, murderers William Hare (Donald Pleasence) and William Burke (George Rose) provide corpses to surgeon Dr. Knox (Peter Cushing) who does medical research on cadavers he buys them , without questioning the unethical procurement methods .Meanwhile , an obstinate officer begins to suspect the origin of the numerous corpses Hare and Burke deliver . The peculiar couple of no-count grave robbers and murderers who are supplying fresh anatomical specimens to esteemed professor Dr. Knox of the Edinburgh Medical College in 19th century Scotland by embarking on a lucrative killing spree . Along the way, one of Knox's students, Chris Jackson (John Cairney) , meets barmaid Mary Patterson (Billie Whitelaw) when he goes to the tavern to pay off the grave robbers and become involved with her . As Burke and Hare decide to embrace and continue a proactive approach and embark on a grisly slaughter more and more horrible . Then Dr. Geoffrey Mitchell (Dermot Walsh) starts suspecting the weird origin of the several bodies from Hare and Burke . Murder was their business!.Coffins Looted! Cadavers Dissected! No Job Too Small. No Body Too Big. No Questions Asked. They're making a killing. True love costs an arm and a leg. The pimps and the prostitutes and the body-snatchers. The brothels and dens of iniquity.

A scary and violent yarn about two heinous grave-robbers providing dead bodies for illegal medical research in charge of Dr. Knox , including terrific acting from Donald Pleasence and George Rose as sinister gravediggers , they create authentic macabre set pieces as well as displaying frightening and panic. This true story has been adapted a number of times , in fact this engaging tale was adapted by prestigious writer Robert Louis Stevenson himself in the novel The Body Snatcher . In Burke and Hare (2010) medical experimets meet terror movie with extreme violence and nudism at the time. Tension , horror, thriller , and eerie scenes appear lurking , menacing in graveyard , dark slums , home stairs , rooms and cementery . All characters in the story are present and partially correct , with Donald Pleasence and George Rose actually doing very well as the eponymous and disturbing duo and both of whom share compellingly the astonishingly creepy as well as sadistic scenes together . And Peter Cushing is on hand to ham it as the stubborn scientist Dr Knox. This pair really convey the whole sleaziness/perversity of the subject, and do so in a fun way , too ; it's a good double-act . As Donald Pleasence and George Rose give deliciously hammy portrayals , displaying a lively and engaging chemistry as our titular gruesome twosome, while Peter Cushing is perfect , as always as Dr. Robert Knox . And enjoyable secondary cast contributing likable turns , such as : Billie Whitelaw lending appropriate support as the shrewish Mary Patterson , June Laverick as Martha Knox , Renee Houston as Helen Burke , Dermot Walsh as Dr. Geoffrey Mitchell , John Cairney as student Chris Jackson , Melvyn Hayes, among others . The film gets the adequate and evocative atmosphere in luxurious black and white , thanks to cameraman Monty Berman. Being well produced by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman who financed a lot of terror movies with their company : Triad Productions . The motion picture was competently directed by John Gilling . He was a good craftsman , a notorious writer/producer/director with a long career who made movies of all kinds of genres such as : The Gilded Cage, The Guilty Person, The Embezzler, Double Exposure, Escape by Night, Recoil , Deadly Nightshade , The Voice of Merrill, The Frightened Man , The Quiet Woman ; but he standed out in Horror genre , such as : The Plague of the Zombies, Panic , The Mummy's Shroud , The Gamma People, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire , Devil's Cross, The Reptil and The Flesh and the Fiends.

This Buke and Hare story has been also rendered in the following films : ¨The Body Snatcher¨ (1945) by Robert Wise with Boris Karloff , Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell ; ¨The Flesh and the Fiends¨ (1960) by John Gilling with Peter Cushing, June Laverick , Donald Pleasence , George Rose ; ¨Burke & Hare¨ (1972) by Vernon Sewell with Darren Nesbitt , Harry Andrews , James Hayter , Yutte Stensgaard . And Burke & Hare (2010) by John Landis with Simon Pegg , Andy Serkis , Tom Wilkinson , Michael Smiley, Tim Curry , Bill Bailey , among others.

I'll leave it up to others to debate whether 'Mania' (a.k.a. 'The Flesh and the Fiends') is technically a horror movie. While dealing with horrific events, and told in a fashion with plenty of creepy moments, I would still say it isn't horror myself. Whatever you classify it as it is a seriously underrated thriller with strong performances from an above average cast. Director John Gilling went on to make the Hammer classic 'The Plague Of Zombies' later in the 1960s, and stars Peter Cushing ('Twins Of Evil') and Donald Pleasence ('Halloween') both made a strong impact on the horror genre, so fans will be interested to see this for those reasons alone. Cushing is excellent as the stubborn and driven Dr. Knox who needs a steady supply of corpses to dissect, and Pleasence plays the slimy William Hare, who along with his equally creepy colleague William Burke (George Rose), gleefully fills that need. The only problem is that Burke and Hare have no qualms about where the corpses come from, or whether they need a little "help" along the way. Burke and Hare were real body snatchers, but I have no idea just how historically accurate the events depicted in this movie are. But it certainly is entertaining and worth watching for the terrific performances by Cushing, Pleasence and Rose, and also for Billie Whitelaw ('The Omen') who has a small but important supporting role as the love interest for one of Dr. Knox's medical students (John Cairney - 'Jason And The Argonauts').