Excellent historical melodrama about the Burke and Hare murders
It’s a delight when a film clicks, with casting, script, and direction coming together to provide a first-class cinematic experience, like “The Flesh and the Fiends” (1960). Based on historical events, the action takes place in 1827 in Edinburgh, Scotland, a leading European center of anatomical study. The demand for cadavers for medical study has led to a shortage of the legal supply, prompting a spate of body snatching by “resurrectionists.”<br /><br />Dr. Knox (Peter Cushing) is a man guided by science in the pursuit of knowledge. To teach his students about the human body, he must have a sufficient number of well preserved cadavers to dissect. He is not particular about how the bodies were procured. Enterprising resurrectionists deliver them to his basement laboratory, where he pays handsomely and asks no questions.<br /><br />William Burke (George Rose) and William Hare (Donald Pleasence, “Halloween”)  are a couple of unsavory types willing to do anything for money except work. Burke’s wife keeps a lodging house. When an elderly lodger dies, Burke and Hare realize they have a fresh corpse to sell to Dr. Knox. The doctor is pleased with the condition of the cadaver and pays top price. Knowing that the fresher the corpse, the bigger the payday, the two friends assure themselves a regular supply for the good doctor by not waiting for natural causes. He, Burke and Hare develop a symbiotic relationship.<br /><br />One of Knox’s students, Chris Jackson (John Cairney), a sensitive young man, helps the doctor preserve the bodies. Jackson becomes attracted to barfly Mary Patterson (Billie Whitelaw, “The Omen”) after she saves him from being victimized by thugs. Reserved, reticent, and inexperienced with women, Jackson is easily smitten and tries to make Mary more presentable to his friends. She, meanwhile, tries to loosen him up.<br /><br />Directed by John Gilling, “The Flesh and the Devils” is an absorbing historical drama with elements of horror. Performances are excellent. Cushing plays Knox with an air of superiority and arrogance befitting a famous professor who puts the needs of science above all else, dismisses the means by which he secures bodies, and resents the scrutiny and judgment of others.<br /><br />Whitelaw is excellent as the fiery Mary, whose life is ruled by booze and passion. She’s an odd companion for Jackson and their social disparity creates frequent hiccups in their relationship. With wild hair, low-cut blouses, and seductive eyes, Whitelaw portrays Mary as a kind of gutter rat trying to fit into polite society with elegant attire and an introduction to pleasures apart from a parade of anonymous men, bawdy talk, and drink. Her Mary stands out from the quiet, lower keyed performances by Cushing and Cairney.<br /><br />The murders depicted are pretty gruesome. Burke roughly suffocates his victims by covering their mouths and noses as they struggle helplessly. Director Gilling creates the period setting with narrow, cobblestone streets, dark alleys, and dingy rooms in the poor section of town, and a lecture room with ascending tiers of seats filled with medical students, all male. Knox’s home is large and tastefully furnished in period, but his basement is dark and dimly lit.<br /><br />Gilling also wrote the screenplay, and it draws us in immediately. A sub-plot involving Knox’s niece (June Laverick) and his associate, Dr. Mitchell (Dermot Walsh), serves little purpose except as contrast to the troubled relationship between Jackson and Mary. Monty Berman’s cinematography perfectly conveys the period, giving the street scenes and Burke and Hare themselves a grimy look. Even though the focus of the film is how far science should go in the interest of advancing knowledge, it offers solid, interesting characters. Dr. Knox’s air of moral superiority and his failure to see how his tactics might be construed as unethical do display a failure to look at the big picture, but the movie doesn’t preach.<br /><br />The story of Burke and Hare was also the basis of Val Lewton's “The Body Snatcher,” made 15 years earlier and starring Boris Karloff. That film used fictional characters based on Burke, Hare and Knox, though Dr. Knox is mentioned by name in the dialogue.<br /><br />Bonus materials on the unrated Blu-ray release include an audio commentary, an alternate cut of the film called “The Fiendish Ghouls,” and several trailers.
The movie title "The Flesh and the Fiends," available on Movies & TV, has received an average rating of 4.5 from 166 reviewers. 
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 {"MPAA rating": "NR (Not Rated)", "Product Dimensions": "0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 5.92 Ounces", "Media Format": "NTSC, Anamorphic", "Run time": "1 hour and 35 minutes", "Release date": "July 7, 2020", "Actors": "Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, Billie Whitelaw", "Studio": "KL Studio Classics", "Number of discs": "1"}

Here is a brief synopsis of the title : More Fearsome Than Frankenstein... More Demonic Than Dracula! Edinburgh, 1827. Irish immigrants Burke (George Rose, A New Leaf) and Hare (Donald Pleasence, Halloween) hit upon the idea of selling the bodies of the recently deceased to eminent surgeon Dr. Robert Knox (Peter Cushing, The Skull). Dr. Knox, knowing that experimental vivisection is the only way for medicine to make progress, forms an uneasy alliance with the self-styled body snatchers. When Burke and Hares’ supply of available corpses begins to run out, they decide to speed the process along by murdering the poor and the homeless. Men and women, old and young, everyone becomes a target for the deadly duo, but even as the body count rises, Knox turns a blind eye to their methods in order to further his research. But after one of his own medical students is murdered, Knox finds it difficult to remain impassive. With the public out for the killers’ blood and the Medical Council out to disgrace him, Dr. Knox must use all of his skill and intelligence to preserve the dignity of his profession and to justify his controversial actions in the face of near-universal condemnation. Co-written and directed by John Gilling (The Reptile) and co-starring Billie Whitelaw (The Omen), The Flesh and the Fiends is presented in this special edition in its original U.K. version and its 74-minute U.S. cut, The Fiendish Ghouls a.k.a. Mania.Special Features:-Brand New 2K Master -NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas -Includes alternate cut THE FIENDISH GHOULS aka MANIA -Trailers -Dual-Layered BD50 Disc -Optional English Subtitles.