Monday, July 24, 2023

cinema history class: the flesh and the fiends (1960)

The session: "Ten-Year Anniversary Celebration"

The four of us who have been in the class since the beginning (or nearly so) each pick a favorite to revisit




As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Week 1: The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)
                    (Ethan's pick)
Directed by John Gilling

My Impressions Going In:
I remembered seeing it, and I am otherwise more or less familiar with the story of Burke and Hare. But I didn;t really remember much detail about this movie.

Plot:

William Burke and William Hare get paid to provide corpses to Dr. Robert Knox. Knox, in turn, is using the corpses to teach medical school.

Reaction and Other Folderol:
This was a pleasant surprise. Since we originally saw this years ago, I had forgotten how clever the dialogue is. It was also fun to contemplate who got off worse -- Burke who was executed by hanging,  or Hare who faced the wrath of an angry mob. This was, all around, a fun movie to watch -- and I hadn't remembered that fact.

Ratings
Oops. I forget what Bob-O rated this. I think he gave it a 9-point-something.