Wednesday, December 3, 2014

THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS: IT’S HAMMER TIME

The first thing that horror fans will assume when watching this movie is that it was a Hammer production. It’s not but you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. Even more so when you discover that the director was Freddie Francis who was behind a number of the films made by Amicus, a studio that was often mistaken for Hammer.

The basis for the film lies in the tale of Burke and Hare, filmed many times and in many versions. In the mid 1800s in Edinburgh, William Burke and William Hare were low lives who specialized in robbing graves for bodies they would supply to Dr. Robert Knox for use in instructing anatomy students. They turned to murder to supply fresher bodies. What happened to them I’ll not reveal on the chance you want to watch here.

THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS pretty much follows this story from start to finish, adding a few touches here and there and bringing all of the characters to life on the screen. Timothy Dalton stars as the arrogant Dr. Thomas Rock, an anatomy instructor who pays grave robbers for freshly dug cadavers to use in his classroom. The biggest problem he has is the condition of the corpses being brought in.

Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea) are two drunks seeking free drinks at the local tavern when they hear a group talking about how much they make from the bodies they take to Dr. Rock. Seeing a chance to make some money they follow the group to the local cemetery and steal the latest cadaver they’ve dug up, taking it to Dr. Rock and pocketing the money. In short term wealth they drink their profits up and make a trip to the local brothel as well. In no time flat it’s time to find another body.

As all of this is taking place Dr. Rock’s assistant, Dr. Murray (Julian Sands) is frequenting the same brothel where he finds himself drawn to Jennie Bailey (Twiggy). As he begins to feel affection for her he wants to take her away from this way of life. But at the same time Fallon is also drawn to Jennie, wanting her for his own. Eventually you know this will lead to complications one would rather not think about.

Through it all Dr. Rock remains aloof, not caring where his cadavers come from, intent on pursuing his personal goal of intellectual pursuit in the knowledge of anatomy. Where his sister worries about his reputation in the social circles, Rock will have none of it. He’d much rather spend time with his wife or in the lab than mingling with the upper crust of the social sphere.

The three stories intersect with one another throughout, that of Dr. Rock and his attitude, his assistant and his love life and the two murderous alcoholics who don’t care about the sanctity of life, just another pint and a warm woman to lie with. Just what happens to them and how they get there makes up the movie you see before you here. Is it a good movie? Yes and no at the same time.

The movie offers a great look at what life was like at that time, with details to period rarely seen in movies like this. Part of that may be due to the fact that the sets used and a number of the people involved all came from leftovers of the film THE ELEPHANT MAN which was also made by this same production company, Brooksfilms. Sets were re-used for those seen here and many of the behind the scenes people also worked on the film beginning with Francis who was that films cinematographer. An extra on the blu-ray here features a discussion between Brooksfilm head Mel Brooks (yes that Mel Brooks) and two of the producers of both films.

The acting on display is better than expected, especially from Twiggy who most recall simply as a pretty faced model from the sixties. Why she never took her acting career further is hard to say. Both Pryce and Rea turn in particularly disgusting portraits of the pair of serial killers the story revolves around, which is actually a good thing. Dalton does a fine job of portraying the snobbish Dr. Rock. The weakest of the group would be Sands but his turn here is suitable enough to get by.

On the whole the movie does offer an interesting look at the times and what went on in history, even though names have been changed for some reason to protect the innocent and guilty. The pacing is a bit slow but that could simply be because as viewers we’ve become acquainted with a fast paced film that tosses everything at us quickly rather than letting things unwind. In the end we have an entertaining film that takes its time to reveal the entire story. It’s a movie definitely worth watching at least once and for some one to add to the shelf.

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