We are students of Hippocrates, but some of us are hypocrites.
Edinburgh, 1828. Local surgeon Dr. Robert Knox (Peter Cushing) relies on grave-robbers to supply him with fresh cadavers for his anatomy lectures on research into the functioning of the human body.
Irish immigrants Burke (George Rose) and Hare (Donald Pleasence) take to murder to provide Knox with fresh 'subjects'. Burke and Hare initially hit upon the idea of providing deceased tenants from the lodging house at which Burke is the landlord to Knox, but when no tenant's are accessible they resort to enticing elderly or infirm locals back to Burke’s rooms and murdering them. One such instance is the girlfriend of Knox's wayward student Chris Jackson (John Cairney). Jackson falls in love with fiery prostitute Mary Patterson (Billie Whitelaw), but the romance is snuffed out with appalling insouciance after a particularly ferocious argument between the pair; Mary rushes into the street and immediately falls into the clutches of Burke and Hare.
When they deliver the body of Mary to Knox’s laboratory the corpse is seen by Jackson who rushes to the lodging house to confront Burke and Hare. Shortly lynch mobs of townsfolk have made a connection between the murderous twosome and Dr. Knox....what happens next??? - you will have to watch.
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- 2020. All rights reserved.
| Directed by | John Gilling |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Robert S.
Baker Monty Berman |
| Written by | John Gilling Leon Griffiths |
| Starring |
Peter Cushing June Laverick Donald Pleasence George Rose |
| Music by | |
| Distributed by | Triad Productions |
| Release date(s) | February 2, 1960 |
| Running time | |
| Language | English |
| Budget |