Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Doctor and the Devils Blu-ray Movie Review

Talk about not going gentle into that good night. . .

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 2, 2014

Mention “19th century serial killers in the United Kingdom” to most people and you’re apt to get one and only one response: Jack the Ripper. The Ripper’s exploits have so entered the public consciousness that many folks can list off potential suspects as well as the names of the unfortunate victims. Among the suspects in the Ripper case are men with medical backgrounds, since many of the victims seem to have been vivisected with (no pun intended) an inside knowledge of anatomy. Several decades before the Ripper murders became such a tabloid sensation, another part of the United Kingdom was rocked by a series of disturbing murders which were undeniably tethered to a medical professional and his desire to learn more about anatomy courtesy of post-mortem dissections which were still at that time largely illegal. The so-called Burke and Hare Murders provide fodder for 1985’s well crafted The Doctor and the Devils, a film which rather incredibly boasts an original screenplay by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, a man most famous for two iconic verses about mortality, “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Death shall have no dominion.” Death definitely does have dominion over several hapless Scottish lowlifes in The Doctor and the Devils, though this film is decidedly less overtly Gothic than 1945’s The Body Snatcher, the Robert Wise directed (and Val Lewton produced) effort starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (in their last on screen pairing) which was based upon a Robert Louis Stevenson tale also culled from the sordid story of Burke and Hare. Here, in Ronald Harwood’s reshaping of Thomas’ original conception, there’s a dialectic between the horrors of two patent grave robbers and the pursuit for medical knowledge. It’s a somewhat uneasy balancing act, perhaps a bit too high-falutin’ for such a premise, but rather surprisingly The Doctor and the Devils manages to be both creepy and intellectually provocative quite a bit of the time.

The so-called “March of Science” is depicted as more of a lurching stumble in The Doctor and the Devils, though the film struggles to rationalize the need for murder in order to provide well meaning if ultimately deluded Dr. Thomas Rock (Timothy Dalton) with enough bodies to utilize in his Edinburgh medical academy’s anatomy classes. At this point in Scottish history, anatomy professors were limited to corpses of hanged inmates, and for reasons which aren’t made entirely clear, those numbers have been dwindling. Rock is a progressive, insisting that in order for medical science to advance, doctors must be able to slice and dice their way through bodies in order to better understand the inner workings of the human body. That runs smack dab up against the reactionary Christian philosophy of many of Rock’s superiors, who insist that a desecrated body will prevent those souls from experiencing the expected resurrection engendered by the Second Coming. Rock rather wisely counters that that would mean any soldier blown to smithereens in a so-called “holy war” would suffer a similar fate, but the ruling powers will not be swayed.

It’s against this troubling background that The Doctor and the Devils introduces the mendacious pair of Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea), who become aware that Rock will pay for “fresh” corpses and not ask too many uncomfortable questions. What begins as a crime of convenience soon morphs into actual murder, as the two lowlives go about plying potential victims with near fatal amounts of alcohol, and then “finalizing” their scheme, typically by suffocating the poor, drunken fools. A quick trip to the good doctor’s home results in a hefty payday, and everyone is seemingly happy and none the worse for the subterfuge.

Playing out against this unsettling scenario are several subplots, including one involving another, more conservative, anatomy professor named Macklin (Patrick Stewart), who is determined to stop Rock’s nefarious activities (and ironically Macklin is not even initially aware that murder is involved—it’s all about the seemingly inexhaustible supply of bodies to cut open). There’s also a somewhat overcooked sidebar involving a “working girl” named Jennie Bailey (Twiggy) who is being romanced by a young acolyte of Rock’s named Murray (Julian Sands), and who (of course) ultimately becomes a potential victim of the machinating Broom and Fallon.

It’s obvious that Thomas had more on his mind than a basic Gothic creepfest, but The Doctors and the Devils struggles at times to develop a believable dialectic between the forward thinking doctor and the underhanded criminality of Fallon and Broom. The film is actually best at detailing the overweening religiosity that informed much of the ruling elite’s approach to life (there’s a fascinating little scene featuring Rock’s sister, played by the wonderful Siân Phillips, praying for her brother’s salvation). Rock’s increasingly desperate seeming justifications for accepting the bodies (which even he finally realizes are murder victims) becomes more and more problematic as the film wends on, undercutting some of the supposed philosophical debate which Thomas is obviously aiming to mine.

Legendary cinematographer Freddie Francis, who matriculated into lo-fi horror after his first Oscar win (for Sons and Lovers), invests the film with a suitably grimy ambience, and The Doctors and the Devils is actually one of Francis’ more accomplished efforts in this genre, especially in terms of performance and production design. If some of the elements don’t quite gel in a completely organic manner, Thomas’ florid language and the undeniably intriguing aspects of the actual story help to sustain the film’s overall tone of menace and mayhem.

The Doctor and the Devils Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Doctor and the Devils is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p in 2.35:1. Elements are in generally very good condition, with minor anomalies like dust and speckling occasionally showing up. The film has a somewhat brown tinge throughout the bulk of its running time, something that tends to slightly tamp down detail and fine detail, especially in the many darker scenes. That said, colors look accurate and can pop quite convincingly when, for example, Rock cuts into either living or dead bodies. Grain is natural looking and provides a nicely organic depth to the image. There are occasional examples of crush in the darkest sequences, but nothing too troubling. There are no issues with digital intrusion into the image harvest and similarly no issues with artifacts.

The Doctor and the Devils Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Doctor and the Devils features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix that nicely supports the sometimes overwrought dialogue of the film as well as its evocative score by John Morris. Crowded scenes like several sequences in a bar never suffer from poor prioritization, and dialogue is always easy to hear. None of the actors really go overboard with Scottish brogues, but there are optional English subtitles for those requiring a bit of assistance. Fidelity is excellent and there are no issues of any kind to report.

The Doctor and the Devils Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Author Steve Haberman. Haberman has contributed many of the commentaries to The Vincent Price Collection and The Vincent Price Collection II sets issued by Shout! Factory, and he presents another round of interesting historical, biographical and shooting information. This is a bit on the sporadic side at times, but is very engaging.


• Interview with Executive Producer Mel Brooks, Producers Jonathan Sanger and Randy Auerbach (1080p; 15:42) provides some interesting backstory on the film's genesis and production.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1:32)

The Doctor and the Devils Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Doctor and the Devils has a hard time making the case for the advance of medical science requiring murderous thugs to assist in that effort, but it's an unusually thoughtful examination of a moment in time where religious sentiments easily held sway over supposedly more rational scientific desires. Performances are uniformly excellent by this pretty starry cast, and Francis keeps the story moving well enough, even if the quasi-Grand Guignol elements involving the body snatchers (and especially Jennie) are needless additions. Handsomely mounted, The Doctors and the Devils isn't a traditional horror film by any stretch of the imagination, but for those wanting a little something different, it provides an often fascinating examination of dueling philosophies, all wrapped up in Dylan Thomas' often incredibly evocative language. Technical merits are generally very strong, and The Doctor and the Devils comes Recommended.