The Greed of William Hart

1948 film by Oswald Mitchell

March 1948 (1948-03)

Running time

80 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

The Greed of William Hart is a 1948 British horror film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Tod Slaughter, Henry Oscar, Aubrey Woods, Patrick Addison, Jenny Lynn (star Tod Slaughter's real life wife), Winifred Melville and Arnold Bell.^[1] The film depicts two Edinburgh bodysnatchers closely modelled on the real Burke and Hare. However, neither the real Burke and Hare nor the characters of Moore and Hart in the film, actually did any bodysnatching, but murdered the people whose bodies they sold to Dr Knox.

Plot

In 1828 Edinburgh, Scotland, two Irish immigrants, Mr. Hart (Tod Slaughter) and Mr. Moore (Henry Oscar), take up murdering the locals and selling their bodies to the local medical school, which needs fresh bodies for anatomy lectures and demonstrations. When a young woman, Mary Patterson, goes missing, recently qualified medic Hugh Alston (Patrick Addison), just returned from his first voyage as a ship's doctor, is alerted by Daft Jamie and Janet that Mary has been taken by a man to Gibb's Close. Jamie says the resurrectionists live there.

Alston suspects the Hart and Moore are involved in foul play, but the arrogant, amoral Dr. Cox (Arnold Bell) – the main buyer for the bodies – attempts to hinder his investigation. Meanwhile, the murderous duo set their sights on eccentric local boy "Daft Jamie" (Aubrey Woods) and an old woman.

Cast

Tod Slaughter – William Hart
Henry Oscar – Mr Moore
Jenny Lynn – Helen Moore
Winifred Melville – Meg Hart
Aubrey Woods – Daft Jamie Wilson
Patrick Addison – Hugh Alston
Arnold Bell – Dr. Cox
Mary Love – Mary Patterson
Ann Trego – Janet Brown
Edward Malin – David Patterson
Hubert Woodward – Innkeeper Swanson
Dennis Wyndham – Sergeant Fisher

NB: Although playing Henry Oscar's character's wife in this film, in real life Jenny Lynn was married to Tod Slaughter.

Production

The film was originally made as a fairly direct historical adaptation of the Burke and Hare murders. The British Board of Film Censors, however, insisted that all references to the real-life murderers be removed. The film was then re-titled and re-dubbed with different character names, substituting "Hart" and "Moore" for Hare and Burke, respectively, and "Dr. Cox" for Dr. Knox. All other names, including victims Mary Patterson, Mrs. Docherty, and "Daft Jamie" Wilson, remain unchanged.^[2]

Writer John Gilling would go on to script another version of the same story in 1960, titled The Flesh and the Fiends. This version used the correct names for the killers.

The film was made at Bushey Studios.

Distribution

The film was distributed in the United States by J.H. Hoffberg Productions in 1953, slightly edited, as Horror Maniacs.

References

^ The Greed of William Hart at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
^ Cavett Binion, Rovi (2016). "The Greed of William Hart (1948): Review Summary". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. New York City: Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2015.