The Greed of William Hart – 1948 | 80 mins | Horror | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Tod Slaughter was ensconced on the boardswhen Bushey Studios tempted him in front of cameras one more time to make The Greed Of William Hart (1948); a full-bloodedversion of the Burke and Hare story. John Gilling’s script was unrelentingly dreadfuland without interest, and Oswald Mitchell’s direction was less thanperfunctory. Eleven years later Gilling rewrote the story for Hammer Films anddirected it as well, as The Flesh and the Fiends. Slaughter tries hard as onehalf of grave robbers Moore and Hart, and sported a strange Irish accent thatseemed to slip into Scottish from time to time. The film is stolen, though, bycharacter actor Henry Oscar as his shifty, crafty partner-in-crime. Finally,the film is ruined by The British Board Of Film Censors (BBFC) who had a realproblem with Burke and Hare, and in post-production demanded the producers dubin "Moore" and "Hart" for every mention of Burke and Hare.

William Hart (Tod Slaughter) and Mr. Moore(Henry Oscar) are two grave-robbers who provide cadavers to the medicalstudents of 19th-century Edinburgh. When the supply becomes low, with thedemand still great, the two decide to create their own dead bodies, a manoeuvrethat proves profitable when they only stick to lowly types, such as vagrants,prostitutes, and drunkards. But when they poison likable retard Jamie (AubreyWoods), known to everybody, and things get a bit tense when the townsfolk rebelin anger.