The Doctor And The Devils

U.K. / 1985 Directed by Freddie Francis Starring Timothy Dalton Jonathan Pryce Julian Sands Color / 92 Minutes / R Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC) 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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7     5   10 = Highest Rating   Guest Review by Troy Howarth

Famed anatomist Dr. Rock (Licence To Kill's Timothy Dalton) engages two shady graverobbers (Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea), not realizing that they commit murder in order to obtain new subjects...     A long cherished project of director Freddie Francis, The Doctor And The Devils originated as a screenplay by famed poet Dylan Thomas in the 1950s, and was at one point to have been made in the 1960s with Laurence Harvey and Barbara Steele starring under Nicholas Ray's direction. When that fell through, the project went under the radar for a time, eventually finding its way to Francis in the mid-1970s. At that time the director was thoroughly fed up directing formulaic horror pictures for Hammer and Amicus, but despite the script's horrific content, he found it a refreshing change of pace and lobbied long and hard to get it made. It wasn't until the mid-'80s when Francis, along with producer Jonathan Sanger, dusted the script off and gave it to Mel Brooks (yes, that Mel Brooks!) that an enthusiastic backer was found. Brooks — one of the producers of David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), which was photographed by Francis — was intrigued and offered to finance the film, on the condition that a rewrite be done to bring the story a little more up to date. A frustrated Francis saw the script mutate in the hands of playwright Ronald Harwood (Polanski's The Pianist), and was disappointed further when Brooks insisted on building up the horror aspect during the shooting. The end result is a bit disjointed, but one can still sense Francis' passion for the project, resulting in one of his better films as a director.     Thomas' original script, as well as Harwood's rewrite, is a variation on the real life story of Dr. Knox and the graverobbers Burke and Hare, whose exploits created a huge scandal in 19th century Scotland. Indeed, apart from renaming the three main characters, the Thomas/Harwood script follows the particulars fairly closely. Dr. Rock is presented as a stern, practical, somewhat callous realist with an overzealous desire to improve the world of medicine. Frustrated by the legal and moral codes enforced by a strict society, he decides to strike out on his own by hiring graverobbers to provide him with the test subjects the law blocks him from. The central moral dilemma becomes, does the end justify the means? As in the real life drama of Dr. Knox, Rock's ambitions prove practical until he effectively turns a blind eye to murder. In becoming an accomplice of sorts to the murderous body snatchers, Rock loses sight of his own morality and is forever tainted in the eyes of society. The characters of Burke and Hare — here renamed Broom and Fallon — embody greed and corruption at its most foul. The two men enter enthusiastically into the idea of murdering hapless travelers for profit, with Fallon (Pryce) deriving an almost sexual charge from the act.     So much is right about The Doctor And The Devils, but sadly the muddled screenplay gets in the way. Harwood's rewrite offers a far sketchier and less compelling portrait of its subject than John Gilling's 1960 Flesh And The Fiends with Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence and George Rose. Harwood's characters have less depth and substance, and the resulting film carries far less of an emotional charge. Despite excellent performances from most of its principals (only Julian Sands as Rock's idealistic protégé seems a bit stiff and mannered), the film gives less insight into the emotional undercurrent of the story than it really should. One suspects that any number of different factors are to blame, with Francis doing his best to deliver a respectable historical drama while being encouraged by producer Brooks to sensationalize things too much for their own good. After a strong first half, the film begins to meander, and the climax feels half-baked and emotionally underwhelming.     Nevertheless, one can still appreciate the obvious artistry of the film. The cinematography by Gerry Turpin and Francis regular Norman Warwick (The Creeping Flesh) makes excellent use of a chiaroscuro lighting scheme, while the production design and art direction evoke a far grittier image of the London slums than was the norm with Hammer (while in production on the film, Francis observed that this was a deliberate move on his part, feeling the Hammer films to be a little too pretty in their approach). A nice music score by John Morris (Young Frankenstein) helps to sustain the mood, even when the pacing starts to flag.     Something of a missed opportunity, perhaps, The Doctor And The Devil still has enough going for it to warrant a solid recommendation. Hammer fans and more general movie buffs alike should find enough to satisfy their interests.

Fox's release of The Doctor And The Devils represents the film's DVD debut and its widescreen video premiere in the U.S. The previous VHS release was poorly panned and scanned, thus robbing the film of much of its visual luster. This new 2.35/16x9 transfer sets things right in a very satisfying way. The image is sharp, with appropriately muted colors and nice detail. There's some instances of grain, but nothing too distracting. The surround soundtrack is strong and clear, serving up the music and dialogue to equal advantage. Extras are limited to the theatrical trailer and promos for other Fox horror releases. 9/22/05

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