MovieChat Forums > Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde Discussion > Why bring in Burke and Hare?

Why bring in Burke and Hare?


Fair enough to link the Jekyll and Hyde story with Jack the Ripper in London but why bring in body snatchers Burke and Hare, they operated in Edinburgh!

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Yes, but it's less far-fetched than some of the other goings on in the film!

However, Burke was hanged by due judicial process in Edinburgh, Hare was spared after he co-operated with the authorities, testifying against Burke...

and they WEREN'T 'BODYSNATCHERS' (graverobbers)! They were murderers, plain and simple. They never, ever robbed a grave! The first body they sold to Dr Knox was a 'death-by-natural-causes' in their own flat. Easy money. But secret exhumations by night sounded too much like hard work, so why no bump off a few doun-an-oots whae no-ones gonnae notice, eh? (Don't say "They weren't Scottish, they were Irish". I know) Until tounsfowk were askin "Huv ye seen 'Daft Jamie'? A huvnae seen 'im oan the streets fer ages" ...

I work in the very area where they plied their evil trade (really). Not now, I'm going to bed. I start in less than eight hours!

"Oh look - a lovely spider! And it's eating a butterfly!"
'' ,,

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[deleted]

Actually, the book is set in London, Reg. Chapter one: "It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London" when Enfield and Utterson pass by the door to Jekyll's lab. The city of the book may be Edinburgh with the serial numbers filed off and London pencilled in hastily, but it's still London by name.

First we take Manhattan.
Then we take Berlin.

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Burke and Hare also operated in the 1820's whereas jack the Ripper operated in 1888 so the resurrectionsists must have been pretty old by the time they were helping out Dr Jekyll.

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"Why bring in Burke and Hare?"
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Why not? Hammer was already taking a few liberties with the Jekyll and Hyde story, so why not throw in a few more unusual elements? I don't think it hurt the film.

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Robert Louis Stevenson, the original author of 'Jekyll and Hyde', wrote a short story called 'The Body snatcher', which is supposed to be based on the Burke and Hare case.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Matthew 7:12)

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And Bobby was from that nasty place in Scotland where Burke and Hare did roam.

How shall the stars on the cheeks of this mandrill find a number?

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A mild-mannered man takes a drink that turns him into a murderous woman and them putting Burke and Hare in the movie is the "unbelievable" part?



"I'm in such bad shape, I'm wearing prescription underwear." Phyllis Diller 1917-2012

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The quick lime (I think) scene is pretty grim.

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