A PlanetSlade reader wrote in after seeing my Burke & Hare stuff to suggest I track down a copy of Val Lewton's 1945 film The Bodysnatcher. Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's short story of (nearly) the same name, this tells the tale of John Knox's former assistant, now forced to deal with one of the pair's murderous successors himself.

I've now found a DVD of the film, which I've just watched, and I can confirm it is terrific: hugely atmospheric in the way it's filmed and full of surprisingly accurate little details from Burke & Hare's real career.

One highlight for me was the moment when the sinister cabman Gray (played by Boris Karloff) sings a couple of snatches from Poor Daft Jamie itself: "The ruffian dogs, the hellish pair / The villain Burke, the meagre Hare" and - a moment or two later - "Nor did they handle axe or knife / To take away their victims' life / No sooner done than in a chest / They crammed this lately welcomed guest."

Aside from replacing Daft Jamie's name with the words "their victims", that's a verbatim rendition of the original 1829 ballad. Not only that, but it's BORIS KARLOFF singing it. Not bad, eh?