The Man Who Could Cheat Death

The Man Who Could Cheat Death is directed by Terence Fisher and adapted to screenplay by Jimmy Sangster from the Barré Lyndon play The Man in Half Moon Street. It stars Anton Diffring, Hazel Court, Christopher Lee, Arnold Marlé, Francis de Wolff and Delphi Lawrence. Out of Hammer Film Productions, music is by Richard Rodney Bennett and Technicolor photography by Jack Asher.

Paris 1890 and sculptor Georges Bonnet (Diffring) has perfected a way to halt the aging process. Trouble is that it involves murdering young women so as to extract their parathyroid gland to formulate his eternal life elixir.

Disappointingly weak Hammer Horror that would be near unwatchable were it not for the efforts of Asher, Fisher and Bernard Robinson (production design). The source story is made to measure for Hammer, where berserker science mixes with Gothic murder tones, all the ingredients are there for a lively fusion of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with The Picture of Dorian Gray. But the film is more concerned with much talking and posturing, thinking that sci-fi babble and moral quandaries are going to keep things interesting. We of course want some meat and reasoning for main characters to impact on the plotting, but using up an hour for it, in a film that only runs an hour and twenty minutes, leaves very little room for thrills and drama. It also demands that the finale be explosive, a whirlwind of horror revelations and biting comeuppance, sadly the ending we get is rather a damp squib.

Things aren't helped by the casting of Diffring, who overacts far to often, or that Lee is underwritten and firmly disinterested in making the thin characterisation work. Court looks ravishing and gives the film its best performance, but she is also hindered by a bare bones script from the usually excellent Sangster. The story just plods to its inevitable conclusion, the screenplay never daring to veer away from the safe formula road. While much of the detective work from de Wolff's Inspector LeGris leaves a great deal to be desired. On the plus side it looks real nice, a triumph over low budget restrictions, the minimal sets dressed in period splendour, the colour sizzling and Fisher uses wide shots to make certain scenes that are played out on tiny sets actually look expansive.

Devoid of up-tempo terror and finishing on a whimper, this is very much average Hammer and not easily recommended to the horror faithful. 5/10

In 1890, in Paris, the artist Dr. Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring) invites a group of friends for a private exposition of his new sculpture. Among the guests are Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee) and his companion Janine Du Bois (Hazel Court) that had an affair with Dr. Bonnet ten years ago in Italy. When they see each other, their love rekindle. However Dr. Bonnet has a dark secret since he is 104 years old and needs to have a gland transplanted every ten years to keep his youth. But his partner and friend Dr. Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marle) had a stroke in Switzerland and cannot perform the surgery.

"The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is a combination of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "The Picture of Dorian Gray", with a doctor that discovers a means to stay young with thirty and something years. This Hammer production has wonderful sets, great story and excellent cast. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem que Enganou a Morte" ("The Man Who Cheated Death")

Brilliant doctor and sculptor Dr. Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring) is 104 years old but looks less than half his age; the secret to his youthful appearance is to periodically undergo surgery to replace one of his glands with that of another human being. When his longtime associate Dr. Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marlé) fails to perform the operation vital to his survival, Bonnet resorts to temporary solution—a liquid that can keep him fresh for a few hours at a time. But with the fluid running out, and with Georges hoping to spend eternity with his beautiful betrothed, Janine (busty Hazel Court, providing the Hammer glamour), the desperate doctor uses any means necessary to convince renowned surgeon Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee) to perform the transplant.

The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) boasts the great production values and fine performances one would expect from a Hammer movie of the era, but the film is let down by a hackneyed plot that borrows ingredients from Jack The Ripper, Dorian Gray and Jeckyll and Hyde, but which does very little of interest with them. Diffring, Lee and Court do the best they can with the material, but it's all so familiar and frustratingly pedestrian that the excellent cast can do little to save matters. The film does pick up for the final act, with a nice twist courtesy of Lee's character and a spectacular finale in which age finally catches up with Bonnet before he is burnt to a crisp in a raging inferno, but there is no denying that this is far from Hammer's best.

5/10—however, if I ever find the elusive European cut featuring Hazel Court's topless scene, I might be tempted to give it slightly more.

A good thriller in the old-style classic sense, beautifully filmed in color by England's Hammer company. "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is somewhat static near the beginning and almost stage play in its construction, but that is OK as it is well acted by a fine ensemble cast.

Anton Diffring offers a nervous-energy-driven, neurotically sinister presence from the very beginning of the film. He provides the requisite menace that is essential to his role. Beautiful Hazel Court, Diffring, Christopher Lee and others contribute elegant, psychologically interesting characterizations that are rendered within an uncluttered thriller format.

I can't emphasize enough how thoroughly this film epitomizes the unique Hammer production values, decor, color scheme and general style, while also effectively evoking foggy turn-of-the-century nighttime Paris streets. Despite the Paris locale, it is distinctively Hammer. Laboratories, scalpels, weird medicines, fog, and all the classic elements are here. Fans of the genre and of the era in thriller filmmaking should not miss it.

Without even knowing anything about the story or themes of "The Man Who Could Cheat Death", you can already rest assured for 100% that the film will be a worthwhile, adequate and highly competent viewing experience. How so? Because this is a horror/Sci-Fi thriller produced by Hammer Studios during their absolute booming years (late 50's – early 60's) and involving a handful of their elite frequent collaborators. "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is directed by no less then Terence Fisher, scripted by Jimmy Sangster and starring Christopher Lee and muse Hazel Court. In fact, the only one skipping this Hammer party is Peter Cushing, but apparently he didn't like the principal role and dropped out in favor of the underrated Anton Diffring ("Circus of Horror", "The Beast Must Die"). But even without Hammer and all the prominent names involved, this film was guaranteed to entertain. Horror stories centering on mad scientists desperately trying to obtain eternal life are always great fun, especially if their experiment require the lives of innocent others. Georges Bonner is such a brilliant mind who found immortality through a series of gland transplants from very reluctant donors. Immortality has its disadvantages, however, as Dr. Bonner is forced to start a whole new life somewhere else every ten years, and therefore must avoid falling in love with his model victims, and on top of everything he turns green and psychopathic near the end of the ten year period. At 104 years of age, he's currently in the year 1890 in Paris and time is running out for him. Additional troubles arise when his loyal friend and surgeon Dr. Weiss has become too old and ill to perform another operation and Dr. Bonner bumps back into a past love interest. "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" opens very atmospheric, morbidly Victorian and very Hammer-like. The opening sequence is in fact another reference towards the contemporary Jack The Ripper murders, even though immediately after the action moves to Paris. Sadly, in spite of the very promising intro, it takes an awful long time before anything significantly happens after that. What follows is a lot of overlong and talkative sequences between Bonner and his long lost love interest, his new rival, his collaborator and even the police. The only truly horrific and tense moments occur when Dr. Bonner is in dire need of his life pro- longing serum. Whenever that happens, his face and hand turn bright green and he goes completely bonkers, killing victims through melting their skins by the bare touch of his hand. Despite the rather slow and uneventful first hour, "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" benefices from an exciting finale with a few gruesome moments and provocative make-up effects for the time. I've always thought of Anton Diffring as a very underrated horror actor, so I'm glad he appeared in the lead role of this Hammer production. Admittedly his performance is over-the-top occasionally, but at other times he's definitely menacing and creepy. Christopher Lee is terrific as always, though this time in a seldom heroic and eloquent role. Around that time, he was mainly portraying monsters of all sorts in Hammer films. My personal favorite performance comes from Arnold Marlé as the intelligent but aging Dr. Ludwig Weiss.