L'Homme indestructible

I cherish a great deal of respect for the late Lon Chaney Jr. His acting career must not have been easy, since he's the son of his father (Lon Chaney Sr.; the father of silent cinema) and since he always somewhat stood in the shadows of fellow horror icons Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Chaney Jr. starred in several really good horror gems ("Spider Baby", "House of Dracula") but also in many overlooked B-movies like this "Indestructible Man". The plot is more ambitious than you'd think Chaney fits into his role perfectly. He plays the murderous gangster Charles "Butcher" Benton, sentenced to death and taking the secret of a hidden loot (worth over 600.000$) with him in his grave. He swears vengeance on his attorney who double-crossed him and he's offered the opportunity when an experimenting scientist accidentally brings the Butcher back from the dead. Even though filmed on a minuscule budget, "Indestructible Man" is a very entertaining crime/horror movie with fairly good acting and a couple of nice special effects. The plotting is rather incompetent (for example: though the shock, Butcher loses his vocal cords but his memory stays intact...) but you're not supposed to take it too seriously, anyway. Chaney's eerie madman-charisma is more than enough to make "Indestructible Man" a worthwhile effort, if you ask me. This is just one of those many well-intended 50's films that got wrongfully ridiculed by MST3K.

I have to say it, I love this movie. Not just for Lon Chaney but for the whole realistic approach to making the movie adopted by director Jack Pollexfen. Shooting in the real grimy, mean streets of downtown L.A. not only saved money but added a neo-film noir realism to everything. Lon picks up some quick pocket money playing Charles "Butcher" Benton (we are never told how he got the nickname and maybe are better off for not knowing) a career criminal railroaded to the gas chamber by his ex-partners. He is quickly brought back to life by a well meaning scientist (Robert Shayne) who needs a body to test his cancer cure theory. He zaps Chaney with 278,000 volts (how is THAT supposed to cure cancer?) and restores him to life as "a vicious, brutal animal with an almost inconceivable amount of strength". His partners (who have names like "Squeamy" Ellis) are suddenly in big trouble! Editing seems to be all over the map in one instance and it seems scenes were shot but then dropped. For example near the end of the film Lt. Chasen (Casey Adams) talks about Eva Martin (Marion Carr) getting out of the hospital. Why was she there? Stills exist showing Chaney rampaging through a police station and trying to carry Ms. Carr away. Jack Pollexfen also recalled directing a scene where Chaney destroyed a precinct and tore open jail cells looking for one of the men who betrayed him. Why were these scenes missing? Do they still exist? Let's start checking those film vaults! The cast is great, apart from Lon Chaney and Robert Shayne (NEANDERTHAL MAN, INVADERS FROM MARS, etc) there is also Ken Terrell (ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN), Casey Adams (THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD) and don't go for popcorn or you'll miss an unbilled Joe Flynn as a lab assistant. Scriptwriters Vy Russell and Sue Bradford later teamed up again to do the Grade-Z classic THE ATOMIC BRAIN.

First let me say that this is...without any hesitation....a bad film. It has choppy transitions, cheap sets(wait till you see the lab equipment), mediocre to horrible acting, and some of the most ridiculous plot developments to grace any film. Yet, this is one fun film to watch. Charles "Butcher" Benton is killed in the electric chair only to be sold to scientists who bring him back to life. No scientific explanation is really given for this feat, but Lon Chaney comes back to life and with a vengeance. See, he wants to kill the three guys that put him in prison, a sleazy lawyer and two small hoods. Chaney is definitely fun to watch, and except for a few lines early in the picture, is mute throughout. He is a mute killer who literally throws people all over and kills with no discrimination at all. Chaney has many close-ups of his face and the way his eyes move is hilarious! I laughed myself silly any time he got mad and started to throw people. The cast is pretty average to below average with a couple exceptions. Max Showalter does a good job as the cop hot on the trail of the Butcher and the lovely blonde playing Eva Martin is nice to look at and has some talent as well. Look for Joe Flynn...yes, Captain Binghamton himself in a small role as a scientist's assistant. Lots of fun!

I viewed this film recently for the first time in many years, then went to the IMDb to see what other viewers had to say about it. I was pleased to learn that many feel the same way as I do about this film; that it is entertaining and holds up well within the limits of it's time and 1950's B film genre. In case you are unfamiliar with the storyline: A small time hoodlum known as `The Butcher' (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is executed for a crime his underworld companions set him up for. A bizarre scientific experiment brings him back to life via a massive dose of electricity, which destroys his vocal cords but makes his skin impenetrable, thus becoming the `Indestructible Man.' The story revolves around the Butcher seeking revenge on those who double-crossed him and a zealous police lieutenant chasing he and a missing $600,000 down, with said policeman, (the versatile Casey Adams), falling in love with the Butcher's would-be love interest, (Marion Carr). The Indestructible Man reminds sci-fi fans of Them!, as much of the action takes place in Los Angeles' massive sewer system. This is not the best film to come out of it's era, but it was not meant to be. I would say it rates in the top half of it's class. The editing is a little weak, but there are some good 1950's era location shots of downtown LA which should be of interest to historians, plus it contained some interesting players. Casey Adams, AKA Max Showalter, is not generally known to the viewing public but appeared in hundreds of film and television programs throughout his lengthy career. Joe Flynn had an interesting bit part as the lab assistant, this coming several years before McHale's Navy fame. Female lead Marion Carr should have had a more successful career, as she was very attractive with a pleasing screen personality.

Of course, Lon Chaney, Jr. was the lead. In 1956, he still looked fit and menacing. It would not be long until his well documented personal troubles would diminish him physically and professionally. All in all, a solid effort by director Jack Pollexfen. View this one when you have a chance. It is interesting and will be time well spent.

... is the best way I can describe the flavor of this film, which is not nearly as bad as its current low rating would have you believe. In fact, if you like 50's and 60's Allied Artist horror on the cheap, I think you'll like this one. Remember Allied Artists was a poverty row outfit, and they could usually afford just one star. In this case it is Lon Chaney Jr. as armed robber Charles Benton, betrayed by two other bank robbers who turned state's evidence at the request of sleazy lawyer Paul Lowe, who wants a fall guy for the robbery and a chance at a smaller split for the 600K payroll heist for which he hired the three thieves in the first place. Benton realizes all of this, and the last thing he says before he is executed is that he is going to get the three who betrayed him.

Now the lawyer isn't nervous at all, but the two other robbers think maybe Benton took some of the money - which at the time of his death only he knew the location - and hired a hit man for them. What they are definitely not expecting is for a couple of scientists to pay off the morgue attendant at the prison to hand over Benton's body. The pair are experimenting with electricity as a cure for cancer and need a fresh human body for their next test. Well "It's Alive!" turns out to be instantaneous tragedy for this pair instead of temporary triumph as in the case of Victor Frankenstein. Benton is unexpectedly brought back to life with a molecular structure that can't be penetrated by any substance, vocal chords burned out so he can't speak, superhuman strength, and with a desire to pick up where he left off and kill the three guys who betrayed him. I'll let you watch and see how this all pans out.

The Dragnet comparison comes from the voice over of police Lt. Dick Chasen who is narrating the whole story. With Allied Artist horror you really don't expect much in the way of great acting or good art design, but more could have been done for the continuity and even the dialogue. For instance after Benton returns to life the narrator calls him a "Monster Made Man". Huh? What monster made him? I believe he meant to say "Man Made Monster". The narrator talks about how Benton wants to save killing crooked lawyer Paul for last, but then later after he kills the first of his fellow robbers he goes looking for the lawyer. In the jail house conversation Paul was trying to get the location of the hidden loot out of Benton who refuses to tell, but later Paul has somehow figured out how to get the loot but just can't open the strongbox it is in. Benton is established as a character who just wants to kill the three who betrayed him, yet mid-film he shows up in the middle of some suburb attacking and killing random people. Usually the best horror establishes the "monster" as someone for whom you have some sympathy and thus ambivalent feelings. Here Benton is pretty much just a mute killing machine after he is revived.

I'd recommend this one, just realize you are dealing with an outfit that didn't have much in the way of funding to begin with and try to meet it half-way.