Adicionar um enredo no seu idiomaA scientist experimenting with suspended animation decides to use himself as a test subject. Before he is frozen, his wife is killed, and he is suspected of her murder.A scientist experimenting with suspended animation decides to use himself as a test subject. Before he is frozen, his wife is killed, and he is suspected of her murder.A scientist experimenting with suspended animation decides to use himself as a test subject. Before he is frozen, his wife is killed, and he is suspected of her murder.
Walter Rilla
- Sir Keith
- (as Walter Rilia)
Albert Bessler
- Martin - Lab Tech
- (as Albert Ressler)
Wolfgang Günther
- Sgt. Grun
- (as Woflgang Gunther)
Avaliações em destaque
This one is a little misleading, as the sci-fi is really no more than a Maguffin which complicates an accidental killing. Really, they should have ramped up the sci-fi angle and done something a lot more interesting with it. The acting and the characters aren't too bad but this one fell short on account of it just not adding up to much by the ending. Watchable but underwhelming.
American star Mark Stevens ("The Dark Corner") stars in this German sci-fi flick as an American scientist, Frank Overton, working for the World Health Organization. He and his associate Helen Wieland (Marianne Koch) are performing experiments on chimps, putting them in deep freeze for a while and then resuscitating them. At roughly the time that Frank gets the bright idea to become a human guinea pig, something unexpected happens that lands him in trouble.
Screenwriter Evelyn Frazer and director Bernard Knowles don't have as much fun with this premise as one might hope they would. "Frozen Alive" is a classic case of "more talk than action", focusing on the personal problems of the characters (Overtons' wife Joan (Delphi Lawrence, "The Man Who Could Cheat Death") is resentful and an alcoholic) and not spinning a particularly interesting yarn. It's fairly static, and lacking in style, and one can see that this was done on a low budget. It starts to get better in its last half hour with its amusing twists of fate. Its opening credits are a gas, as the music segues from traditional ooga-booga sci-fi music to much more jazzy stuff.
The characters are reasonably engaging; nobody here is particularly dislikable. Stevens may be slumming, but he gives the material a straight faced go. Buffs will automatically realize that Koch and co-star Wolfgang Lukschy were also utilized in the legendary Spaghetti Western "A Fistful of Dollars" around this time. Joachim Hansen ("The Boys from Brazil"), Walter Rilla ("Day of Anger"), and John Longden ("Quatermass II") are among the solid supporting cast.
"Frozen Alive" is nothing special, but does offer a mild amount of fun.
Five out of 10.
Screenwriter Evelyn Frazer and director Bernard Knowles don't have as much fun with this premise as one might hope they would. "Frozen Alive" is a classic case of "more talk than action", focusing on the personal problems of the characters (Overtons' wife Joan (Delphi Lawrence, "The Man Who Could Cheat Death") is resentful and an alcoholic) and not spinning a particularly interesting yarn. It's fairly static, and lacking in style, and one can see that this was done on a low budget. It starts to get better in its last half hour with its amusing twists of fate. Its opening credits are a gas, as the music segues from traditional ooga-booga sci-fi music to much more jazzy stuff.
The characters are reasonably engaging; nobody here is particularly dislikable. Stevens may be slumming, but he gives the material a straight faced go. Buffs will automatically realize that Koch and co-star Wolfgang Lukschy were also utilized in the legendary Spaghetti Western "A Fistful of Dollars" around this time. Joachim Hansen ("The Boys from Brazil"), Walter Rilla ("Day of Anger"), and John Longden ("Quatermass II") are among the solid supporting cast.
"Frozen Alive" is nothing special, but does offer a mild amount of fun.
Five out of 10.
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Bernard Knowles; Produced by Ronald Rietti and Artur Bruaner, Presented by Harold Goldman, released as "Frozen Alive" by Feature Film Corp. Of America. Screenplay by Evelyn Fraser; Photography by Robert Ziller; Edited by Steve Collins; Music by Eric Spear. Starring Mark Stevens, Marianne Koch, Delphi Lawrence, Wolfgang Lukschy, Joachim Hanson, Albert Kessler and Walter Rilla.
Anglo-German straight sci-fi film made in the English language, notable for the fine acting and attractive presence of Marianne Koch, who co-starred in "A Fistful of Dollars" around this time. The plot of a scientist freezing apes and humans experimentally is too often sideswiped by romantic subplots.
Anglo-German straight sci-fi film made in the English language, notable for the fine acting and attractive presence of Marianne Koch, who co-starred in "A Fistful of Dollars" around this time. The plot of a scientist freezing apes and humans experimentally is too often sideswiped by romantic subplots.
Amiable Mark Stevens and scientific partner, the enigmatic Marianne Koch combine to tackle malignant diseases through cryogenics, but their experiments on apes are just a prelude to their ultimate test on a live human being which Stevens himself undertakes shortly following a murder in which he's implicated in absentia. Koch attempts to resuscitate Stevens to answer the allegations under the watchful eye of a Detective (Lukschy) and an independent observer (Lohde), concerned she may sabotage the experiment to protect Stevens from punishment.
Capable German-US-British cast deliver realistic dialogue and create a genuine tension that is based less upon the primary plot (cryogenics) and more on Delphi Lawrence's character as Steven's almost perpetually inebriated wife, jealous of his working relationship with Koch, seeking solace in the scotch bottle and that of her old flame and work mate Joachim Hansen. Lawrence's performance dares to be bold and obnoxious, and while sometimes intense, doesn't become melodramatic. I thought her performance injected a maturity that was a welcome diversion to what could have become a simple science experiment gone awry picture.
While the momentum is not always fluent, the pace sometimes stilted, and the suspense often telegraphed too early, the acting compensates to some degree, Stevens and Koch enjoying a on-screen rapport that serves the narrative well. My only significant criticism is the overly-simplistic conclusion - the elements are present for a firecracker ending, but it's resolved too quickly and conveniently to do the rest of the movie justice. Should have been better, but in my opinion still superior to the average 3 rating it currently attracts.
Capable German-US-British cast deliver realistic dialogue and create a genuine tension that is based less upon the primary plot (cryogenics) and more on Delphi Lawrence's character as Steven's almost perpetually inebriated wife, jealous of his working relationship with Koch, seeking solace in the scotch bottle and that of her old flame and work mate Joachim Hansen. Lawrence's performance dares to be bold and obnoxious, and while sometimes intense, doesn't become melodramatic. I thought her performance injected a maturity that was a welcome diversion to what could have become a simple science experiment gone awry picture.
While the momentum is not always fluent, the pace sometimes stilted, and the suspense often telegraphed too early, the acting compensates to some degree, Stevens and Koch enjoying a on-screen rapport that serves the narrative well. My only significant criticism is the overly-simplistic conclusion - the elements are present for a firecracker ending, but it's resolved too quickly and conveniently to do the rest of the movie justice. Should have been better, but in my opinion still superior to the average 3 rating it currently attracts.
I must have seen a lot more bad movies than the other reviewers who have reviewed this movie on the IMDb, because while it's definitely a long defunct sci fi flick, it wasn't THAT bad. In the world of bad movies, Frozen Alive is nowhere near the bottom of the barrel, but it's still pretty unendurable. The story is flat as a pancake and is never interesting, but the main problem is that it is so clearly two different kinds of movies squeezed into one, and the result just doesn't work.
A scientist is working on a system of deep-freezing monkeys, and then decides to use himself as a human test subject. Unfortunately, just before his own deep freeze, his wife dies a violent death and he becomes the prime suspect. The police investigators, of course, come knocking just as he is entering deep freeze, which is not exactly a quick catnap that he can be shaken awake from.
One half of the story deals with the scientist, a mid-50s or so man with salt and pepper hair and intense facial features, and his enormously alcoholic wife, a blonde bimbo who looks no less than 30 years his junior. It's too bad that they have no chemistry on screen whatsoever, otherwise this portion of the story would have been slightly less pathetic. The scene where he is holding her in his arms and telling her he wants them to try for a baby is highly disturbing.
The other half of the story deals with the deep freeze experimentation. This is the part that would make this a sci fi movie, although there is nothing really sci fi about it. If he had frozen himself and woken up in another time, then you have sci fi. Instead, he just freezes himself and then wakes back up. Who cares? As a result, it comes off as nothing more than a goofy crime drama soap opera about a guy trying to design a perfect cryogenetic freezer. And it's a shame, because there's a chance that there could have been two separate, and much better, movies made with this story...
A scientist is working on a system of deep-freezing monkeys, and then decides to use himself as a human test subject. Unfortunately, just before his own deep freeze, his wife dies a violent death and he becomes the prime suspect. The police investigators, of course, come knocking just as he is entering deep freeze, which is not exactly a quick catnap that he can be shaken awake from.
One half of the story deals with the scientist, a mid-50s or so man with salt and pepper hair and intense facial features, and his enormously alcoholic wife, a blonde bimbo who looks no less than 30 years his junior. It's too bad that they have no chemistry on screen whatsoever, otherwise this portion of the story would have been slightly less pathetic. The scene where he is holding her in his arms and telling her he wants them to try for a baby is highly disturbing.
The other half of the story deals with the deep freeze experimentation. This is the part that would make this a sci fi movie, although there is nothing really sci fi about it. If he had frozen himself and woken up in another time, then you have sci fi. Instead, he just freezes himself and then wakes back up. Who cares? As a result, it comes off as nothing more than a goofy crime drama soap opera about a guy trying to design a perfect cryogenetic freezer. And it's a shame, because there's a chance that there could have been two separate, and much better, movies made with this story...
Você sabia?
- CuriosidadesMarianne Koch and Mark Stevens will work together again in 1965 ('Tierra de fuego') and 1968 ('Espana otra vez').
- Erros de gravaçãoDuring the nightclub scene you clearly hear a clarinet being played.
- Citações
Dr. Karl Merkheimer: I would like to thank all of our contributors for this very interesting symposium on hypothermia.
- ConexõesFeatured in Shiver & Shudder Show (2002)
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Detalhes
- Tempo de duração1 hora 21 minutos
- Cor
- Mixagem de som
- Proporção
- 1.33 : 1
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