On ne réveille pas les morts

Overly melodramatic tale of a man (Stanley Baker) called by his father, whom he believed to be dead, to visit him without giving a reason. When he arrives, he finds the father has died -- but has he really? This is fairly engrossing story that is puzzling to determine what is really going on. Unfortunately, some of the confusion is the result of many of the actions by the characters being largely inexplicable. Stanley Baker, who suspects his father did not die because of Mai Zetterling's (in the role of the dead father's wife) strange behavior, is wound so tight he seems ready to explode every moment he's on camera. Not far behind is Eric Portman in the role of the inspector, who just explodes several times almost without cause. There just didn't seem to be any direction. Mai Zetterling seemed confused. Unfortunately, blaring music at suspenseful points in the film ruins some of the intrigue. I liked the way the movie was shot but the acting was just mediocre probably due to the lack of direction. Still it's an interesting curiosity and a fun, if somewhat frustrating, viewing.

1962's "The Man Who Finally Died," released December 1963, was a BBC serial that originally aired in 1959, with this feature version following three years later, with an entirely different cast. Stanley Baker stars as British subject Joe Newman, formerly the German-born Joachim Deutsch, who has believed his father Kurt dead for 20 years, until receiving a phone call from Bavaria claiming to be Kurt Deutsch. Upon arriving, he locates his father's grave before visiting the Deutsch widow, Lisa (Mai Zetterling), currently living in the country home of Dr. Peter von Brecht (Peter Cushing), his every move watched by the local police, plus the insurance investigator (Niall MacGinnis) responsible for Newman's phone call, who believes the deceased still lives. Holds up rather well despite its television origins, thankfully not lost though unseen for decades, reuniting Baker with Peter Cushing five years after 1957's "Violent Playground." Cushing initially appears sympathetic but gradually displays more sinister shadings, but has only one lengthy scene during the film's first half (the von Brecht home is Bray studio's familiar Oakley Court). The fine supporting cast includes Nigel Green, who previously appeared with Cushing in 1960's "Sword of Sherwood Forest," which also featured Niall MacGinnis (playing Friar Tuck), who again supported Cushing in 1966's excellent "Island of Terror." Certainly not a horror film, though it made one appearance on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater on Aug 7 1976, paired with second feature "The Horror of Party Beach."

A hearse passes a German hotel and next thing "Newman" (Stanley Baker) arrives rather bemused. Why? Well that's because it was apparently the funeral of his dad, but he thought he had died twenty years ago. Events only become more curious when he then discovers that dad "Deutsch" had a young wife "Lisa" (Mai Zetterling) who lives in a sprawling mansion with "Martha" (Barbara Everest) who remembers him as a child. Something is definitely amiss, and when it transpires that they are both living as guests of local and rather creepy doctor "von Brecht" (Peter Cushing) who runs a local camp for displaced persons after the war, well he becomes even more suspicious. Meantime, local policeman "Hofmeister" (Eric Portman) is sniffing around with his henchman (Nigel Green) as is the enigmatic insurance investigator "Brenner" (Niall MacGinnis). Quite quickly, things start to become as dangerous as they are confusing for "Newman" as he becomes more and more convinced that his father might still be alive. What now ensues offers us the potential for an intrigue, but it's got too many red herring storylines that just peter our before a denouement that's a really quite disappointing hybrid of half a dozen better crime noirs. There's a lot of dialogue but little actual characterisation; the wooden Baker doesn't really impress; Zetterling features far too sparingly to make much impact and there are just too many daft German accents to make ziss much güt! The production itself isn't anyone's finest work either with some fairly obvious continuity errors and quite a few clunky edits not really helping the overlong preamble set this up to be very compelling.

Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun drawn on a train during the climax following CURSE OF THE DEMON, but THE THIRD MAN has been knocked-off once again...

And this time... despite a horribly intrusive, melodramatic harpsichord hammering like lightning following a horror film revelation... it's a pretty good effort as former German child now adult British citizen/jazz pianist Stanley Baker returns to Germany after getting a mysterious call about his father, who he thought was dead twenty-years ago, and is now dead again, only it happened a week earlier...

And as this effective mystery thriller progresses, the dad, like Orson Welles's Harry Lime, could have been involved in some bad things, covered up by a doctor played by Peter Cushing (protecting widow Mai Zetterling and directed by Hammer's Quentin Lawrence, and having co-starred with Baker in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND), while also helping gorgeous ingenue Georgina Ward, whose father was buried in the same grave that, well...

There are too many twists to count or spoil, but Baker, donning Ray Charles-like sunglasses even indoors, goes from place to place in his usual strongarm, no-nonsense fashion, only a bit more vulnerable, and deliberately confused, like the audience.

Many, if not most, of the reviews I encounter here state that "The Man Who Finally Died" is heavily influenced by - or even blatantly imitating - the Orson Welles' classic "The Third Man". Maybe so, but I haven't seen that one (yet) and therefore cannot judge. What I can say, however, is that the plot is great and incredibly absorbing, regardless of which film brought it first, and that this isn't a low-keyed type of rip-off but a stylish and polished British 60s effort with more than adequate production values and ditto acting performances.

As a young boy, John Newman (born: Joachim Deutsch) fled from Nazi-Germany to England with his mother, and always assumed his father died in the War. 20 years later, he receives an anonymous call from Bavaria stating his father still alive, but when he arrives there, John learns - via his young stepmother he didn't knew existed - that his father passed away just a week ago from a stroke. Other people tell him his father died two years ago, and lots of other contradictions. When did Kurt Deutsch die? 20 years ago, 2 years ago, or just the week before? Or perhaps he's still alive, even? And since everybody is so reluctant to help or even inform John, who called and lured him to Bavaria?

As you can tell, "The Man Who Finally Died" is a convoluted puzzle that requires full, constant, and devoted attention in order not to miss the tiniest clue or detail. It's extremely compelling, though, with a couple of ingenious and unforeseeable twists and broodingly uncanny atmosphere. The Bavaria settings and post-WWII references are excellent, and of course it's always a delight to watch fantastic British actors like Peter Cushing and Nigel Green. Lead star Stanley Baker certainly isn't my favorite performer, and quite often he looks very silly in this film, what with his unnecessary sunglasses and he's constant "I-don't-have-a-clue-what's-happening-here" facial expressions.