The Man Who Could Cheat Death

June. 15,1959      
Rating:
6.3
Trailer Synopsis Cast

Dr. Bonner plans to live forever through periodic gland transplants from younger, healthier human victims. Bonner looks about 40; he's really 104 years old. But people are starting to get suspicious, and he may not make 200.

Anton Diffring as  Dr. Georges Bonner
Hazel Court as  Janine Dubois
Christopher Lee as  Dr. Pierre Gerrard
Arnold Marlé as  Prof. Ludwig Weiss
Delphi Lawrence as  Margo Phillipe
Francis de Wolff as  Insp. LeGris
Gerda Larsen as  Street Girl
Michael Ripper as  Morgue Attendant
Marie Burke as  Woman at Private View
Charles Lloyd Pack as  Man at Private View

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Reviews

Kattiera Nana
1959/06/15

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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Hellen
1959/06/16

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Moustroll
1959/06/17

Good movie but grossly overrated

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Cheryl
1959/06/18

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

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Theo Robertson
1959/06/19

Brits of a certain age will remember the days when BBC 2 used to show horror double bills during the Summer months . The Universal franchise from the 1930s and 40s always seemed to be treated with a lot more respect than the Hammer films in that they were broadcast in chronological order where as with Hammer the scheduling was much more patchy . This early Hammer horror produced in 1959 made a solitary appearance on one of the double bills and to my knowledge it never made another appearance on network TV . Directed by Terence Fisher who was by far the best of the Hammer in-house directors and made a point of watching it as an antithesis to the gore and torture porn that qualifies as horror in the 21st Century Perhaps I have become desensitised to old school horror ? because THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH is a fairly bland film compared to what we get nowadays . On seconds let's analyse this a bit further - it'd probably be fairly bland compared to what the studio were also making from the same period . Fisher seems to be under the impression he's making a period drama and the colour scheme and sets are not unimpressive . It also contains some other Hammer hallmarks in that woman are well endowed in the breast department and everyone who has a foreign accent is not to be trusted but the film is rather too talkative and found myself having to constantly remind myself that I was watching a horror film and not something by Michael Powell and that must be seen as a failure of sorts

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Panamint
1959/06/20

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.

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Prichards12345
1959/06/21

The Man Who Could Cheat Death is a carefully presented and decently crafted movie from Hammer Films; and while for the most part it lacks the gusto of Curse Of Frankenstein and Dracula it's a decent enough addition to Hammer Horror.The movie does take quite a while to get going, though. The first 45 minutes or so are bogged down in over-talky scenes that occasionally tell the viewer plot details that are already known - or at least strongly guessable - and the film suffers from some quite bad overacting from Anton Diffring in the set up stages of the plot. Like the film, though he improves as things develop and ceases to look as if he's acting, which is the biggest fault in his performance in the early part of the movie.Diffring plays Georges Bonnet, both a surgeon and noted amateur sculptor, well respected by the art fraternity. Bonnet hides a ghastly secret, however: this 35 year-oldish handsome man is actually 104 (about the same age as Cliff Richard) and through means of a glandular operation has been able to prolong his life, banishing sickness and ageing to boot. Every 10 years the effect wears off, and Bonnet must find a new unwilling donor to increase his already unnatural life span.Diffring is lent sterling support from Hazel Court and Christopher Lee - this is one of Lee's most relaxed early performances and he does well in the role of a young surgeon coerced into performing the operation on Bonnet - and Hammer's production design is as usual impeccable.The movie also ends on a neat twist which you will probably see coming, but is effective anyway. All in all a neatly done, not quite top draw Hammer offering. It just needed more pace during the first half.

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vostf
1959/06/22

Mimicking its long title the movie finds ways to come close to the 90' mark. The beautiful sets are here with all that made the Hamer production values a trademark, yet Paris drowned in the fog is a sign of indolent neglect. The story is obvious and can be summed up in a dozen words so there comes nothing unexpected and nothing worth more than 5% of your attention to be expected.The directing is heavy as a direct transfer from the stage play, actors are mostly stiff as wax figures (ok this is a Hamer feature, only it's sometimes better featured in the whole package). My conclusion: this movie is trash, not worth the time I spend that evening. Eternal life is a boring matter and I should have hoped the guys in charge of programming at the Cinemathèque would have known better.

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