The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

2012:Allowing my copy of the delightfully bonkers Peter Cushing flick Corruption to play on after the credits,I caught an enticing 5 minutes from a TV showing of a Film Noir co-starring Cushing. Checking for the title online,I was disappointed to find no DVD,or even Video of it.2017:Finding out that UK DVD company Network were holding a flash sale,I rushed over to place an order. Preparing to order the enjoyable 1957 British Film Noir The Hypnotist,I was thrilled to see Cushing's Noir appear on the same page,which led to me finally seeing the man die.The plot:Receiving a mysterious call, London musician Joe Newman is told that the person speaking to him is his dad Kurt Deutsch,who died during WWII 20 years ago. Finding out that the call has come from a small Bavarian town,Newman leaves London for the town. Receiving a less than warm welcome, Deutsch is taken to the grave of Deutsch. Disbelieving what he sees, Newman goes to visit his mum Lisa Deutsch. Finding his mum to be living in the country home of Dr. Peter von Brecht,Newman begins to notice that Brecht and others in the town appear determined to keep Deutsch buried.View on the film:Finding the title from fuzzy TV showings,Network present a perfect transfer,with the soundtrack and the picture quality being pristine.Shot in the UK, director Quentin Lawrence & cinematographer Stephen Dade send Newman to an excellent, disorientating Film Noir town,where razor-sharp black and light low-shadows fill the space of the small population. Unearthing the truth about Newman's family with a quirky, spidery score by Philip Green, Lawrence slants the paranoia on Newman with ultra-stylised pans across to strangers with an eye on his search,against a washed-out sky that rains an eerie atmosphere on Deutsch's grave.Based on a 7-part British mini-series, (sadly not seen since airing in 1959)the screenplay by Lewis Greifer and Louis Marks adapt the show into a tightly coiled stranger in a strange land Film Noir,as Newman's determination to dig up the secrets of the town leads to brash confrontations with locals who want the truth kept six feet under. Whilst openly borrowing from The Third Man a number of times,the writers compose an excellent, distinctive tone that tracks the revelation of the ending to the post-WWII pessimism of Film Noir,with Newman's discovery crossing the WWII isolation that haunts the town, with the shivering terror of the Cold War.Kicking the cobblestones lining the town to the side, Stanley Baker gives a terrific performance as Newman,who Baker gives a Film Noir loner thirst to uncovering the truth about his dad,while legendary character actors Eric Portman,Nigel Green and Brian Wilde listen in on his paranoid questions. Hovering above Mai Zetterling's withdrawn widow Lisa, Peter Cushing gives a great performance as Brecht,that Cushing brims with a horror ambiguity over what Brecht knows about the man who finally dies.

A man prompted by a phone call returns to Germany where he was born in search of his father whom he had supposed dead. But is he? The film answers the question but in a talky, pedestrian way. There are twists and turns towards the end that perk up the film but mostly it is unexciting which is a shame as it had lots of potential. The music score tries to be thrilling but becomes laughably over intense. Stanley Baker gives a one note performance, Eric Portman gives a strange performance and Mai Zetterling doesn't do much. Peter Cushing is good as always as an ambiguous doctor, Nigel Green as a taciturn policeman is scary and Niall MacGinnis steals the film as an insurance investigator. Familiar players like Alfred Burke and Brian Wilde have minor but effective roles.The best thing is the sparkling black and white photography and the accomplished use of the widescreen format.

The problem with this film is that there is just much talk.Furthermore the pace is almost find real.Everything is an unexplained mystery,even why Stanley Baker,,with an eye complaint keeps on putting on and taking off his dark glasses.Some of the characterisation seem strange to say the least.Eric Portman plays the local police detective as if he was a member of the Gestapo.You expect him to order Nigel Green to give Stanley the once over with a piece of rubber hose.There is so little explanation of exactly what has happened that you struggle to make any sense of the film.The music tends to be far too intrusive.It is rather frustrating not to be able to understand the plot till the last 10 minutes.However even then the motivation of the characters remains unclear.

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."