ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Theo Robertson 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

Coventry Without even knowing anything about the story or themes of "The Man Who Could Cheat Death", you can already rest assured for 100% that the film will be a worthwhile, adequate and highly competent viewing experience. How so? Because this is a horror/Sci-Fi thriller produced by Hammer Studios during their absolute booming years (late 50's – early 60's) and involving a handful of their elite frequent collaborators. "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is directed by no less then Terence Fisher, scripted by Jimmy Sangster and starring Christopher Lee and muse Hazel Court. In fact, the only one skipping this Hammer party is Peter Cushing, but apparently he didn't like the principal role and dropped out in favor of the underrated Anton Diffring ("Circus of Horror", "The Beast Must Die"). But even without Hammer and all the prominent names involved, this film was guaranteed to entertain. Horror stories centering on mad scientists desperately trying to obtain eternal life are always great fun, especially if their experiment require the lives of innocent others. Georges Bonner is such a brilliant mind who found immortality through a series of gland transplants from very reluctant donors. Immortality has its disadvantages, however, as Dr. Bonner is forced to start a whole new life somewhere else every ten years, and therefore must avoid falling in love with his model victims, and on top of everything he turns green and psychopathic near the end of the ten year period. At 104 years of age, he's currently in the year 1890 in Paris and time is running out for him. Additional troubles arise when his loyal friend and surgeon Dr. Weiss has become too old and ill to perform another operation and Dr. Bonner bumps back into a past love interest. "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" opens very atmospheric, morbidly Victorian and very Hammer-like. The opening sequence is in fact another reference towards the contemporary Jack The Ripper murders, even though immediately after the action moves to Paris. Sadly, in spite of the very promising intro, it takes an awful long time before anything significantly happens after that. What follows is a lot of overlong and talkative sequences between Bonner and his long lost love interest, his new rival, his collaborator and even the police. The only truly horrific and tense moments occur when Dr. Bonner is in dire need of his life pro- longing serum. Whenever that happens, his face and hand turn bright green and he goes completely bonkers, killing victims through melting their skins by the bare touch of his hand. Despite the rather slow and uneventful first hour, "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" benefices from an exciting finale with a few gruesome moments and provocative make-up effects for the time. I've always thought of Anton Diffring as a very underrated horror actor, so I'm glad he appeared in the lead role of this Hammer production. Admittedly his performance is over-the-top occasionally, but at other times he's definitely menacing and creepy. Christopher Lee is terrific as always, though this time in a seldom heroic and eloquent role. Around that time, he was mainly portraying monsters of all sorts in Hammer films. My personal favorite performance comes from Arnold Marlé as the intelligent but aging Dr. Ludwig Weiss.

MartinHafer This is a film from Hammer Films that was directed by Terrence Fisher--a man who made many of the more famous horror films for this studio. Oddly, although Christopher Lee appears in the film, he's in a supporting role and Anton Diffring, a man NOT used to starring roles, plays the leading man.The film begins with a bizarre art show. That's because the artist is a doctor and he never sells his statues. Additionally, he shows them off once and never lets anyone see them again! None of this made any sense, but the idea that followed is pretty interesting. It seems that although Diffring looked to be in his early to mid 40s, he was supposed to be 104 years old! It seems that he'd discovered a way to make himself live forever--but there was a price. Every ten years, he needed to kill in order to obtain a needed gland that would keep him alive.While all this is pretty exciting stuff, the execution left an awful lot to be desired. You'd think with such a creepy plot it would naturally be exciting, but sadly it wasn't. Part of it may have been that the role didn't fit Diffring's talents very well and part of it may just be the very pedestrian script. All I know is that I found myself being rather bored towards the end and it's not one of Hammer's finer moments.Note that the DVD release contains no extra features at all--just an adequate print of the film. Also, near the very end you find the one lady you think is dead is still alive but quite mad. You wonder why Diffring killed a prostitute for the gland but left this poor wretch locked in a dungeon--this didn't make much sense.

natewatson Terence Fisher, Jimmy Sangster and Christopher Lee teamed up yet again in this Hammer Films outing. This was a remake of the 1945 movie "The Man in Half Moon Street" and has absolutely nothing to do with "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Hazel Court is also on hand once again. She actually did a topless scene available in much of Europe but was cut from the US and UK prints. Anton Diffring is not at his most effective in this film. This is really only for devotees of Hammer and Christopher Lee - who has a new generation of fans thanks to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy and George Lucas' last 2 Star Wars films.