''The Man Who Finally Died '' is a 1963 British

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Quentin Lawrence Quentin Lawrence (6 November 1920, in Gravesend, Kent, Gravesend – 9 March 1979, in Halifax, Yorkshire) was an English film and television director. He worked a long time for ATV. An article about TV directors in ''The Guardian'' said he was "n ...

and starring

Stanley Baker Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition f ...

Mai Zetterling Mai Elisabeth Zetterling (; 24 May 1925 – 17 March 1994) was a Swedish film director, novelist and actress. Early life Zetterling was born in Västerås, Sweden to a working class family. She started her career as an actor at the age of 17 at ...

and

Eric Portman Eric Harold Portman (13 July 1901 – 7 December 1969) was an English stage and film actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in three films for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during the 1940s. Early life Born in Halifax, ...

. It was based on the 1959 ITV series of the same name. The screenplay concerns a German immigrant living in Britain who receives a mysterious phone call telling him his father is not really dead. He returns to

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

to investigate the matter. John Burke wrote a

novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of the screenplay.

Plot summary

Joe Newman, formerly Joachim Deutsch, returns to his small hometown in Bavaria, after living in the UK since the outbreak of World War II. He seeks information of what has become of his father, Kurtz. He finds out that his father is dead, but that he escaped from behind the Iron Curtain, went to live with a certain Dr von Brecht, and later married a woman named Lisa. Everyone Joe approaches to find answers, including Police Inspector Hofmeister and insurance agent Brenner, is reluctant to talk and give more details concerning the circumstances of his father. Joe begins to suspect that this is a cover-up and that they all want to keep certain facts regarding his father a secret. He breaks into von Brecht's home and finds an elderly man in the attic but is knocked unconscious before being able to establish his identity. When he regains consciousness, Joe sees the old man being driven away. It is now revealed by von Brecht and Lisa that his father didn’t manage to escape two years ago, but swapped places with another escapee when mortally wounded. Meanwhile, Brenner, really a Russian agent, has kidnapped the old man and is taking him back to Russia by train. Joe then tracks them to a railway station and boards the train. Following a battle with Brenner, who falls from the moving train, Joe rescues the scientist from being abducted to the East and helps him escape from the country.

Cast

as Joe Newman *

as Doctor Peter von Brecht *

as Lisa von Deutsch *

as Inspector Hofmeister *

Nigel Green Nigel McGown Green (15 October 192415 May 1972) was an English actor. Because of his strapping build, commanding height () and regimental demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic 1960s films as ...

as Sergeant Hirsch * Georgina Ward as Maria *

Niall MacGinnis Patrick Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor and physician. On screen, he was well-known for his character roles with a "poetic timbre", though he occasionally played leading parts like the title character in ...

as Brenner *

Barbara Everest Barbara Everest (19 June 1890 – 9 February 1968) was a British stage and film actress. She was born in Southfields, Surrey, and made her screen debut in the 1916 film ''The Man Without a Soul''. On stage she played Queen Anne in the 1935 his ...

as Martha * Harold Scott as Professor *

Alfred Burke Alfred Burke (28 February 1918 – 16 February 2011) was an English actor who played Frank Marker in the drama series '' Public Eye'', which ran on television for ten years. Early life Born in London's southeast district of Peckham, the son of ...

as Heinrich *

James Ottaway William Cecil James Ottaway (25 July 1908 – 16 June 1999) was a British film, television and stage actor whose career spanned seven decades.The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "This exceedingly complicated thriller scarcely warrants the trouble in working out its plot convolutions, and the dénouement, when it comes, owes too much to a dozen earlier spy mysteries. Under Quentin Lawrences very laboured direction, a number of talented players (and several untalented ones) heave and grimace to little effect, while the music underlines every plot switch just like the bad old days."

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

said: "Busy adaptation of a TV serial with a convoluted plot which might have been more pacily developed and better explained."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Finally Died, The 1963 films 1960s thriller films British thriller films CinemaScope films British Lion Films films Films directed by Quentin Lawrence Films set in West Germany Films set in East Germany Cold War films Films based on television series 1960s English-language films 1960s British films Films scored by Philip Green English-language thriller films