Plot
In Paris, France in 1890, Dr. Georges Bonnet, a doctor and hobbyist sculptor, abruptly ends the fashionable party he is hosting. Georges harbours a secret; though he appears to be in his mid-30s, he is actually 104 years old, and has kept his youth and vitality through parathyroid gland transplants every 10 years. Professor Ludwig Weiss of Vienna, co-discoverer of this anti-ageing process, is three weeks late in arriving at Georges's home to perform the latest transplant. As a result, Georges must drink a steaming green elixir every six hours to stay young, though the elixir only buys him four weeks without the transplant. When Georges's latest model, Margo Philippe, comes across Georges drinking the fluid, he strikes her down. When the 89-year-old Ludwig finally arrives, he reveals he will be unable to operate on Georges because a stroke has incapacitated his right hand. Ludwig instructs Georges to find another surgeon. Surété Inspector LeGris begins to investigate Margo's disappearance and arrives at a dinner party hosted by Georges for Janine Du Bois, a former lover, and Dr. Pierre Gerrard. Georges denies knowing Margo's whereabouts and, when LeGris asks to see the bust of Margo, tells him that he accidentally destroyed it that morning. LeGris leaves and Georges admits to his startled guests that he lied, as the police would probably damage the bust if he turned it over to them. Secretly, Ludwig convinces Pierre to perform the transplant surgery, claiming that Georges is deathly ill and in urgent need of treatment. After Janine and Pierre have left, Ludwig tells Georges that Pierre will operate. However, Ludwig has grown suspicious of Georges and says it is strange that this is the third of George's models who has gone missing around the time of his transplants. Ludwig discovers that the newest parathyroid gland is from a living person, instead of being "revitalized" from a corpse. When Ludwig confronts Georges that his actions are unjustified, George retorts that he revitalized four glands from corpses but they all died because Ludwig was late, adding to Georges's hatred of being alone in this world. Ludwig destroys the elixir to prevent Georges from continuing; Georges strangles Ludwig to death. Pierre arrives the following morning to perform the operation, but Georges tells him that Ludwig was unexpectedly called back to Vienna. Pierre refuses to carry on and suggests that Georges find another surgeon. Georges visits other surgeons in Paris to no avail. Meanwhile, LeGris tells Pierre of the disappearances of three young women at 10 year intervals - inCast
''Credited:'' * Anton Diffring as Dr. Georges Bonnet * 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 ''Uncredited:'' * Gerda Larsen as street girl * Middleton Woods as little man * Denis Shaw as tavern customer * Ian Hewitson as Roger * Frederick Rawlings as footman * Marie Burke as woman * Charles Lloyd-Park as man * John Harrison as servant * Lockwood West as 1st doctor * Ronald Adam as 2nd doctor * Barry Shawin as 3rd doctorProduction
The lead role of Bonnet was originally offered to Peter Cushing, who turned it down six days before shooting started. Cushing's reason was that he was completely exhausted 'following the shooting of '' The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1959), which had just wrapped up'. The loss of Cushing caused Hammer to threaten legal action against him. However, Cushing had not signed a final contract with Hammer, and nothing could be done, although an angry Paramount, which was partly financing and distributing the film, 'relegated to picture to the lower half of double bills in the States'. The lead went to Diffring, who had played it 18 months earlier in the British ABC-TV adaptation of ''The Man in Half Moon Street'', an episode of the programme ''Hour of Mystery''. ABC was part of the ITV commercial consortium and broadcast primarily in the Midlands and North of England. Filming of ''The Man Who Could Cheat Death'' took place between 17 November and 30 December 1958 at Bray Studios. Its working title was ''The Man in the Rue Noire''. The European release of the film featured a scene in which Court appeared topless. She was paid 'an extra £2000 ($5,600 in 1959 dollars)' for the scene, in which she is posing for a sculpture made by Diffring's character. The stone bust of Janine that is shown repeatedly in the film is in fact 'a plaster cast made from Court's torso'. The scene does not appear in the UK or US prints and the footage is 'unfortunately lost (...) although a photo exists'. A scene in which Michael Ripper portrayed a morgue attendant was cut from the film's release print. ''The Man Who Could Cheat Death'' was granted an X-certificate by the BBFC on 8 April 1959. The X-cert meant that the film could only be exhibited to people age 16 or older. The film was cut in order to get the certificate, which allowed it to be shown in the UK, but the details of what or how much was cut are unknown.Distribution
''The Man Who Could Cheat Death'' was distributed in the UK and the US by Paramount. The film was first screened at the London Trade Show on 5 June 1959. It went into general release in the UK on 30 November 1959 as the first film on a double bill with '' The Evil That is Eve'' (1957). However, the movie was in general release earlier in the US, where it opened on 19 August 1959. The film was still being shown in US movie theatres into the 1960s. For example, it was the second film in a triple feature - between '' The Black Orchid'' (1958) and ''Maracaibo'' (1959) - at the Mt Lebanon Drive-In in Lebanon PA on 19 July 1963. Two years later, the movie continued to be at the bottom of a double bill. On 7 May 1965, it ran as the second film to '' Dr. Terror's House of Horrors'' (1965) at three theatres in San Francisco - the New Mission Theatre, the El Rancho Drive-In and the Esquire Theatre - as well as at theatres in the surrounding East Bay communities of Oakland, Fremont, Hayward and San Leandro. For home viewing in the UK, the video was given a 12 certificate by the BBFC on 28 August 2015 for 'limited' but 'moderate injury detail', which includes scarred faces, rapid ageing, strangulation and death by fire. The first US release of a video of the film was on 21 October 2008.Reception
''The'' ''Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films'' calls the film an "odd mish-mash of mad scientist sci-fi flick and gothic flannel" that "suffers from an excess of dialogue and a lack of action." This assessment is reflected in other contemporary reviews. Film scholar Chris Fellner quotes several: the 20 June 1959 issue of '' Harrison's Reports'' says that the movie's 'chief drawback' is 'that it is given more to talk than to movement'; '' Variety''Novelisation
The screenplay of ''The Man Who Could Cheat Death'' was rewritten as an inexpensive paperback novel in 1959. It was published in the US by Avon Books and sold for 35¢, with the authors named as 'Barre' Lyndon and Jimmy Sangster. In the UK, where the book sold for 2/6, Ace Books listed the author as John Sansom, the pen name of Sangster.References
Sources
* *External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Could Cheat Death, The 1959 films 1959 horror films 1950s fantasy films British science fiction films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Terence Fisher British films based on plays Films scored by Richard Rodney Bennett Films set in Paris Films set in the 1890s Films shot at Bray Studios British remakes of American films Hammer Film Productions horror films Films with screenplays by Jimmy Sangster 1950s British films English-language horror films English-language fantasy films