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

"The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is certainly entertaining, with the kind of period recreation and atmosphere that the Hammer studio always did so well. The acting is first rate and the story is a pretty good one. The problem is that one can tell this derived from a stage work, as it gets bogged down in talk without having too many really good horror moments.Previously filmed as "The Man in Half Moon Street", it tells the tale of an eminent doctor, Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring, who stepped into the role after Peter Cushing backed out) who dabbles in sculpting. Bonnet is maintaining a pretty big secret: he's actually a LOT older than he looks, managing to stay healthy and youthful looking by a scientific process involving removing glands from unwilling donors. An old girlfriend of his, Janine Du Bois (the lovely scream queen Hazel Court) wants to come back into his life, despite being involved with a surgeon named Pierre Gerrard (Sir Christopher Lee). It's up to Gerrard and the intrepid Inspector Legris (Francis De Wolff) to do something to stop the mad doctor.The film has an impressive pedigree, with frequent Hammer director Terence Fisher doing a more than capable job, and Jimmy Sangster (Fisher, Lee, and Sangster, having previously done "The Curse of Frankenstein" and "Dracula" together) writing the script. The settings of late 19th century Paris are moodily photographed, and the music score composed by Richard Rodney Bennett is excellent. The cast has a field day with the material, with Diffring managing to be equal parts demented and sympathetic. It's nice to see Lee in a heroic role, and in support Arnold Marle and De Wolff do great work.Hammer completists will want to see this but due to the films' more-talk-than-action nature, it won't be for all horror fans. Still, with the amount of talent in front of and behind the camera, it does have a fair bit going for it.Six out of 10.

Hammer's most famous and greatest 'mad science' franchise is, of course, the great Frankenstein series starring the almighty Peter Cushing as the ruthless and yet somehow very likable Baron Victor Frankenstein. While THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959) is by no means as great as Hammer's Frankenstein films it is a very atmospheric mad-scientist-flick with an excellent cast. Directed by Hammer's Number one, Terence Fisher, THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH is an adaptation of a play that was first filmed as THE MAN IN HALF MOON STREET (1945) which I haven't seen yet.The mad scientist in this film is played by the always-sinister Anton Diffring, who had played Baron Frankenstein in Hammer's own TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN, a 1958 pilot for a planned Frankenstein TV-show that wasn't made. Actually, Diffring's character in this movie, Dr. George Bonner isn't really that 'mad', regarding his situation: In Paris of 1890, Dr. Bonner is a man who seemingly is in his 40s. However, he is in fact 104 years old and keeps his youth with the aid of a serum. In order to survive, he needs periodic gland transplants from young and healthy victims. Needless to say he is willing to kill for his life...THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH co-stars two Hammer icons, British Horror-beauty Hazel Court and the inimitable Christopher Lee. Both deliver great performances as usual. Personally I like Christopher Lee most when he is evil, but hero-roles such as in this film also fit him well. Anton Diffring is a specialist for sinister and macabre characters, and he is once again excellent here. 19th century Paris is a good setting for a Hammer film; even though most of the movie plays indoors here, director Fisher once again makes great use of the Hammer-typical visuals, creating a thick Gothic atmosphere. Overall, THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH offers few surprises and may not be an essential must-see, but it is tense and atmospheric Gothic Horror and should not be missed by my fellow Hammer-fans.

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.