Perhaps I've seen way too many overblown and pretentious would-be cult movies lately, but I really enjoyed "The Man Who Turned to Stone" a lot and therefore I reward it with a rating higher than it probably deserves… The plot of this modest '50s production – courtesy of the legendary Sam Katzman – is definitely interesting and compelling, albeit highly unoriginal and full of holes and illogicalness. Victor Jory leads a group of selfish scientists that discovered the secret to immortality and have been around since the 18th Century. In order to unnecessarily prolong their own precious lives, they need the life-extract of other human beings; preferably fertile young women. And what place is better to scout for fertile yet disposable young women than a women's prison? The administrative employee Carol Adams grows suspicious of all the sudden and unnatural deaths at the prison and receives help from an acclaimed state psychiatrist. Although close to getting caught the alchemists must continue their treatments, otherwise their skins literally petrify… The central idea is quite derivative, as the quest for immortality at the expense of innocent people is an often recurring horror movie theme, but the "turning to stone" aspect is a nifty little gimmick. The film also features the cool sub plot about one of the scientist group members – Eric – being a lot less resistant and in need of receiving the treatment more frequently than the others. It's Eric who often roams around the prison's dormitory at night with a half-stoned face and causing mayhem. The script naturally features many holes and dumb elements as well. Why aren't these alchemists relocating more frequently, for instance, or even more importantly, why aren't they sedating their victims in order to prevent them from screaming their lungs out? The filming location is very unconvincing, as the place doesn't look like a prison but merely resembles a campus college or an all-girls summer camp. At first I even assumed it was a summer camp because two of the leading ladies are talking about boxes of Girl Scout cookies… The acting performances are collectively wooden and uptight, but I admit that's also part of the '50s horror charm. The actor who depicts Eric, Friedrich von Ledebur, is menacing enough and the film never once bored me throughout its (short) running time of 70 minutes.

The aim of becoming immortal is a fairly common theme in horror movies and has been experimented with often. A feature that is often a part of movies that focus on this idea is the central perpetrator killing off living people in order to achieve their aim of immortality, and that's basically what we have with this film. The Man Who Turned to Stone was clearly shot on a budget and is very much a 1950's 'B' picture, but in spite of that this film showcases some good ideas and the plot, while completely lacking in suspense, is at least interesting enough to keep the audience entertained for the duration; although that duration is only seventy two minutes. The plot focuses on a group of scientists that have beaten death by way of keeping the series of chemical reactions that keeps everyone alive going. The downside to this, however, is the fact that in order to keep this going; they have to sacrifice a human life. The scientists are currently residing over a women's prison, and the prisoners are starting to wonder why so many of their number is disappearing...The script written by Bernard Gordon has its fair number of plot holes, inconsistencies and illogical events; but you have to expect that sort of thing from a fifties B-movie. The film was shot on a budget and it really shows; it looks cheap throughout and nothing about it is particularly outstanding. The plot is definitely interesting in spite of this; and in spite of the fact that it contains very little in the way of tension or suspense. Finding out exactly what is behind the central mystery is really the only thing that manages to keep the film going for most of the duration. The acting is not great either, with none of the little known central cast really impressing. The prison setting is not convincing, with most of the girls being quite happy and there's not a sign of anything restraining them to the building in site. Once the main revelation is out of the way, the film boils down to a rather predictable ending. However, despite all the film's flaws; The Man Who Turned to Stone is at least a fun timewaster and doesn't outstay its welcome.

"Small Town Girl" director László Kardos' superficial horror chiller "The Man Who Turned to Stone" qualifies as nonsense from fade-in to fade-out. This inept, outlandish yarn about an ill-fated group of 18th century scientists that have learned to preserve themselves despite the passage of time resembles a vampire movie. Alas, these ordinary-looking evildoers here wind up being far less interesting than vampires. They have survived for 200 years and the secret of their longevity lies in renewing the life energy in themselves by draining it away from helpless, young women. Dr. Murdock (Victory Jory of "The Green Archer") and his associates, including Dr. Freneau (George Lynn of "The Werewolf"), Dr. Cooper (Paul Cavanagh of "The Scarlet Coat"), Dr. Myer (Victor Varconi of "The Hitler Gang"), Mrs. Ford (Ann Doran of "The Crimson Key"), and Eric (Frederick Ledebur of "The Blue Max") conduct unethical, illegal experiments on young ladies to keep themselves alive, but the poor girls perish each time.Writing under the pseudonym of Raymond T. Marcus, blacklisted scenarist Bernard Gordon has contrived a cretinous fright flick for undiscriminating audiences. "The Man Who Turned to Stone" is nothing like Gordon's better known scripts, among them: "The Battle of the Bulge," "Circus World," "Custer of the West," and "55 Days in Peking." Instead, this half-baked, lackluster horror effort recalls his work on "Zombies of Mora Tau" and "Earth Vs. Flying Saucers." Unfortunately, Gordon doesn't provide any back history for the villains and their success at maintaining a low profile after two centuries.Somehow, Dr. Murdock and his accomplices have taken over the administration at LaSalle Detention Home For Girls. Mysteriously, girls start screaming at night, disappear in the arms of tall lumbering Eric, and autopsies later reveal that the girls have died of heart failure. A young, idealistic social worker, Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin of "Gorilla At Large"), looks into the mysterious disappearances after her conspiracy theory inmate secretary Tracey (Jean Willes of "Ocean's Eleven") brings up the issue. Murdock and stern Mrs. Ford refuse to let Miss Adams review the death certificates. Things go awry for Murdock and company when they kill a young inmate, Anna Sherman (Barbara Wilson of "Teenage Doll"), to renew Eric's life energy, and then they hang Anna's body from the rafters of her dormitory while the rest of the girls are out watching a movie in another building. Tracey fumes with outrage about Anna's alleged suicide. "She could no more have committed suicide than she could have flown over the fence." Miss Adams finds it difficult to believe, too, but she finds Jean's claims just as inconceivable. "Tracy, will you stop plaguing me with your insane suspicions," she demands. "If a girl has a heart attack, it's a plot. If a girl hangs herself, it's a plot." Nevertheless, Tracy argues that Anna was not suicide inclined since she had a year to serve on her sentence, a baby awaiting her in the free world, and plans.At the inquest, Miss Adams questions the coroner's findings. Murdock tries to discredit Adams. After all, she has only been on the job for three months. Unexpectedly, Adams finds a friend in state department of mental health psychiatrist, Dr. Jess Rodgers (William Hudson of "Battle Hymn"), who decides to investigate her suspicions himself. Adams is packing her belongings when Rodgers convinces her that he will get to the bottom of this mystery that has resulted in the deaths of eleven inmates. Eventually, Dr. Rodgers receives help from the least expected person: Dr. Cooper. For a long time now, Cooper has wrestled with conscience about Murdock's skullduggery. Lately, they have been struggling to keep Eric from turning to stone, but each treatment has exerted less impact on his system. Dr. Cooper condemns Eric as 'a senseless brute' and argues that they should sacrifice him. Murdock and the others ostracize Cooper, and he dies by literally turning to stone. Before his death, however, Dr. Cooper has reveals to Dr. Rogers the location of his secret journal. Cooper's journal contains the complete and infamous exploits of Dr. Murdock and company.The villains in "The Man Who Turned to Stone" aren't very smart. They dispatch one of their own, Eric, to fetch the girls from the reformatory. Every time he abducts a girl, she screams at the top of her lungs and awakens half of the inmate population. Clearly, these sophisticated physicians have never considered giving these girls with a sedative so that they create fewer problems. Aside from the outdoor scenes where Dr. Rodgers uncovers Cooper's hidden journal, "The Man Who Turned to Stone" occurs largely inside the women's reformatory. The most gruesome scene is the suicide by hanging. Kardos shows Anna's body only from the legs down as she hangs from the rafters in a dormitory.Kardos and Gordon had the makings of good, grisly horror chiller, but they don't take advantage of those elements. The horror here lies primarily in Eric lurching about the premises looking for women for Murdock's experiments. The girls scream, but offer little resistance once Eric has them in his clutches. Although the prison is called a Detention Home for Girls, all of the girls look far too old to pass as teenagers. Of course, this is a convention that has plagued most movies about teenagers: namely, actors and actresses twice their age play these kids. The make-up looks spooky enough, but adequate make-up doesn't make a solid, scary movie. Veteran lenser Benjamin Kline's atmospheric black & white photography gives "The Man Who Turned to Stone" more credibility than the Gordon screenplay. Kline photographed over 324 movies and TV shows, so by the time that he did this movie, he could shoot in his sleep and make anything look credible. Unfortunately, a shortage of suspense, provocative villains, and anything remotely horrific—though it might have been considered horrific at the time—undermines this B-movie thriller. Only die-hard horror fans slumming for material will enjoy this forgettable movie.

Man Who Turned to Stone, The (1957) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Low key Columbia horror film about a 200+ year-old doctor who keeps himself alive by having his assistants kill off girls at a detention center. When his assistants try and turn against him, the man becomes a walking piece of stone and seeks revenge. This is a very low budget movie but it's pretty good throughout due in large part to some strong direction by Laszlo Kardos. The ending is very well done and there's a large amount of atmosphere throughout the picture even though it's really nothing original. The make up effects are also pretty good considering the budget and with the proper lighting the monster too comes off well.