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Released by: Eureka
Released on: September 21st, 2015.
Director: Terence Fisher
Cast: Anton Diffring, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court, Arnold Marle
Year: 1959
The Movie:
Set in the Paris of 1890, The Man Who Could Cheat Death follows a scientist named Dr. Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring) who may appear normal on the outside but who in actuality leads a sinister secret life. Bonnet has figured out the secret to eternal life - he makes an elixir out of the glands of young women! The only problem is that the young women in question don't necessarily want to donate their glands to the good doctor and so he winds up with a fair bit of blood on his hands. The bonus flip side to this dilemma is that while he might actually be over a hundred years old, he doesn't look a day over forty so his elixir obviously works.
Eventually Bonnet receives a caller one day in the form of his old friend, Professor Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marle), an older and obviously aged man who is shocked to find Bonnet looking so young. Bonnet has asked Weiss to perform an important operation on him and, being rather suspicious of Bonnet, Weiss refuses.
Bonnet, his life now in danger, has little choice but to blackmail another doctor, Pierre Gerard (Christopher Lee) into performing the operation for him by threatening a beautiful woman, Janine Dubois (Hazel Court), that both he and Gerard are involved with.
Based on a stage play by Barre Lyndon entitled The Man In Half Moon Street (which was also made into a film in 1945), the picture feels very much like a play thanks to its minimalist sets and the fact that so much of it takes place indoors. This prevents the film from obtaining the sense of grandeur that makes many better known Hammer films so much fun, but to its credit, the movie works well. Fisher's direction is solid and Anton Diffring gives an excellent and enjoyably sinister performance as the mad doctor Bonnet. It's fun to see Christopher Lee play the good guy this time around and Hazel Court makes for a charming and beautiful leading lady. Supposedly the uncut European version of this film features a topless scene from Ms. Court but that footage is missing from this DVD release.
While The Man Who Could Cheat Death probably won't ever find the following that Hammer's Dracula and Frankenstein pictures have justly won, it's an enjoyable enough mad scientist picture with some nice sets, decent direction and solid acting. The first half of the film might move a little slow for some tastes but it does build rather nicely and the last half hour of the picture is quite tense and exciting. The makeup effects are fun and the score, courtesy of composer Richard Rodney Bennett compliments the story and the tone of the movie very nicely.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Man Who Could Cheat Death arrives on Blu-ray from Eureka in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.66.1 widescreen. The film was released in North America some years back on Blu-ray from Legend Films but this new disc from the UK is an improvement (the image is darker but looks more natural and it is quite a bit cleaner with considerably better black levels). Colors look great, they're reproduced brightly and boldly without looking over-saturated, while black levels are strong and deep. Detail is consistently impressive and there's impressive depth and texture here. There are no problems with any compression artifacts, edge enhancement or noise reduction and while there's the expected amount of film grain present, serious print damage is never a problem. This is a pretty strong transfer on Eureka's part.
For a comparison between the North American Legend Films Blu-ray and this UK release from Eureka click here!
Audio options are provided in LPCM English language 2.0 mono, there are no alternate language options provided although removable English subtitles are provided. There's decent depth and range to the mix, the levels are nicely balanced and the dialogue consistently clear. The score sounds good as do the effects. It's not the world's most complex mix, but it works and it works well.
Eureka's disc includes two video interviews as the main supplements. The first is a seventeen minute piece with writer Kim Newman who speaks for roughly seventeen minutes about the history of the picture, his thoughts on what works and what doesn't and a fair bit more. The second interview also runs approximately seventeen minutes and it features film historian Jonathan Rigby. He too offers up his thoughts on the picture and then goes on to provide some context for the film and offer up some information on the people who made it.
The disc also comes packaged with a full color booklet featuring an essay on the film by author Marcus Hearn, (the man who wrote The Hammer Story: The Authorized History of Hammer Films), and a really impressive collection of related archival images.
The Final Word:
A fun, if slightly low key, Hammer effort, The Man Who Could Cheat Death holds up fairly well and remains an entertaining effort even if it isn't on par with the best of Fisher's Hammer offerings. Eureka's Blu-ray offers a nice upgrade over the previous North American Blu-ray release in both presentation and supplements.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
