Based on Barré Lyndon's play "The Man in Half Moon Street" and starring Anton Diffring (in a role originally intended for Peter Cushing), "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is one of my favorite Hammer productions. It lacks the fan base of the studio's Frankenstein and Dracula films, probably because it's a bit more talky and cerebral than the average monster outing, but from a dramatic standpoint it's one of Hammer's finest efforts.
The character of Dr. Bonnet is markedly similar to Cushing's Frankenstein: single-minded of purpose, flawed, capable of cruelty and yet not a full-fledged villain. This would have been a great role for Cushing, but I think it was an even better one for Diffring; he counterbalances Bonnet's frosty Germanic quality with a tragic desperation that's fascinating to watch. Still, Arnold Marlé steals the show as Bonnet's old medical colleague Professor Weiss, who suffers visibly from the effects of age and illness while Bonnet remains handsome, healthy and inexplicably (at first) youthful. Francis de Wolff gives a strong performance as a police inspector sniffing suspiciously around Bonnet's clinic. Oddly enough, horror stalwarts Christopher Lee and Hazel Court serve as the film's placeholders: Lee may have been relieved to play a good guy for once, but the role doesn't give him much to do; Court is the obligatory beautiful-woman-in-peril.
There are a few overtly scary moments (you know something terrible is about to happen whenever Diffring opens that safe and what's inside bathes his face in a ghastly, blue-green glow), but the film's real interest is generated by the conflict between Bonnet and Weiss. Both visually and in director Terence Fisher's restrained approach to the horrific subject matter, "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is reminiscent of the 1962 version of "The Phantom of the Opera," another unjustly neglected Hammer production. Great stuff for viewers who enjoy spooky period films but are tired of the standard monster fare.
The character of Dr. Bonnet is markedly similar to Cushing's Frankenstein: single-minded of purpose, flawed, capable of cruelty and yet not a full-fledged villain. This would have been a great role for Cushing, but I think it was an even better one for Diffring; he counterbalances Bonnet's frosty Germanic quality with a tragic desperation that's fascinating to watch. Still, Arnold Marlé steals the show as Bonnet's old medical colleague Professor Weiss, who suffers visibly from the effects of age and illness while Bonnet remains handsome, healthy and inexplicably (at first) youthful. Francis de Wolff gives a strong performance as a police inspector sniffing suspiciously around Bonnet's clinic. Oddly enough, horror stalwarts Christopher Lee and Hazel Court serve as the film's placeholders: Lee may have been relieved to play a good guy for once, but the role doesn't give him much to do; Court is the obligatory beautiful-woman-in-peril.
There are a few overtly scary moments (you know something terrible is about to happen whenever Diffring opens that safe and what's inside bathes his face in a ghastly, blue-green glow), but the film's real interest is generated by the conflict between Bonnet and Weiss. Both visually and in director Terence Fisher's restrained approach to the horrific subject matter, "The Man Who Could Cheat Death" is reminiscent of the 1962 version of "The Phantom of the Opera," another unjustly neglected Hammer production. Great stuff for viewers who enjoy spooky period films but are tired of the standard monster fare.