The Film (3.5/5)

Considered to be one of Hammer films lesser offerings, but still entertaining, The Man Who Could Cheat Death stars Anton Diffring ( Circus of Horrors) as Dr. Georges Bonnet , a scientist and a sculptor with some skeletons in his closet. He has discovered a (sinister) way to stay young and has been doing so for many years.  He somewhat reluctantly has to murder people, usually women for their parathyroid gland which he uses to stay young. Every so often he also drinks youth serum. Without taking a dose of this serum, Dr. Bonnet would be 104 years old, and most likely be dead.  

Dr. Ludwig Weiss, a former associate of Dr. Bonnet, pays a visit to him to perform a very important operation to save Dr. Bonnet’s life, but he cannot do because he has a bad hand. He asks Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee, Dracula, Horror Express) to perform the operation, which he agrees to do, but then later changes his mind. This operation would prevent Dr. Bonnet from having to kill and take his serum to stay young, and becomes the major plot-point for the movie.

Dr. Weiss, who sees some of Dr. Bonnet’s victims’ glands in his laboratory, as well as his latest sculpture, love interest Janine Du Bois (Hazel Court, Devil Girl from Mars). Sensing danger, Dr. Weiss confronts him about how immoral he is by keeping himself young at the cost of other people’s lives, saying other people have a right to live as well.

He wants Dr. Bonnet’s to stop murdering people and to discontinue taking his serum and just accept death, saying that is in God’s hands. In a crucial scene Dr. Weiss breaks Bonnet’s glass full of the serum in an effort to end his life. Dr. Bonnet barely survives by gathering the liquid spread out all over the floor. This keeps him alive a little longer while he devises a plan to have Dr. Gerrard do the needed operation. The climax has Dr. Bonnet, thinking he has been operated on, finally shows his true age in the most horrifying scene in the entire movie.

This is a good, solid film by Director Fisher. Those expecting a ton of suspense, horror and gore in the Hammer tradition will be disappointed. But it still has the great Hammer production values. It’s not your traditional horror film, despite having but a few horror elements. There are a few good shocks and special effects, such as when Dr. Bonnet’s face turns green, or when he transforms into his true age during the climax. But mainly, the film comes off more as a drama/thriller with a lot of dialog. The lack of suspense and horror doesn’t make this a bad film and in fact it is very enjoyable. The characters are strong enough to hold your interest due to Fisher being a brilliant director and getting the most from his players. The actors all hand in excellent performances, especially Anton Diffring, playing a crazed doctor, actually outshines Christopher Lee, as he is more or less a subdued hero in this film.

Audio/Video (4/5)

Kino presents The Man Who Could Cheat Death in its original 1:66:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p with MPEG 4- AVC Encode and the image does look really good. Reds, purples and blues are really strong. This is noticeably brighter than the both the Blu-ray releases from Eureka and Legend Films. Flesh tones look strong, there is great detail, but it’s not the sharpest looking image, most likely due to the film source used. Still, it is overall very pleasing.

Kino has gone with the usual English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track for this release, and it’s also in good condition.  There are several crackles and pops, but overall dialog, music and screaming all sound nice and clear throughout. Optional English subtitles are included

Extras (4/5)

We do get some good extras for this release. There is a highly informative commentary by film historian Troy Howarth, an interview with film critic Kim Newman, along with another interview with film historian Jonathan Rigby. There are several trailers for your viewing pleasure as well including ones for The Skull, Tales of Terror, Madhouse, The Oblong Box, Twice Told Tales, and The Crimson Cult. Trailers from Hell with Joe Dante, round out the supplements.

Overall (4/5)

This is another fine Hammer film that deserves a place on the shelf for fans of this genre. Kino, with the extras and really good picture quality, has given the film the best presentation to date of The Man Who Could Cheat Death. Recommended!