Thirty-One Days O’Horror: The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)

104 years old

Based upon the play by Barre Lydon entitled The Man In Half Moon Street, 1959’s The Man Who Could Cheat Death tells the tale of a man who wishes to live forever…..but only if others die for him! The film stars Anton Diffring, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court, Delphi Lawrence, Arnold Marle, and Francis de Wolff. It’s different from your standard Hammer Horror production that features vampires, werewolves, and mummies. Instead, it features a brilliant doctor who, along with his colleague, discovers the source of eternal youth. In order to maintain his youth, however, the doctor must remove a gland from a suitable living human and transplant it into himself. This must be done every ten years or the aging process immediately occurs, ensuring death for the doctor.

In the film, Dr. Georges Bonnet (Diffring) is having a party for his latest creation, a sculpture of the young model named Margo (Lawrence). Despite being a brilliant doctor, Bonnet is also known to be an amazing artist. He quickly ends the party and rushes everybody out of his home whenever he realizes that he must drink an elixir to keep his body from aging. His friend, Dr. Ludwig Weiss (Marle), is three weeks late on arriving at Bonnet’s home and he is needed to perform the surgery that keeps Bonnet youthful. Unfortunately for poor Margo, she happens to walk in on Bonnet when he is about to drink the elixir. He attacks her and we don’t see her again……

When Weiss finally arrives, it is learned that he had a stroke and is unable to execute the surgery on Bonnet. Desperate, Bonnet convinces one of his past models, Janine (Court), to visit him and bring along her friend, Dr. Pierre Gerrard, who Weiss convinces to perform the surgery for him. After successfully acquiring the services of Gerrard, Bonnet is visited by Inspector LeGris (de Wolff), who is searching for Margo.

Gerrard becomes distrustful of Bonnet and Weiss. This leads him to become an ally of LeGris. Together, the two put the pieces of a bizarre puzzle together that link Bonnet to a series of missing persons cases that span a thirty year period and put him at a much older age than he appears to be at the moment. More revelations are made, more murders occur, and Bonnet becomes desperate to stay alive. Watch The Man Who Could Cheat Death to find out what happens!

I really enjoyed this mystery/thriller from Hammer. The cast was extremely good, especially Diffring, whose eyes revealed a desperate man willing to do anything to stay alive. Lee, Courst, de Wolff, and Marle were all solid in their roles. I especially enjoyed Lawrence as Margo. Although her role was small it proved to be significant.

The movie’s music was atmospheric and set the tone of the film with perfection, especially the opening sequence. The sound was also exceptional in this film. The special effects and makeup were surprisingly well done. I really have no complaints about this film at all. I definitely recommend it.

Thanks for checking out my brief review of this often forgotten Hammer classic. It’s not very scary, but it’s a great story. I’ll see you again tomorrow!