Product Description

Dr. Georges Bonnet has figured out a way to live forever. All he needs are the glands of some very unwilling donors! Anton Diffring stars as the mad doctor in this chilling Hammer Horror classic. As he struggles against the inevitable icy grip of death, the doctor begins a descent into madness that threatens to destroy the laws of nature and the lives of those he lusts after. It's up to horror legend Christopher Lee to stop his unholy quest before it takes a final deadly turn!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36950 in DVD
• Brand: LEGEND FILMS
• Released on: 2008-10-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 82 minutes

Features

• Dr. Georges Bonnet has figured out a way to live forever. All he needs are the glands of some very unwilling donors! Anton Diffring stars as the mad doctor in this chilling Hammer Horroric. As he struggles against the inevitable icy grip of death, the doctor begins a descent into madness that threatens to destroy the laws of nature and the lives of those he lusts after. It's up to horror legen

Review
[...] In Paris 1890, Dr. Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring) is out murdering women when he isn t wrapped up in his hobby of sculpting. Bonnet is actually 104 years old but keeps the youthful image and healthy body of a man in his 30s by cutting out the parathyroid glands of said women and utilizing them for his secret elixir. When Bonnet s 89-year-old colleague Prof. Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marlé) shows up and sees his much older friend appear much younger, he refuses to perform a vital operation on him, and that spells trouble. Another sensible and ethical doctor, Pierre Gerard (Christopher Lee) is blackmailed into performing the surgery after Bonnet endangers the life of the beautiful Janine Dubois (Hazel Court), a young woman who they are both vying for the attentions of, with Bonnet naturally in the lead, being the evil and deceitful one.

The Man Who Could Cheat Death is another colorful and handsome Hammer production made at their tiny Bray Studios, but it's a dialog-driven affair with most of the proceedings taking place on several sound stages. Bernard Robinson s sets are lavish, but too recognizably redressed from previous Hammer efforts (Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, Revenge of Frankenstein, etc.). The Dorian Gray-like horror antics are kept to a minimum but are highlighted by Jack Asher s effective lighting on Bonnet when he s on the brink of turning monstrous, or when the camera probes from the inside of his secret elixir cabinet, which glows outwardly in a florescent green. Providing the film s score in a position often reserved for James Bernard is Richard Rodney Bennett, whose successful career would lead to three Oscar nominations and eventual Knighthood. Roy Ashton s excellent decaying make-up is generously displayed during the film s fiery climax.

As Bonnet, Anton Diffring is perfectly cast in the villainous role, and gothic horror suits him well. [...] Christopher Lee is very good here as Pierre Gerard, proving early on in the horror cycle that he offered more than lumbering monsters or speech-deprived vampires. A bonafide scream queen of the highest degree, the late Hazel Court is given less to do here than in some of her other genre efforts, and she reportedly was filmed topless (during a nude modeling sequence) for a continental version which is yet to resurface. A number of other familiar Hammer character actors are present here, including Francis De Wolff and Charles Lloyd Pack.

Legend Films presents Hammer s The Man Who Could Cheat Death on DVD in a properly framed 1.66:1 transfer with anamorphic enhancement. After a rather dark credit sequence (which has Bonnet roaming the foggy Paris streets in search of glands), the transfer boasts excellent detail and even though at times the colors look somewhat muted, they are still distinct and shine through nicely in many scenes. Aside from occasional film dirt, the image is very clean and smooth, granting us a very handsome edition of this early Hammer classic. The mono English audio track is also in good shape, and aside from several crackles and pops, sounds nice and clear throughout. There are no subtitle options, but the disc is close captioned. [...] --George R. Reis of DVDDrive-In.com

Customer Reviews

Great old-fashioned storytelling
This Hammer Studios film is one of their lesser known but better films.
A remake of a 1940's era film "The Man in Half-Moon Street", this one has
a more sensationalized approach and benefits from the presence of Anton
Diffring in the title role. Christopher Lee is the "good" guy but this
great actor's aloofness may have you rooting for the title character
instead (no offense Chris; we're just used to seeing you in villianous
roles). Beautiful sets, gorgeous color, great actors including the late,
great Hazel Court and a breezy short running time make this a winner all
the way.

Nice Hammer entry into eternal life
I really enjoyed watching this film I did not know as a kid. It has no much action compared with other Hammer entries around this time (Horror of Dracula, Curse of Frankenstein). However, the film is really good at a more philosophical side as it deals with the positive and negative considerations of achieving eternal life. These two sides are illustrated by a partneship of two fellow scientists. On top of this you get the character played by the great Christopher Lee. This last aspect makes worth enough to get a copy of this DVD release. Except for the first 3 min or so, the digital transfer is pretty good. The film is close captioned in English and no extras are available except for a scene selection tool.

UPDATE/So where is it???!!!!
I'm one of the countless fans of this movie, very pleased it's on DVD at last... but is it? And if it is, then WHERE is it? How come it's unavailable within 48 hours of its release? What's going on? Can someone, anyone, explain?
UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!!!
Here is the latest info, dated Thursday October 9th 2008... from the nice polite folks at Legend Films, who responded to my email immediately...
and there's some interesting info re. Best Buy...

"We did ship in Amazon's initial order of DVDs which went amazingly quickly. They placed their reorder on Monday and the shipment got into Amazon's warehouse last night. I believe if you go online now, you will see that it is available. The title is on full release now, which means as Amazon runs out of stock, they will place a reorder and it should never be more than a 3-4 day backorder for the title.
We do know that Best Buy has still made no efforts to correct issues with online ordering as well as shipping internationally, which is the precise reason we took back the title from them."