The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957)
#1847
Viewing Date: 4-5-2006
Posting Date: 9-2-2006
Directed by Laszlo Kardos
Featuring Victor Jory, William Hudson, Charlotte Austin
A woman's prison is plagued with unexpected deaths. The culprits are a group of scientists from the eighteenth century who have been doing experiments on the extension of life. A heroic psychiatrist tries to discover their secret.
Maybe it's because I'm a little tired of the rash of Bowery Boys movies and feature-versions of serials lately that I'm just glad to get to a straightforward science fiction / horror movie from the fifties. This one doesn't have a good reputation, but I enjoyed it nonetheless; Victor Jory makes a good villain (as always), even if his hairstyle makes it hard to notice anything but his ears. The real problems with this one are the weak script (with huge gaping plot holes; ask yourself why they don't drug the girls before carrying them away for experiments so that their screams don't alarm everyone), the plodding direction, and some rather poor special effects (except for the recycling of that clever makeup filter trick that they used back during the Fredric March DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE). Still, I enjoyed it well enough; after all, this is the type of movie that made me want to do this whole Movie of the Day thing to begin with.
#1847
Viewing Date: 4-5-2006
Posting Date: 9-2-2006
Directed by Laszlo Kardos
Featuring Victor Jory, William Hudson, Charlotte Austin
A woman's prison is plagued with unexpected deaths. The culprits are a group of scientists from the eighteenth century who have been doing experiments on the extension of life. A heroic psychiatrist tries to discover their secret.
Maybe it's because I'm a little tired of the rash of Bowery Boys movies and feature-versions of serials lately that I'm just glad to get to a straightforward science fiction / horror movie from the fifties. This one doesn't have a good reputation, but I enjoyed it nonetheless; Victor Jory makes a good villain (as always), even if his hairstyle makes it hard to notice anything but his ears. The real problems with this one are the weak script (with huge gaping plot holes; ask yourself why they don't drug the girls before carrying them away for experiments so that their screams don't alarm everyone), the plodding direction, and some rather poor special effects (except for the recycling of that clever makeup filter trick that they used back during the Fredric March DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE). Still, I enjoyed it well enough; after all, this is the type of movie that made me want to do this whole Movie of the Day thing to begin with.
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"A maniac with a lot of knowledge is a threat!"
"A maniac with a lot of knowledge is a threat!"
