Indestructible Man (1956)

User Rating:

3.0/10   

Director:

Jack Pollexfen

Writers:

Vy Russell (screenplay) and
Sue Dwiggins (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 March 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Sci-Fi | Horror

Tagline:

300,000 Volts of Horror!

Plot:

Scientific experiments accidentally revive an executed criminal and make him impervious to harm, prompting him to seek revenge on his former partners.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Police Protection | Death | Revenge | Professor

Cast

Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Charles 'Butcher' Benton (as Lon Chaney)
Max Showalter	...	Police Lt. Richard 'Dick' Chasen (as Casey Adams)
Marian Carr	...	Eva Martin (as Marion Carr)
Ross Elliott	...	Paul Lowe, Attorney
Stuart Randall	...	Police Lt. John Lauder
Ken Terrell	...	Joe Marcelli (as Kenneth Terrell)
Marjorie Stapp	...	Hysterical young woman
Robert Shayne	...	Prof. Bradshaw
Peggy Maley	...	Francine (blonde stripper)
Robert Foulk	...	Harry (bar owner)
Rita Green	...	Carney's 'bait'
Roy Engel	...	Desk sergeant (as Roy Engle)
Madge Cleveland	...	Old frump in bar

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

3rd Street Tunnel Stairway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

C.G.K. Productions

Trivia:

Lt. Chasen mentions putting in a call to a Professor Dwiggins at Caltech who may know about Professor Bradshaw's work. Sue Dwiggins is the real name of co-writer Sue Bradford.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Butcher is walking around his hair is combed, parted and neat but in a close-up of his face his hair is very messy.

Quotes:

Paul Lowe, Attorney: Well that's it, Butcher. The evidence against you is so strong, the governor turned down your appeal.
Charles 'Butcher' Benton: You're a rotten liar, Lowe. You started railroading me from the beginning of the trial. And now you're still trying to throw me curves.
Paul Lowe, Attorney: Look, I don't blame you for being edgy but get this straight. I didn't doublecross you. I never worked harder for a client.
Charles 'Butcher' Benton: You mean you never worked harder for a client to get him sentenced.
Paul Lowe, Attorney: You're a fool, Butcher. If you hadn't tried to doublecross Squeamy Ellis and Joe Marcelli, they wouldn't have turned state's evidence against you. But you had to get greedy, you wanted to keep the whole $600,000 for yourself. And the boys got sore and I don't blame them.
Charles 'Butcher' Benton: It was all your idea. You planned the whole job. You hired us. When you found out I stashed the money you figured it was time for me to die. You got those two crumbs to turn state's evidence on me. You stinkin' rotten mouthpiece.
Paul Lowe, Attorney: We both know that isn't true, Butcher. Now look what's the sense in not giving me the money? It's not going to do you any good.
Charles 'Butcher' Benton: Well. I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that none of you three crumbs are going to spend it.
Paul Lowe, Attorney: What about Eva? Don't you owe her something? You tell me where the money is, I'll see that she gets your share.
Charles 'Butcher' Benton: I've got a different idea. I'm gonna kill you and Squeamy and Joe. Then I'll take care of Eva myself.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror IX (#10.4)" (1998)

Lon Chaney modernises his MAN MADE MONSTER role, sort of.

I have to say it, I love this movie. Not just for Lon Chaney but for the whole realistic approach to making the movie adopted by director Jack Pollexfen. Shooting in the real grimy, mean streets of downtown L.A. not only saved money but added a neo-film noir realism to everything. Lon picks up some quick pocket money playing Charles "Butcher" Benton (we are never told how he got the nickname and maybe are better off for not knowing) a career criminal railroaded to the gas chamber by his ex-partners. He is quickly brought back to life by a well meaning scientist (Robert Shayne) who needs a body to test his cancer cure theory. He zaps Chaney with 278,000 volts (how is THAT supposed to cure cancer?) and restores him to life as "a vicious, brutal animal with an almost inconceivable amount of strength". His partners (who have names like "Squeamy" Ellis) are suddenly in big trouble! Editing seems to be all over the map in one instance and it seems scenes were shot but then dropped. For example near the end of the film Lt. Chasen (Casey Adams) talks about Eva Martin (Marion Carr) getting out of the hospital. Why was she there? Stills exist showing Chaney rampaging through a police station and trying to carry Ms. Carr away. Jack Pollexfen also recalled directing a scene where Chaney destroyed a precinct and tore open jail cells looking for one of the men who betrayed him. Why were these scenes missing? Do they still exist? Let's start checking those film vaults! The cast is great, apart from Lon Chaney and Robert Shayne (NEANDERTHAL MAN, INVADERS FROM MARS, etc) there is also Ken Terrell (ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN), Casey Adams (THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD) and don't go for popcorn or you'll miss an unbilled Joe Flynn as a lab assistant. Scriptwriters Vy Russell and Sue Bradford later teamed up again to do the Grade-Z classic THE ATOMIC BRAIN.