The Man Who Finally Died (1967)

That was an excellent one.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

2012:Allowing my copy of the delightfully bonkers Peter Cushing flick Corruption to play on after the credits,I caught an enticing 5 minutes from a TV showing of a Film Noir co-starring Cushing. Checking for the title online,I was disappointed to find no DVD,or even Video of it.2017:Finding out that UK DVD company Network were holding a flash sale,I rushed over to place an order. Preparing to order the enjoyable 1957 British Film Noir The Hypnotist,I was thrilled to see Cushing's Noir appear on the same page,which led to me finally seeing the man die.The plot:Receiving a mysterious call, London musician Joe Newman is told that the person speaking to him is his dad Kurt Deutsch,who died during WWII 20 years ago. Finding out that the call has come from a small Bavarian town,Newman leaves London for the town. Receiving a less than warm welcome, Deutsch is taken to the grave of Deutsch. Disbelieving what he sees, Newman goes to visit his mum Lisa Deutsch. Finding his mum to be living in the country home of Dr. Peter von Brecht,Newman begins to notice that Brecht and others in the town appear determined to keep Deutsch buried.View on the film:Finding the title from fuzzy TV showings,Network present a perfect transfer,with the soundtrack and the picture quality being pristine.Shot in the UK, director Quentin Lawrence & cinematographer Stephen Dade send Newman to an excellent, disorientating Film Noir town,where razor-sharp black and light low-shadows fill the space of the small population. Unearthing the truth about Newman's family with a quirky, spidery score by Philip Green, Lawrence slants the paranoia on Newman with ultra-stylised pans across to strangers with an eye on his search,against a washed-out sky that rains an eerie atmosphere on Deutsch's grave.Based on a 7-part British mini-series, (sadly not seen since airing in 1959)the screenplay by Lewis Greifer and Louis Marks adapt the show into a tightly coiled stranger in a strange land Film Noir,as Newman's determination to dig up the secrets of the town leads to brash confrontations with locals who want the truth kept six feet under. Whilst openly borrowing from The Third Man a number of times,the writers compose an excellent, distinctive tone that tracks the revelation of the ending to the post-WWII pessimism of Film Noir,with Newman's discovery crossing the WWII isolation that haunts the town, with the shivering terror of the Cold War.Kicking the cobblestones lining the town to the side, Stanley Baker gives a terrific performance as Newman,who Baker gives a Film Noir loner thirst to uncovering the truth about his dad,while legendary character actors Eric Portman,Nigel Green and Brian Wilde listen in on his paranoid questions. Hovering above Mai Zetterling's withdrawn widow Lisa, Peter Cushing gives a great performance as Brecht,that Cushing brims with a horror ambiguity over what Brecht knows about the man who finally dies.

A man prompted by a phone call returns to Germany where he was born in search of his father whom he had supposed dead. But is he? The film answers the question but in a talky, pedestrian way. There are twists and turns towards the end that perk up the film but mostly it is unexciting which is a shame as it had lots of potential. The music score tries to be thrilling but becomes laughably over intense. Stanley Baker gives a one note performance, Eric Portman gives a strange performance and Mai Zetterling doesn't do much. Peter Cushing is good as always as an ambiguous doctor, Nigel Green as a taciturn policeman is scary and Niall MacGinnis steals the film as an insurance investigator. Familiar players like Alfred Burke and Brian Wilde have minor but effective roles.The best thing is the sparkling black and white photography and the accomplished use of the widescreen format.

This started really well and up until about halfway I was totally involved and enjoying trying to work out, as was Stanley Baker's character, just what was going on. But then around the time we visit a cemetery and there is much discussion about whether or not a body should be interred, I begin to lose it. I think in a similarly confusing giallo there would be much more vivid and colourful aspects to maintain an interest that here just waned. It ends well enough and Baker is at his very best here although I thought Cushing only just held his end up. Mai Zetterling was wasted in a lousy role.

In fact, it would be rather an espionage British film. Post WW2, of course.We never really believe in this poor man's BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, where Stanley Baker plays a British citizen who returns to Germany to find his missing father, understand why and where he disappeared.I expected much more from this film, where I could AT LAST watch the face to face between Stanley Baker and Peter Cushing. I don't think they ever played together again. But perhaps I am wrong.A little disappointment I must admit, even with the gorgeous Mai Zetterling in the game.The story is not too hard to follow, a tale about rocket scientist impersonating Stanley Baker's missing father.But it's worth to be seen.