Indestructible Man (1956)

Charles "The Butcher" Benton, a brutal death row inmate gets double-crossed by his crooked lawyer. He gets his chance for revenge when, after he's been executed, a bizarre experiment brings him back to life and more deadly than ever.

Director:

Jack Pollexfen

Writers:

Vy Russell (original screenplay), Sue Dwiggins (original screenplay) (as Sue Bradford)

Stars:

Lon Chaney Jr., Max Showalter, Marian Carr

Cast

Cast overview:
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Charles 'Butcher' Benton (as Lon Chaney)
Max Showalter	...	Police Lt. Dick Chasen (as Casey Adams)
Marian Carr	...	Eva Martin (as Marion Carr)
Ross Elliott	...	Paul Lowe
Stuart Randall	...	Police Capt. John Lauder
Ken Terrell	...	Joe Marcellia (as Kenneth Terrell)
Marjorie Stapp	...	Hysterical Young Woman
Robert Shayne	...	Prof. Bradshaw
Peggy Maley	...	Francine
Robert Foulk	...	Harry - Bar Owner
Reita Green	...	Carney's 'Bait' (as Rita Green)
Roy Engel	...	Desk Sergeant (as Roy Engle)
Madge Cleveland	...	Screaming Woman

Storyline

"Butcher" Benton goes to his death in the state prison, cursing the three men who double-crossed him following an armored-car hold-up; "Squeamy" Ellis, Joe Marcelli and Paul Lowe, his attorney and leader of the gang. He vows to return and kill them and dies without revealing the location of the stolen money. Detective Chasen is determined to keep working on the case until the stolen loot is recovered. Benton's body is taken to Professor Bradshaw and his assistant for experimentation, and they manage to restore him to life, making him practically indestructible in the process. He takes off after the three men, getting rid of everybody who stands in his way. He is impervious to police bullets. He kills Ellis and Marcelli, while Lowe seeks police protection. Benton takes to the sewers to recover the hidden loot and the police are powerless to stop him.

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Plot Keywords:

stolen money | double cross | super strength | loss of voice | facial disfigurement | 

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Taglines:

300,000 Volts of Horror!

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 March 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Würger von Sing-Sing

Filming Locations:

Follies Burlesque Theater aka Burbank Theater, 548 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

C.G.K. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

Eva Martin is supposed to be a stripper, but when the detective interviews her when she has just gotten off the stage, she is fully clothed.

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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 rough. 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 ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credit title, the word indestructible tilts upward to act as a suspension bridge between the pillars at the left and the pillars at the right.

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Connections

Edited from He Walked by Night (1948)

User Reviews

Dragnet meets Frankenstein's monster ...

... is the best way I can describe the flavor of this film, which is not nearly as bad as its current low rating would have you believe. In fact, if you like 50's and 60's Allied Artist horror on the cheap, I think you'll like this one. Remember Allied Artists was a poverty row outfit, and they could usually afford just one star. In this case it is Lon Chaney Jr. as armed robber Charles Benton, betrayed by two other bank robbers who turned state's evidence at the request of sleazy lawyer Paul Lowe, who wants a fall guy for the robbery and a chance at a smaller split for the 600K payroll heist for which he hired the three thieves in the first place. Benton realizes all of this, and the last thing he says before he is executed is that he is going to get the three who betrayed him.

Now the lawyer isn't nervous at all, but the two other robbers think maybe Benton took some of the money - which at the time of his death only he knew the location - and hired a hit man for them. What they are definitely not expecting is for a couple of scientists to pay off the morgue attendant at the prison to hand over Benton's body. The pair are experimenting with electricity as a cure for cancer and need a fresh human body for their next test. Well "It's Alive!" turns out to be instantaneous tragedy for this pair instead of temporary triumph as in the case of Victor Frankenstein. Benton is unexpectedly brought back to life with a molecular structure that can't be penetrated by any substance, vocal chords burned out so he can't speak, superhuman strength, and with a desire to pick up where he left off and kill the three guys who betrayed him. I'll let you watch and see how this all pans out.

The Dragnet comparison comes from the voice over of police Lt. Dick Chasen who is narrating the whole story. With Allied Artist horror you really don't expect much in the way of great acting or good art design, but more could have been done for the continuity and even the dialogue. For instance after Benton returns to life the narrator calls him a "Monster Made Man". Huh? What monster made him? I believe he meant to say "Man Made Monster". The narrator talks about how Benton wants to save killing crooked lawyer Paul for last, but then later after he kills the first of his fellow robbers he goes looking for the lawyer. In the jail house conversation Paul was trying to get the location of the hidden loot out of Benton who refuses to tell, but later Paul has somehow figured out how to get the loot but just can't open the strongbox it is in. Benton is established as a character who just wants to kill the three who betrayed him, yet mid-film he shows up in the middle of some suburb attacking and killing random people. Usually the best horror establishes the "monster" as someone for whom you have some sympathy and thus ambivalent feelings. Here Benton is pretty much just a mute killing machine after he is revived.

I'd recommend this one, just realize you are dealing with an outfit that didn't have much in the way of funding to begin with and try to meet it half-way.