The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957) User Reviews

Fun 1950's "B" Flick

[babeth_jr · 6/10 · 27 July 2007]

This 1957 movie from Columbia has an interesting premise...several scientists, who are over 200 years old, are running a girl's "reform school" so they can obtain energy from the young women to sustain their unnaturally long lives.

This is a typical low budget 1950's picture...cheap sets and no big name actors. William Hudson, most famous for playing the cheating husband in the class sci-fi thriller, "Attack of the 50 ft Woman", portrays Dr. Jess Rogers, who has been sent to the reform school to investigate several mysterious deaths of young women at the school. Charlotte Austin plays Carol Adams, an idealistic social worker at the school who starts to suspect foul play when so many healthy young woman suddenly die of "heart failure".

Several of the "girls" at the school look like they are being played by actresses who are way too long in the tooth to be teenagers or young woman. Despite this fact, the movie is interesting in it's premise. Victor Jory portrays the sinister head of the reformatory, Dr. Murdock. He is responsible for the "experiments" that end up with the murder of the girls at the school. When the 200 year old scientists are ready for a transfusion they start to turn to stone, hence the title of the movie. The make-up used to show the scientists turning to stone is not at all scary, actually it's laughable.

I liked this movie and thought it was fun. It's definitely not academy award winning material, but if you enjoy "b" movies from the 1950's you should enjoy this one.

The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957) **1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 6/10 · 1 February 2013]

Even though I don't often use the term, this 1950s B horror has become a favorite "guilty pleasure" of mine. It's has an enjoyably weird and sordid premise, even if it's loaded with plot holes and requires a heaping suspension of disbelief. A detention center for women is experiencing an unusually high rate of random heart attack deaths by healthy young female inmates. It turns out that the newest staff of eccentric middle-agers now running the prison are actually centuries-old people who kidnap the girls, and then drain their life forces in order to keep themselves from aging further. The problem is, if they miss their latest energy boosts, they start to turn into stone. A kindly social worker (Charlotte Austin, later in FRANKENSTEIN 1970) and psychiatrist William Hudson (the bad hubby of ATTACK OF THE FIFTY FT. WOMAN) investigate the strange occurrences. Victor Jory is suitably creepy as the head villain. This has some disturbing moments considering its era, and is just offbeat enough to remain consistently interesting. **1/2 out of ****

Ridiculous but has its moments

[preppy-3 · 4/10 · 24 July 2007]

This takes place at the LaSalle Detention Home for Girls. Quite a few healthy girls there seem to die suddenly of heart attacks. It seems the head of the school Dr. Murdock (Victor Jory) and associates are hundreds of years old and need to siphon the energy from young girls to stay alive. If not they petrify and turn to stone. Staff member Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin) and Dr. Rogers (William Hudson) try to find out what's going on.

Pretty laughable. The detention home for "girls" is full of actresses who are obviously in their 20s and 30s and are all so cheerful and happy. The plot itself is pretty stupid and the dialogue is pretty hysterical. Still the cast plays this blessedly straight and nobody is really bad--Jory and pro Ann Doran give out the best performances. Also the makeup on people turning to stone is pretty effective. Not good but fun in a strange sort of way.

Best line--"I'll bet you a box of Girl Scout cookies that somebody died last night!"

Modest 1950's B Offering

[Tommy-5 · 3 January 2004]

I purchased a Goodtimes Video of this film in 1989 for $8.99. The jacket promo includes a statement claiming, "Weird scientists murder young girls to prolong life." Ah well, it turns out the jacket is far more exciting than the film. Young inmates of a women's minimum security prison continue to die of "heart failure." This becomes a little too obvious and the handsome young corrections psychiatrist, William Hudson as Dr. Rogers, is called in to investigate. The good doctor finds out that Dr. Murdock (Victory Jory) and the rest of the prison staff are all over 200 years old and must renew themselves from time to time with new life energy. It has been determined that young females are the best sources of this new energy, thus Murdock and his confederates have placed themselves in charge of a women's prison. All ends happily, however, after Dr. Rogers saves his lady love, the kind-hearted social worker Carol, played by Charlotte Austin, from Murdock's murderous clutches. Films such as this must be judged in context to it's genre, the time that it was filmed in (1957), and budget, which in this case it is obvious the budget was very modest. The sets are mediocre, the film is somewhat grainy and production values iffy at best and that is being kind. In short, this is another 1950's era horror / sci-fi B-film which could have been done much better in a different time and with greater financing. Not even the presence of that fine character actor Victor Jory, (a fine player for many years who never received the acclaim he deserved), could lift this one very high, but even with its limitations it is enjoyable to fans of this type of film. Today, the setting and story plot would tempt a director to include nudity and perhaps soft core porno scenes, which would change the tone of the story dramatically and this would be a shame, because the story itself is pretty good. Of course, I am prejudiced. Anything that has to do with time travel interests me greatly and immortality is, to me, a form of time travel. This one is of interest to fans of this type of film only, but don't let that stop you from catching it on late night TV if you can. If nothing else, it is an excellent example of the lesser B films of the era, an era far more interesting to serious students of film than most of the general public today realizes.

Lt's try to restore some order! Half the women are running around loose!

[sol-kay · 5/10 · 12 November 2007]

(Some Spoilers) Another insane attempt to create eternal life in what's called the "Germaine Cellular Theory" created by a bunch of 18th Century scientists who've managed to live some 240, from the early 1700's to 1957, years because of it.

Lead by the top man Dr. Murdock, Victor Jory, this bunch of eternal life enthusiasts have been using the LaSalle Home for Troubled Young Women, which their in charge of, inmates for their secret and fiendish experiments in prolonging their miserable, in adding nothing positive to the world at large, and empty lives. The girls at the home are perfect in Dr. Murdocks experiments in that their both young and child-bearing which is the perfect combination in giving him and his cohorts the boost that they need in adding a few more years of life inside their stone cold and unfeeling bodies.

After about a dozen young women ended up dead in the two years that Dr. Murdock has been running the detention home the state sends both social worker Carol Adams, Charlotte Austin, and state appointed psychiatrist Dr. Jess Rogers, William Hudson, to check out the place and see exactly what's going on there. It doesn't take long for Miss. Adams and Dr. Rogers to get to the bottom of what's happening and with the help of Dr.Cooper (Paul Cavanagh), who's slated for termination by Dr. Murdock, to get the goods, Coopers secret diary, on the Murdock gang and have them indited for murder. The only problem that both Miss.Adams and Dr. Rogers have is getting the vital information out to the police before they themselves end up dead in Dr. Murdock's eternal life experiments.

The inevitable weak-link in Dr. Mrdock's chain, or gang of 230 year-old madmen and women, is his tall and mindless Frankenstein-like attendant Eric, Friedrich Von Ledebur. Eric is an early experiment by Dr. Murdock that went wrong and is only tolerated by him and his cohorts, Dr. Myer Dr. Freneau & Mrs. Ford, in him being used as a guinea pig, as well as keeping the rebellious young women inmates in line, in future experiments in life expectancy.

Eric who's quickly deteriorating,by turning into the newest member of Mount Rushmore, soon becomes a liability to the Murdock gang who try to do away with him, like they did with Dr. Cooper, by not revitalizing him, through a sulfur electronic bath, with the life force of one of the young woman at the detention home. Knowing, in his hard rock head, that he's being thrown to the wolves, or left for dead, Eric turns on his masters and at the same time gives both Carol Miss. Adams and Dr. Rogers, who are slated to be experimented on, the cover that they need to both make their escape and at the same time get in touch with the outside world by calling the state troopers for help.

With the fuse box blowing out, with Dr. Rogers help, in the basement the entire detention home is set on fire as hundreds of inmates, angry young women, break out and head for Dr. Murdock's laboratory seeking revenge for what he did to them and their dead friends. Murdock and Mrs. Ford, the only two of the gang of six still alive, decide to stick it out in their flaming laboratory knowing that the fate that awaits them outside is, knowing that their going to die anyway, a fate worse then death itself.

Not-Bad 1950s Horror with an Interesting Cast

[mrb1980 · 5/10 · 8 June 2013]

Victor Jory and Ann Doran were fine actors, although they both appeared in some pretty low-grade stuff over the years. However, when William Hudson and Tina Carver are in the cast, you can count on lots of unintentional laughs.

Dr. Murdock (Jory) and Mrs. Ford (Doran) are among the creepy administrators of a girls' reformatory. There have been quite a few "suicides" at the institution lately, so heroic state psychologist Dr. Rogers (Hudson) is called in to investigate. What he uncovers is an ongoing cycle of rejuvenation of the old guys who run the place (most of them are around 200 years old), and of course the bodies of young women are needed for the process to continue. (Funny how no one ever needs young male bodies…but whatever.) The end of the movie has Dr. Rogers saving his new girlfriend Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin) while the evil reformatory staff perish in a fire.

Hudson is actually pretty good, and it is unusual to see him as a good guy. Jory and Doran are rather restrained (maybe they're embarrassed) but they both deliver good performances. However, it's always fun to watch Tina Carver (here she plays a reformatory inmate), because…well, no one can scream quite like she does. The movie's premise isn't really that original, and the sets are pretty cheap (the inmates' life forces are sucked out while they're immersed in a stainless steel tank) but the film has a certain weird charm to it. It's not a standard 1950s horror flick by any measure. I rather liked it, and it's just offbeat enough to hold your attention.

Near Fossilized Hokum

[GordJackson · 3/10 · 24 February 2012]

A motley crew of 240 year old plus crustaceans, led by suave but diabolical doctor Victor Jory, are hanging out at a reform school for teenage girls, who are really in their upper twenties and early thirties. But I digress. It seems that to keep themselves alive, these crumbling pillars of the medical fraternity have to indulge in a little bioelectrical hanky panky from time to time. However, the ruse will soon be up because Miss Goody Two Shoes prison psychologist Charlotte Austin and prison psychiatrist William Hudson, (he being the nasty hubby of poor, dear Allison Hayes in the fifties cult classic "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman") are both determined to put an end to the chicanery that is going on.

As much a B-mystery movie as it is a B-horror movie, "The Man Who Turned To Stone" celebrates a silly script, leaden pacing and granite-like performances except for Jory, and Ann Doran as 1957s foreshadowing of Nurse Ratchet. A minor low-brow effort with little to redeem itself, "The Man Who Turned To Stone" is a cheapie quickie that somehow managed to do respectable box office by virtue of an enticing ad campaign and, much more importantly, a generous television advertising budget at a time when such products rarely got the sort of dollars this one (and its packaged co-feature "Zombies of Mora Tau") received. I know, because in my city it was the television ads flowing out of Buffalo that immeasurably hyped our box office at the Downtown Theatre in Hamilton.

Almost instantly forgettable, "The Man Who Turned To Stone" is a minor, 71 minute artifact that should really have been on the lower half of the double bill package given it's "Zombies of Mora Tau" that displays most of the life.

Well, actually it's about the men AND women who could turn to stone....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 22 May 2017]

While "The Man Who Turned to Stone" may at first look like just another schlocky horror film, it turns out to be highly original and well worth watching! Sure it is a bit schlocky...but most enjoyably so!

The story is set at a women's reformatory. Too many of the young ladies seem to be dying by accidents or suicides and Dr. Rogers decides to look into the matter. Through the course of the film, he learns that the folks running the facility are actually incredibly old...over 200 years old! It seems that they came upon a way to transfer the life essence from a young lady into them...allowing them to seemingly live forever. However, if they don't get the transfer of energy, these folks become mindless and soon turn to mummies (complete with really cool make-up). Can he get to the heart of things before evil Dr. Murdock (Victor Jory) or his minions stop him?

What I really liked about the movie is that they managed to make a ridiculous story idea seem plausible. It also had a well thought out plot and was clever and engaging throughout.

"The Man Who Turned to Stone" Will Not Rock You!

[zardoz-13 · 2/10 · 21 June 2008]

"Small Town Girl" director László Kardos' superficial horror chiller "The Man Who Turned to Stone" qualifies as nonsense from fade-in to fade-out. This inept, outlandish yarn about an ill-fated group of 18th century scientists that have learned to preserve themselves despite the passage of time resembles a vampire movie. Alas, these ordinary-looking evildoers here wind up being far less interesting than vampires. They have survived for 200 years and the secret of their longevity lies in renewing the life energy in themselves by draining it away from helpless, young women. Dr. Murdock (Victory Jory of "The Green Archer") and his associates, including Dr. Freneau (George Lynn of "The Werewolf"), Dr. Cooper (Paul Cavanagh of "The Scarlet Coat"), Dr. Myer (Victor Varconi of "The Hitler Gang"), Mrs. Ford (Ann Doran of "The Crimson Key"), and Eric (Frederick Ledebur of "The Blue Max") conduct unethical, illegal experiments on young ladies to keep themselves alive, but the poor girls perish each time.

Writing under the pseudonym of Raymond T. Marcus, blacklisted scenarist Bernard Gordon has contrived a cretinous fright flick for undiscriminating audiences. "The Man Who Turned to Stone" is nothing like Gordon's better known scripts, among them: "The Battle of the Bulge," "Circus World," "Custer of the West," and "55 Days in Peking." Instead, this half-baked, lackluster horror effort recalls his work on "Zombies of Mora Tau" and "Earth Vs. Flying Saucers." Unfortunately, Gordon doesn't provide any back history for the villains and their success at maintaining a low profile after two centuries.

Somehow, Dr. Murdock and his accomplices have taken over the administration at LaSalle Detention Home For Girls. Mysteriously, girls start screaming at night, disappear in the arms of tall lumbering Eric, and autopsies later reveal that the girls have died of heart failure. A young, idealistic social worker, Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin of "Gorilla At Large"), looks into the mysterious disappearances after her conspiracy theory inmate secretary Tracey (Jean Willes of "Ocean's Eleven") brings up the issue. Murdock and stern Mrs. Ford refuse to let Miss Adams review the death certificates. Things go awry for Murdock and company when they kill a young inmate, Anna Sherman (Barbara Wilson of "Teenage Doll"), to renew Eric's life energy, and then they hang Anna's body from the rafters of her dormitory while the rest of the girls are out watching a movie in another building. Tracey fumes with outrage about Anna's alleged suicide. "She could no more have committed suicide than she could have flown over the fence." Miss Adams finds it difficult to believe, too, but she finds Jean's claims just as inconceivable. "Tracy, will you stop plaguing me with your insane suspicions," she demands. "If a girl has a heart attack, it's a plot. If a girl hangs herself, it's a plot." Nevertheless, Tracy argues that Anna was not suicide inclined since she had a year to serve on her sentence, a baby awaiting her in the free world, and plans.

At the inquest, Miss Adams questions the coroner's findings. Murdock tries to discredit Adams. After all, she has only been on the job for three months. Unexpectedly, Adams finds a friend in state department of mental health psychiatrist, Dr. Jess Rodgers (William Hudson of "Battle Hymn"), who decides to investigate her suspicions himself. Adams is packing her belongings when Rodgers convinces her that he will get to the bottom of this mystery that has resulted in the deaths of eleven inmates. Eventually, Dr. Rodgers receives help from the least expected person: Dr. Cooper. For a long time now, Cooper has wrestled with conscience about Murdock's skullduggery. Lately, they have been struggling to keep Eric from turning to stone, but each treatment has exerted less impact on his system. Dr. Cooper condemns Eric as 'a senseless brute' and argues that they should sacrifice him. Murdock and the others ostracize Cooper, and he dies by literally turning to stone. Before his death, however, Dr. Cooper has reveals to Dr. Rogers the location of his secret journal. Cooper's journal contains the complete and infamous exploits of Dr. Murdock and company.

The villains in "The Man Who Turned to Stone" aren't very smart. They dispatch one of their own, Eric, to fetch the girls from the reformatory. Every time he abducts a girl, she screams at the top of her lungs and awakens half of the inmate population. Clearly, these sophisticated physicians have never considered giving these girls with a sedative so that they create fewer problems. Aside from the outdoor scenes where Dr. Rodgers uncovers Cooper's hidden journal, "The Man Who Turned to Stone" occurs largely inside the women's reformatory. The most gruesome scene is the suicide by hanging. Kardos shows Anna's body only from the legs down as she hangs from the rafters in a dormitory.

Kardos and Gordon had the makings of good, grisly horror chiller, but they don't take advantage of those elements. The horror here lies primarily in Eric lurching about the premises looking for women for Murdock's experiments. The girls scream, but offer little resistance once Eric has them in his clutches. Although the prison is called a Detention Home for Girls, all of the girls look far too old to pass as teenagers. Of course, this is a convention that has plagued most movies about teenagers: namely, actors and actresses twice their age play these kids. The make-up looks spooky enough, but adequate make-up doesn't make a solid, scary movie. Veteran lenser Benjamin Kline's atmospheric black & white photography gives "The Man Who Turned to Stone" more credibility than the Gordon screenplay. Kline photographed over 324 movies and TV shows, so by the time that he did this movie, he could shoot in his sleep and make anything look credible. Unfortunately, a shortage of suspense, provocative villains, and anything remotely horrific—though it might have been considered horrific at the time—undermines this B-movie thriller. Only die-hard horror fans slumming for material will enjoy this forgettable movie.

Ancient Alchemists in a Girls' Dormitory

[Coventry · 6/10 · 1 October 2015]

Perhaps I've seen way too many overblown and pretentious would-be cult movies lately, but I really enjoyed "The Man Who Turned to Stone" a lot and therefore I reward it with a rating higher than it probably deserves… The plot of this modest '50s production – courtesy of the legendary Sam Katzman – is definitely interesting and compelling, albeit highly unoriginal and full of holes and illogicalness. Victor Jory leads a group of selfish scientists that discovered the secret to immortality and have been around since the 18th Century. In order to unnecessarily prolong their own precious lives, they need the life-extract of other human beings; preferably fertile young women. And what place is better to scout for fertile yet disposable young women than a women's prison? The administrative employee Carol Adams grows suspicious of all the sudden and unnatural deaths at the prison and receives help from an acclaimed state psychiatrist. Although close to getting caught the alchemists must continue their treatments, otherwise their skins literally petrify… The central idea is quite derivative, as the quest for immortality at the expense of innocent people is an often recurring horror movie theme, but the "turning to stone" aspect is a nifty little gimmick. The film also features the cool sub plot about one of the scientist group members – Eric – being a lot less resistant and in need of receiving the treatment more frequently than the others. It's Eric who often roams around the prison's dormitory at night with a half-stoned face and causing mayhem. The script naturally features many holes and dumb elements as well. Why aren't these alchemists relocating more frequently, for instance, or even more importantly, why aren't they sedating their victims in order to prevent them from screaming their lungs out? The filming location is very unconvincing, as the place doesn't look like a prison but merely resembles a campus college or an all-girls summer camp. At first I even assumed it was a summer camp because two of the leading ladies are talking about boxes of Girl Scout cookies… The acting performances are collectively wooden and uptight, but I admit that's also part of the '50s horror charm. The actor who depicts Eric, Friedrich von Ledebur, is menacing enough and the film never once bored me throughout its (short) running time of 70 minutes.

**SPOILER** A STINKER!

[artzau · 4/10 · 27 March 2003]

I remember seeing this film in 1957 which was only a step beyond the paranoia sparked by the McCarthy era and which saw a number of sci-fi thrillers which touched on themes of alien intrusions subverting the innocent. This film, alas, was one of the worst. The whole picture speaks of low budget-- the scene where the victims are "drained of their life essence," supporting the immortality of the bad guys is done in a wash tub with wires inserted-- and the acting is often garish. How Paul Cavanaugh and Victor Jory made this with straight faces amazes me. I had great respect for these actors-- they're the only ones I can remember-- but I recall leaving the theater shaking my head at what a terrible movie this was...even for back then. If it shows up on the late show, be advised it might provoke more laughs than chills.

Good for what it is!

[JoeB131 · 8/10 · 15 June 2022]

It's a cheap 1950's Sci-Fi/Horror, where a group of 18th century scientists have found a way to live forever, by stealing the life force of young women. Fortunately, they find themselves in charge of a women's reformatory.

The protagonists are a psychiatrist and a social worker, who are investigating the apparent suicides of the Mad Science Club's victims. One of them develops a conscience and exposes the whole plan. (Why it took him 200 years to realize what they were doing was wrong remains questionable.)

This is a cheap exploitation film, but it's a lot of fun.

A fun timewaster...not much more

[The_Void · 6/10 · 19 October 2008]

The aim of becoming immortal is a fairly common theme in horror movies and has been experimented with often. A feature that is often a part of movies that focus on this idea is the central perpetrator killing off living people in order to achieve their aim of immortality, and that's basically what we have with this film. The Man Who Turned to Stone was clearly shot on a budget and is very much a 1950's 'B' picture, but in spite of that this film showcases some good ideas and the plot, while completely lacking in suspense, is at least interesting enough to keep the audience entertained for the duration; although that duration is only seventy two minutes. The plot focuses on a group of scientists that have beaten death by way of keeping the series of chemical reactions that keeps everyone alive going. The downside to this, however, is the fact that in order to keep this going; they have to sacrifice a human life. The scientists are currently residing over a women's prison, and the prisoners are starting to wonder why so many of their number is disappearing...

The script written by Bernard Gordon has its fair number of plot holes, inconsistencies and illogical events; but you have to expect that sort of thing from a fifties B-movie. The film was shot on a budget and it really shows; it looks cheap throughout and nothing about it is particularly outstanding. The plot is definitely interesting in spite of this; and in spite of the fact that it contains very little in the way of tension or suspense. Finding out exactly what is behind the central mystery is really the only thing that manages to keep the film going for most of the duration. The acting is not great either, with none of the little known central cast really impressing. The prison setting is not convincing, with most of the girls being quite happy and there's not a sign of anything restraining them to the building in site. Once the main revelation is out of the way, the film boils down to a rather predictable ending. However, despite all the film's flaws; The Man Who Turned to Stone is at least a fun timewaster and doesn't outstay its welcome.

Passable schlock.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 3 October 2015]

Deaths are occurring far too frequently at a detention home for young women, and some staff are suspicious. Among those who get involved are the sincere psychiatrist Dr. Jess Rogers (William Hudson) and social worker Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin). It turns out that the evil heads of the prison - including Dr. Murdock (Victor Jory) and his associate Mrs. Ford (Ann Doran) - are cruelly, selfishly helping themselves to the bodies of the ladies for some fiendish purpose.

As written, by Bernard Gordon, and directed, by Laszlo Kardos, "The Man Who Turned to Stone" is a routine B movie, no more and no less, and reasonably amusing and entertaining. There's nothing that really stands out about it, other than perhaps the chance to see character players like Jory and Doran in top billed roles for a change. All of the actors play the material with jut jawed conviction. Adding some physical menace to the scenario is Friedrich von Ledebur as the hulking, mute manservant Eric. Hudson is a likable enough hero, and the beautiful Adams is an engaging heroine. Paul Cavanagh contributes a fine performance as Cooper, the most repentant of the antagonists.

There's mostly a lot of talk, and exposition, here. Some of the running time is devoted to watching Rogers read from Coopers' notes. But the movie isn't devoid of action and atmosphere. The actors make it fun enough to watch for a reasonably trim 72 minutes.

Five out of 10.

Better Than Expected

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2008]

Man Who Turned to Stone, The (1957)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Low key Columbia horror film about a 200+ year-old doctor who keeps himself alive by having his assistants kill off girls at a detention center. When his assistants try and turn against him, the man becomes a walking piece of stone and seeks revenge. This is a very low budget movie but it's pretty good throughout due in large part to some strong direction by Laszlo Kardos. The ending is very well done and there's a large amount of atmosphere throughout the picture even though it's really nothing original. The make up effects are also pretty good considering the budget and with the proper lighting the monster too comes off well.

Undistinguished sci-fi

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 4 October 2023]

THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE is a typical B-movie effort from the late 1950s, made amid a welter of similar looking and sounding titles. This one straddles the science fiction and horror genres in the tale of a group of cadaverous men who are prolonging their lives by literally draining the life energy of various unwilling young women, killing them in the process. Victory Jory makes for a suitably gaunt and sinister villain, but the rest of the cast are undistinguished here and the special FX are typically limited to some grey face makeup that reminded me of the cemetery zombie in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Awful

[leavymusic-2 · 2/10 · 5 June 2019]

Bad acting, ridiculous story, there's nothing good about this turkey, but the end ! Don't waste your time, better spent watching paint dry.

Exactly What I Expected, No More, No Less

[lemon_magic · 3/10 · 5 April 2012]

More of a horror movie set in a "girl's home" than a science fiction movie, with definite exploitation elements, "Man" seems to be built around the scenes where "Eric" grabs the young women and carries them off to the upstairs lab to be tied up, gagged, and drained of their "bioenergies".

You'd think a movie with several scenes like that would be cheaply thrilling and maybe a guilty pleasure, but you'd be wrong. The movie is mostly too too dull to keep any interest. The "girls" all seem to be in their late 20's and 30s (I know, it's really hard to get teenagers to look and act believably for extended lengths of movie time) and a couple of them are OK, but none of them are there for any reason but to be kidnapped and victimized.

There's one nicely underplayed scene where the scientist/torturers decide withhold the bioelectric treatments from one of their number for reasons that aren't completely clear. The actor playing the dying scientist manages a dignified and believable farewell and you can see how interesting the film might have been if the director and screenwriter had the wherewithal to explore the group dynamics and interplay of a group of 200+ year old bioelectric vampires.

To top it off, the hero "wins" because one of the scientists accidentally drops a candle into a box of rags while changing the fuses or something and within seconds the whole building is engulfed. Stupidest. Villains. Ever.

Victor Jory is decent in this - you can see even here why the man could continue to get work in films over the years.

Not good, not all that bad, "Man Who Turned To Stone" is just...there. If you get a chance to see it, it'll be OK and you won't hate it. But I doubt you'll remember much of it the day after.

slow and kind of dull

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 26 May 2011]

People running a reformatory are actually centuries old people draining the life out of their charges...if they miss a a treatment they turn to stone...a doctor and the daughter of the governor investigate.

Okay but way too talky horror science fiction story. Its the sort of thing thats been done to death before and since---and it kind of works this time but the pacing is so slack any tension is washed out....

Not bad- but more something to induce sleep...

Watching the film I kept thinking that perhaps had the film been cut down by 15 minutes it might have played better. on the other hand commercials might have helped as well since it wouldn't have seemed like there was nothing going on.

A candidate for perhaps the worst film of all time.

[mark.waltz · 1/10 · 27 July 2015]

Within five minutes of this movie starting, I knew that I was in the process of watching one of the most wretched pieces of celluloid ever to be captured on film. Every tedious B movie cliché is present, from a women's prison setting to lame dialog (so bad it sounds like it was written by an elementary school student) and truly wretched acting from a cast of some professionals and some not so professional. I had to keep reminding myself that I was not watching an early John Waters film where the actors had been directed to over-play it broadly. While the film lasted only 71 minutes, I felt that it seemed closer to two hours. I have never wanted to see "The End" pop up as much as I did here. I don't always agree with Leonard Maltin, but he gave this a bomb, and I agreed only because there is not a negative rating system.

Looking like he's covered in plaster of Paris, Friedrich von Ledebur sulks through this film looking like Boris Karloff's corpse a week after his death. He is revealed to be two centuries old and Victor Jory's mad doctor Murdock is researching a way to keep him alive. There's no motivation for it, and along with his bird-like assistant (Ann Doran made up to look as coldly plain as possible), female inmates of this minimal security prison are utilized for their purposes. These young ladies are purposely incorrectly diagnosed with heart conditions to explain their sudden "death by natural causes", but when von Ledebur begins to get more desperate, he begins to break into the woman's dormitory to collect a human guinea pig for the experiment.

It's up to Charlotte Austin's assistant (hired obviously against the will of Jory and Doran to ensure the inmate's continued mental well being) and handsome doctor William Hudson to expose the evil goings on here, and this leads to a fiery showdown. Frankly, I wanted hideous death scenes for Jory, Doran and von Ledebur (whom I hoped would suddenly break into a million pieces with his stony face) but even that didn't occur. The film is so overloaded with ridiculous dialog that didn't even have the decency to be unintentionally unfunny. Whoever approved this piece of garbage being made should have been instantly canned by Columbia and the film immediately shelved. At least this probably did have the good taste into playing at a drive-in where at least the teen-aged audience was forewarned so they could make out through the showing.

Enjoyable 50s B horror film.

[plan99 · 9/10 · 23 September 2023]

Absolutely a classic of the type with a Lurch type man staggering about collecting "girls" for the process. The institution was for girls but none were girls as they looked to be aged from early 20s to early 30s. Nasty matron type women usually have harshly swept back hair and look very prim and proper as was the case here.

Never going to be an Oscar winner but it achieved what the makers wanted to achieve, a bit of a silly horror story with the baddies being suitably weird looking and with foreign accents, as we all know "never trust a man with a foreign accent", at least not in a 1950s film.

Well worth watching for fans of 1950s horror films.