Indestructible Man

Indestructible Man

A promotional film poster for "Indestructible Man."
Directed by Jack Pollexfen
Produced by Jack Pollexfen
Written by Vy Russell
Sue Dwiggins
Starring Lon Chaney Jr.
Max Showalter
Marian Carr
Music by Albert Glasser
Cinematography John L. Russell, ASC
Edited by Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
Production
company
C.G.K Productions
Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures
Release dates
  • March 25, 1956 (1956-03-25) (United States)
Running time
 72 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Full film
Lon Chaney, Jr., Joe Flynn and Robert Shayne in Indestructible Man (1956)

Indestructible Man is a 1956 American crime horror science fiction film, an original screenplay by Vy Russell and Sue Dwiggins for producer-director Jack Pollexfen and starring Lon Chaney, Jr.. The picture was produced independently in 1955 by C.G.K. Productions, and distributed in the United States by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

Plot summary

Told in a narrative style, popularized by the television police series "Dragnet", by police detective Dick Chasen (Max Showalter), the story concerns a 72-hour period of horror for the city of Los Angeles. Charles "Butcher" Benton (Chaney) is a double-crossed convicted robber and murderer who was executed in the gas chamber. His body is unlawfully sold to a scientist (Robert Shayne) who plans to move his experiments into the cause and cure of cancer to human subjects. Benton's corpse is subjected to chemical injection and massive jolts of high-voltage electricity in order to study the effect on human tissues. But Benton's heart is restimulated and he completely revives (though rendered mute due to electrical damage to his vocal cords), immensely strong and with skin virtually impervious to scalpels, police bullets, even to bazooka shells.

After killing the doctor and his assistant (Joe Flynn), Benton sets out to avenge himself on his two henchmen and his attorney (Ross Elliott) who, in collusion with the attorney, had betrayed Benton in order to steal his loot. Benton had left the location of his stash to his stripper-girlfriend (Marian Carr), who had since gone straight and begun dating the detective who brought Benton to justice, after she had rejected the lawyer's own advances.

The story then follows Benton's revenge on his enemies; the police who first learn of a wave of mysterious killing, then of Benton's reanimation; and the developing relationship between the detective and the stripper. The lawyer, fearing for his life after the two henchman are murdered, confesses the plot to the police, and reveals that Benton had always used the sewer system to evade detection; and to find a hiding place for the money, as it turns out.

Tracked down by the police, Benton takes a direct hit in the solar plexus from a bazooka, and is heavily burned by a flame thrower. Weakened, he flees to a power station, where he climbs atop a gantry, inadvertently setting it in motion. As he watches the actions of the police down below, he fails to notice the gantry is moving toward the main power terminals. A dangling hook catches on a wire, and the gantry erupts in sparks as masses of electricity surge throughout its metal frame, searing Benton to ashes. On a quiet night a few days later, Chasen successfully proposes to his girlfriend.

Personnel

Cast

Starring:

Featuring:

* Marvin Press was misidentified as Marvin Ellis (the last name of his character) in all the film's publicity. Worse, his name was entirely omitted from the screen cast list.

Crew

Production background

DVD releases

See also

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