Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

bnwfilmbuff Overly melodramatic tale of a man (Stanley Baker) called by his father, whom he believed to be dead, to visit him without giving a reason. When he arrives, he finds the father has died, but has he really? This is fairly engrossing story that is puzzling to determine what is really going on. However, it doesn't all fit together with many of the actions by the characters largely inexplicable. Stanley Baker, who suspects his father did not die because of Mai Zetterling's (in the role of the dead father's wife) strange behavior, is wound so tight he seems ready to explode every moment he's on camera. Not far behind is Eric Portman in the role of the inspector, who just explodes several times almost without cause. There just didn't seem to be any direction. Mai Zetterling seemed confused. Unfortunately, blaring music at suspenseful points in the film ruins some of the intrigue. I liked the way the movie was shot but the acting was just mediocre probably due to the lack of direction. Still it's an interesting curiosity and a fun, if somewhat frustrating, viewing.

hwg1957-102-265704 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.

christopher-underwood 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.

gridoon2018 Nothing is as it seems in "The Man Who Finally Died". Figures of evil turn out to be forces of good, and vice versa. Questions with a supposedly limited number of answers turn out to have more alternative outcomes. And even the hero himself is conflicted about his own identity (he was born German, but is now a British citizen). There is an interesting post-WW2 moral complexity to this film, which is also helped by atmospheric black & white photography and a classy supporting cast. The hero is (understandably) a pretty grim guy, but his few jokes score bigtime (when a hotel maid asks him why he wears his sunglasses inside his room, he responds: "I got a bit of dirt in my eye....when I was a boy"). Perhaps my only main objection has to do with the music score, which is sweeping but sometimes overemphatic. Nevertheless, this is an overlooked film that deserves more attention. **1/2 out of 4.