ThiefHott Too much of everything

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Scott LeBrun 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.

Coventry 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.

mrb1980 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.

sol (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.