''Indestructible Man'' is a 1956 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

horror

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

, an original screenplay by

Vy Russell Vy Russell (born Violet Donnelly) was an American screenwriter, producer, and TV writer who worked primarily in the science-fiction genre during the 1950s and 1960s. A native Texan, she was married to cinematographer John L. Russell (cinematogra ...

and Sue Dwiggins for producer-director

Jack Pollexfen Jack Pollexfen (1908–2003) was an American writer, director and producer. He collaborated with Aubrey Wisberg on several science fiction and monster movies of the 1950s. Before entering the film industry he worked as a journalist. Selected f ...

and starring

Lon Chaney Jr. Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...

, Ross Elliott and Robert Shayne. The picture was produced independently by C.G.K. Productions, and distributed in the United States by

Allied Artists Pictures Corporation An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

. The film was distributed theatrically in 1956 on a double bill with '' World Without End'' (and in some areas with ''

Invasion of the Body Snatchers ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, and starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The black-and-white film was shot in Superscope and in the film ...

'').

Plot

Told in a narrative style, popularized by the television police series '' Dragnet'', by police detective Dick Chasen, the story concerns a 72-hour period of horror for the city of Los Angeles. Charles "Butcher" Benton is a double-crossed convicted robber and murderer who was executed in the gas chamber. His body is unlawfully sold to a scientist 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 re-stimulated 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, Benton sets out to avenge himself on his two henchmen and his attorney, Paul Lowe who, in collusion with the henchmen, had betrayed Benton in order to steal his loot. Benton had left the location of his stash to his stripper-girlfriend , 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 killings, then of Benton's reanimation; and the developing relationship between the detective and the stripper. The lawyer, Lowe, fearing for his life after the two henchmen 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 that the gantry is moving toward the main transformer. A dangling hook comes too close to one of the terminals, and the other transformers erupt in sparks. as hundreds of thousands of volts 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: *

Lon Chaney, Jr. Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...

as Charles "Butcher" Benton *

Max Showalter Max Gordon Showalter (June 2, 1917 – July 30, 2000), sometimes credited as Casey Adams, was an American film, television, and stage actor, as well as a composer, pianist, and singer. He appeared on more than 1,000 television programs. One ...

as Lt. Richard Chasen *

Marian Carr Marian Carr (born Marion Dorice Dunn; July 6, 1926July 30, 2003), sometimes credited as Marion Carr, was an American actress who appeared in a number of films in the late 1940s through the 1950s. Biography Carr was born July 6, 1926 in Providenc ...

as Eva Martin *

Ross Elliott Ross Elliott (born Elliott Blum, June 18, 1917 – August 12, 1999) was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career in the Mercury Theatre, where he performed in ''The War of the Worlds'', Orson Welles' fam ...

as Paul Lowe Featuring: * Stuart Randall as Capt. John Lauder * Marvin Press* as Henchman "Squeamy" Ellis *

Ken Terrell Kenneth Jones Terrell (April 29, 1904 – March 8, 1966) was an American western and action film actor and stuntman best known for playing Joe Marcelli in the 1956 film ''Indestructible Man'' and Jess in the 1958 film ''Attack of the 50 Foo ...

as Henchman Joe Marcelli *

Roy Engel Roy Engel (September 13, 1913 – December 29, 1980) was an American actor on radio, film, and television. He performed in more than 150 films and almost 800 episodes of television programs. Career Engel's ancestry was Irish and Dutch. His ...

as the Desk Sergeant *

Robert Foulk Robert C. Foulk (May 5, 1908 – February 25, 1989) was an American television and film character actor who portrayed Sheriff H. Miller in the CBS series '' Lassie'' from 1958 to 1962. Early years Foulk attended the University of Pennsylva ...

as Harry the Bartender *

Robert Shayne Robert Shayne (born Robert Shaen Dawe, October 4, 1900 – November 29, 1992) was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years. He was best known for portraying Inspector Bill Henderson in the American television series '' Adven ...

as Dr. Bradshaw * Joe Flynn as Bradshaw's Assistant (uncredited) *

Peggy Maley Margaret June "Peggy" Maley (June 8, 1923 – October 1, 2007) was an American actress who appeared in film and television. In 1942, aged 18 or 19, she was crowned Miss Atlantic City. Career Film Maley delivered the feeder line to Marlon ...

as Francine, a stripper *

Marjorie Bennett Marjorie Bennett (15 January 1896 – 14 June 1982) was an Australian actress who worked mainly in the United Kingdom and the United States. She began her acting career during the silent film era. Career Bennett was born in York in Western ...

as Floozie at Bar * 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

* Ted Holsopple as

Art Director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

* John Russell, Jr. as

Director of Photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

* Fred Feitshans, Jr. as

Film Editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

* Albert Glasser as "Music" * Chris Beute as

Production Manager In the cinema of the United States, a unit production manager (UPM) is the Directors Guild of America–approved title for the top below-the-line staff position, responsible for the administration of a feature film or television production. Non- ...

Production background

* Chaney has almost no dialogue in the film. His character's emotions were shown through extreme close-ups of his face. *

Angels Flight Angels Flight is a landmark and historic narrow gauge funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, named ''Olivet'' and ''Sinai'', that run in opposite directions on a shared c ...

appears prominently in this film. * The

Bradbury Building The Bradbury Building is an architecture, architectural landmark in downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. Built in 1893, the five-story office building is best known for its extraordinary skylit atrium of access walkways, stairs and el ...

interior is featured prominently in this film.
Production stills exist
of scenes not in the film as released. One shows "Butcher" Benton at a jail where a policeman's body lies on the ground as Benton carries off Eva Martin. The scene logically came after the police threatened to release Paul Lowe from custody if he does not reveal the location of Benton's loot, and before the scene where it is revealed Eva has checked herself out of a hospital, presumably after recovering from unspecified injuries. Presumably, this scene is where Benton made good on his threat to get Paul Lowe, breaking into the jail to do it. Although Joe Flynn played a serious role in this film, he later specialized in comedic roles, most memorably as the irascible Captain Binghamton on TV's ''

McHale's Navy ''McHale's Navy'' is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the ABC television network. The series was filmed in black and white and originate ...

'' (1962–66).

Bibliography

The full story of the making of the movie (complete with interviews with some of the participants) plus the script and pressbook are featured in the book ''Scripts from the Crypt: 'Indestructible Man' '' (BearManor, 2015) by Tom Weaver.

In popular culture

John Darnielle John Darnielle (; born March 16, 1967) is an American musician and novelist best known as the primary, and originally sole, member of the American band the Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. ...

the Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the ...

wrote and performed "Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece", referencing a line spoken by Chaney's character to his double-crossing lawyer. * The 2003

Thom Andersen Thom Andersen (born 1943 in Chicago) is an American filmmaker, film critic, and teacher best known for his works of experimental film, including his 1975 film ''Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer'' and the 2003 essay film ''Los Angeles Plays Itse ...

film essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

Los Angeles Plays Itself ''Los Angeles Plays Itself'' is a video essay by Thom Andersen, finished in 2003, exploring the way Los Angeles has been presented in movies. Consisting almost entirely of clips from other films with narration, the film was not initially released ...

'' featured clips from the film.

Home media

The film has been released by numerous studios as a "bargain bin" disc. In addition, the ''MST3K'' version of the film has been released by

Rhino Home Video Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

as part of the ''Collection Volume 11'' box set which was soon to be re-released by

Shout Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

in 2019.MST3K: Volume XI - DVD :: Shout Factory
/ref>

References

External links

* * * * * {{AFI film, 51873
MST3K take of the film on ShoutFactoryTV
1956 films American science fiction horror films 1950s English-language films American black-and-white films American independent films 1950s science fiction horror films 1956 horror films American monster movies Films scored by Albert Glasser Allied Artists films 1950s monster movies Articles containing video clips 1950s independent films 1950s American films