The Man Who Turned to Stone

Plot synopsis:
The title and credits are shown over a picture of a man carrying a woman. We open at night with a truck pulling up to the La Salle Detention Home for Girls. A dormitory room contains over a dozen beds occupied by sleeping women. We zoom in on one sobbing woman. Tracy (Jean Willes) tries to comfort her. Big Marge Collins (Tina Carver) tells her its just one big party. A scream outside the dormitory wakes the rest of the women. Marge says, "They're at it again." She adds, "There will be somebody dead in the morning." Eric (Friedrich von Ledebur) carries a screaming woman to the main house. He climbs the stairs to the second floor. He enters an attic room used as a "treatment facility." Dr. Murdock (Victor Jory) directs Eric to place the girl in the tub of water.The next day Marge brings one of the girls to the Dispensary with her. Mrs. Ford (Ann Doran) asks what's wrong with her. Anna Sherman (Barbara Wilson) tells her she can't keep her food down. Marge is having a bandage on her leg changed by Dr. Freneau (George Lynn). Anna is sent to the infirmary and Marge is sent to an isolation cottage, more for insubordination and her smart mouth, than some concern about her infection.Tracy has a job working for Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin). Carol is the Social Welfare representative and has only been on the job a few months. Tracy handles clerical tasks for Carol. Tracy asks if the screams the night before kept her awake. Carol heard nothing and thinks Tracy is exaggerating. Tracy tells her, "I'll bet you a box of girl scout cookies that somebody died last night." Carol calls Mrs. Ford and asks if anyone died. She is told Angie Collins had a heart attack and died. Tracy casually comments that a review of the death records would be interesting reading. Carol agrees to look at them. She finds the records in Mrs. Ford's office and asks Dr. Myer (Victor Varconi) if the records, or death certificates, are available chronologically. He asks her if she has permission from either Dr. Murdock or Mrs. Ford. Mrs. Ford enters the office. She dislikes and resents Carol Adams and tells her so. She tells her to stay in her own department and mind her own business. A movie was scheduled for the inmates, and Carol returns to the dining hall to start it.Mrs. Ford reports Carol's snooping to Dr. Murdock and the rest of the "medical staff." Murdock asks Mrs. Ford, "But you don't think she suspects anything?" "Not yet," is Mrs. Ford's reply. They fill the tub and Eric goes to the infirmary to collect another victim. This time it is Anna Sherman. When Eric gets to the treatment room he is already showing signs of the peculiar condition he shares with the others. His face is a translucent gray and white like marble. Myer and Freneau place Anna in the tub. Dr. Cooper (Paul Cavanagh) objects and is pushed aside by Murdock. Myer applies an electrical headband to the top of Anna's head. The apparatus transfers Anna's life force into Eric. Eric resumes his normal, but menacing appearance. The movie is over and the girls return to their dorm rooms. They find Anna's body hanging above her bed and scream. They call a matron. Tracy tells Carol that Anna just wasn't the suicidal type.A coroner's inquest conducted at the main house shows Anna died of a severed spinal cord consistent with hanging. Death is deemed self-inflicted by hanging. During questioning, Carol tells the coroner she doesn't believe she was suicidal. Dr. Murdock questions Carol about conditions at the facility. Carol agrees there is no physical abuse reported. She is then questioned about her credentials. Murdock next questions Dr. Jess Rogers (William Hudson). He is a psychiatrist for the State Department of Mental Health. He agrees that a credentialed psychiatrist would probably have noticed signs consistent with suicidal tendencies.The next day Carol packs her belongings from her office. She assumes she will be let go when Dr. Rogers arrives to take over her duties. Rogers asks her to stay and help him with the mental evaluation of the inmates. She asks, "Weren't you sent here to whitewash the prison administration?" Rogers tells her he was sent to get the truth. Carol agrees to stay and to help. Rogers goes to see Murdock in his office. Murdock is absent, but Cooper shows him in and casually mentions a painting on the wall is a Rembrandt. He says it was purchased in the 1800s, but then quickly corrects himself. This is the first clue that the medical staff is older than they appear. Murdock arrives and apologizes to Rogers for involving him at the inquest. Rogers tells Murdock that Miss Adams is to remain and work with him to find out whats going on. Murdock registers only mild surprise at the announcement.Carol, Rogers, and Tracy begin their investigation. They question one inmate and she tells them the medical staff came about two years earlier. "That's when all the funny business started," she adds. She recounts the mysterious deaths. Mrs. Ford reports to Murdock that the Rogers team has interviewed seventeen inmates and has the names of eleven girls whove died under mysterious circumstances. Rogers and Carol go to see Marge in the Isolation Cottage. Marge concurs that Anna did not commit suicide. She was screaming and only Marge would have heard. Everyone else was at the movies.The next part of the investigation, a review of the death records, is stymied by a "mysterious fire" involving the file room. Rogers asks Murdock for a complete history of all the employees. He also wants tissue samples of Anna Sherman examined and a full autopsy to be performed. Murdock disagrees and objects strongly. Against Murdocks orders, Rogers goes to the morgue to perform the autopsy himself. The medical staff runs down to the morgue to stop him. Rogers takes a tissue sample and examines it under a microscope. The medical staff confronts Rogers, so he lies to Murdock. He tells them she was alive when she hanged herself, supporting the coroner's conclusion it was suicide. Later with Carol he tells her that she was in fact dead, but he can't prove it with tissue samples alone. He does note that Cooper was not with the others during his autopsy. He thinks there is animosity between Cooper and his colleagues. Carol admits to being afraid and concerned for Dr. Rogers' safety. Rogers goes to see Cooper. While talking he hears a heartbeat. He tells Cooper it is his. Cooper tells Rogers to leave the facility, to get as far away as possible and to take Carol Adams with him. Cooper wants to tell Rogers the story but he can't. Cooper tells Rogers he has written it out, but he won't understand or believe it. If he should die or disappear, Rogers will find instructions in his mail. To convince Rogers, Cooper takes a pair of scissors and pounds them into his stone-like hand.Cooper meets with the medical staff. They inform Cooper they won't "renew" him because, "You're continued existence is a menace to the project." Cooper is visibly turning to marble. A heartbeat sound gets louder. "220 years is too long for any man to live," Cooper observes. He admits to the group that he sent the whole story out, but he won't tell them who got his notes. They suspect either Rogers or Carol got his notes.Rogers got instructions in the mail. A diary can be found under a large rock by the cliffs near the prison grounds. Rogers takes a crowbar and leaves the facility. His departure is quickly reported by the guard to Murdock. Eric follows Rogers, but falls holding his chest, we hear his pounding heart. Eric's treatments sustain him for shorter periods, something that worries the other medical staff members. Eric spies on Rogers retrieving the diary from a box under a rock. Rogers starts to read the diary. Cooper explains he was born in England in 1733. In the 1780s a group met in Paris and worked with a scientist on a project to prolong life. Rogers is interrupted by Eric approaching. He escapes and Eric falls over a cliff. Eric gets up to an audible beating heart and resumes his search for Rogers. Rogers continues to read the journal. It explains the process. The transfer of bioelectric energy from one person to another, results in the donor's death. They discovered the best source of life is young women of child bearing age. The medical staff's current goal is to synthesize the life force.Eric goes on a rampage. He assaults a colleague then breaks into the dorms and roughs up some girls. He bolts. Rogers continues to read the journal. A section covers side effects. The stone-like shell appears when the person is close to death. Rogers hides the journal in a sign board by the side of a road. He walks back to the facility when Carol fails to arrive at their arranged time. Eric goes to the Isolation Cottage for Marge. The matron tries to stop Eric and she is killed. Eric picks up Marge and carries her outside and back to the main house. In the attic treatment room, Eric chokes Murdock until he agrees to one more renewal treatment using Marge as the donor. The process completed, Marge is dead, and Murdock gives Eric a sedative to keep him quiet. Rogers tells Carol and Tracy the story. When Carol tries to telephone the State Police she is told only Dr. Murdock can approve the call and he's out on the grounds. Rogers decides to go up to the attic room and stop them. He enters the house but finds the attic room locked. He kicks the door in. He finds Eric waiting for him and chases him downstairs. Murdock and Mrs. Ford find Eric but Rogers hid before they got into the house. He leaves the house and returns to Tracy and Carol. Murdock arms Myer and Freneau and tells them to bring back Rogers, Tracy, and Carol. They get to the switchboard, and Rogers and Tracy put in a call to the State Police. Before they can complete their call, Myer puts a bullet into the switchboard. Mrs. Ford injects Carol with a sedative. Rogers re-enters the house and goes to the basement. He finds Cooper, dead, and like stone. He also finds one of the dead girls. He shuts off the water supply to the house and pulls the fuses to the attic room. Eric is sent to get a sedated Carol. He catches Rogers, and drags both Carol and Rogers to the attic treatment room. To placate Eric, Murdock and Mrs. Ford tell him they are renewing him, but they lie to him. This gives Rogers a chance to crawl away. Rogers pours a chemical into the bath to neutralize the copper sulfate solution in the tub. Eric collapses. They put Rogers in the transference chair. They plan to make Rogers like themselves. Rogers tells them he neutralized the solution with sodium salts. Mrs. Ford empties the tub, but there is no water to refill it. Freneau goes to the basement to reinstall the fuses and turn the water main back on. They refill the tub and have electricity. Freneau manages to start a fire in the basement. The inmates join Tracy in a rescue operation at the main house. Rogers fights with Murdock. Several shots are fired and Rogers regains control of the gun. He orders Mrs. Ford and Murdock to free Carol. Murdock and Mrs. Ford stay in the burning attic to complete their notes. The house is now fully engulfed in flames. The girls return to their dorms. We close with Rogers and Carol walking away, with the burning house in the background.

Tags: murder

Review:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
While "The Man Who Turned to Stone" may at first look like just another schlocky horror film but it turns out to be highly original and well worth watching!The story is set at a women's reformatory.
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.
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.
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..
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 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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
Staff member Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin) and Dr. Rogers (William Hudson) try to find out what's going on.Pretty laughable.
(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.
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.
"Small Town Girl" director László Kardos' superficial horror chiller "The Man Who Turned to Stone" qualifies as nonsense from fade-in to fade-out.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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 and the others ostracize Cooper, and he dies by literally turning to stone.
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.
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 horror here lies primarily in Eric lurching about the premises looking for women for Murdock's experiments.
Although the prison is called a Detention Home for Girls, all of the girls look far too old to pass as teenagers.
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.
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.
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.
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 "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.
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.
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.
He is revealed to be two centuries old and Victor Jory's mad doctor Murdock is researching a way to keep him alive.
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.
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.