Director: Terence Fisher
Writers: Jimmy Sangster, Barré Lyndon
Stars: Anton Diffring, Hazel Court, Christopher Lee
1 Hour, 23 Minutes
Paris 1890. A man walks home in the foggy darkness. He’s attacked and dragged into the bushes. He’s killed, and then the man performs some kind of surgery on him as the credits roll. The body is then dumped into the river.
Dr. Gerrard (Christopher Lee) and Janine (Hazel Court) go to the Clinique De Paris to see Doctor Bonnet (Anton Diffring). He’s a doctor and a sculptor. They’re all friends, here to see Bonnet’s new statue. Bonnet is interrupted by a servant who says “He’s not on the train,” which clearly upsets Bonnet.
Bonnet runs off all the guests at exactly 6:30, as he’s got something important to do. He starts looking at his hands under the light, and he seems nervous. Margo, one of his models, interrupts, and he gets really annoyed. He shouts for her to get out as his eyes turn bright green. He says “Too late,” and then his face changes, and he is forced to killer her to keep his secret. He opens up his safe and drinks the formula inside. A moment later, he looks normal again.
Janine comes to visit the next day, and she wants to know why Bonnet won’t allow himself to fall in love with her.
Dr. Weiss finally arrives. This is the man who wasn’t on the train last night. The old man has had a stroke and lost the use of one hand. Weiss says he cannot do the operation, which upsets Bonnet tremendously. Bonnet’s been taking his serum every six hours, and it’s all that keeps him alive. He needs this operation. Weiss says he will teach a new, younger doctor to do the work, but Bonnet must find a doctor that he trusts. Janine leaves, and Bonnet suggests she brings Gerrard over for dinner tonight.
Weiss chastises Bonnet over keeping the operation a secret rather than going public and making it for all humanity. He pulls out a photo of the two of them as young men. Only one of them got old. Bonnet says he is now 104 years old.
That evening, Weiss hits it off with Gerrard, and they “talk shop” all night, while Bonnet and Janine talk romance. Weiss explains that there’s an operation that only he knows how to do, but cannot do it anymore. He wants to teach Gerrard to do it in his place. Gerrard will remove a gland from Bonnet and replace it with a fresh one. Gerrard doesn’t understand the point, and Weiss is evasive about it. After much badgering, Gerrard agrees to do it.
Inspector Legris comes to the door. He wants to question Bonnet about Margo’s disappearance. The last time she was seen was last night at Bonnet’s reception. The inspector wants to see Bonnet’s statue of her, but Bonnet lies and says he broke it. “I simply cannot part with my sculpture,” he explains. Weiss mentions that ten years ago, one of Bonnet’s models disappeared, and then ten years before that, another one did. He realizes what’s going on.
Weiss examines the gland and realizes it was cut from a living body, unlike the old ones that came from donor bodies. Bonnet explains that he just couldn’t get access to more cadavers after it took so long for Weiss to arrive. Weiss doesn’t see how this could be justified; killing an innocent man in order to save Bonnet. Weiss starts in on the “do you think you are God?” speech.
Bonnet doesn’t want to continue getting older alone. Weiss thinks it’s wrong to ask Janine to undergo the same procedure. Weiss wants nothing more to do with this. Weiss grabs the key to the safe when it’s time to ingest more of the formula. Bonnet’s eyes turn green. They fight and the formula hits the floor. Bonnet kills Weiss. Bonnet scoops drops up off the floor; he has enough for one last treatment.
Gerrard shows up the next morning to perform the operation, but Weiss obviously isn’t there. Bonnet says he had to leave urgently last night. Gerrard refuses to do the operation without Weiss.
That afternoon, the inspector talks to Gerrard and explains that he’s very confused about Bonnet’s age. He’s been doing background checks on the man, and it doesn’t add up. He, too, knows that a model has disappeared every ten years for a long time now. Bonnet would have to be over sixty if he were involved with the murders. Gerrard tells the inspector to look into Weiss’s location every ten years as well.
Bonnet brings Janine to his warehouse, where he keeps statues of all the women he’s murdered over the years. He locks her in and goes to see Gerrard. He explains the truth that he’s 104 years old. If Gerrard doesn’t get the operation in under six hours, he’ll get all those years, all those diseases, all those skin conditions bounce back and hit him all at once. Gerrard says “It’s an offense against nature. An offense against God!”
Bonnet explains to Gerrard that something bad will happen to Janine if he doesn’t try. Bonnet goes out and kills a woman and cuts out her gland; a gift for Janine.
Gerrard shows up, and they prepare for the operation. Meanwhile, Janine sits in the dungeon, waiting, in her formal gown and cape. She hears laughing from the next cell, she goes in and finds a disfigured woman in there.
The operation is a success, and Bonnet runs out, leaving Gerrard clueless. He heads to the dungeon and talks to Janine. “Do you still want to be with me forever?” He tells her the truth about himself.
Meanwhile, Gerrard explains to Inspector Legris what has transpired. He also says that he hasn’t really performed the operation; Gerrard faked it. Meanwhile, Bonnet starts turning green again. He gets old and gross and keeps yelling, “I’m going to die!” As he chases Janine around the dungeon. The crazy girl throws a lantern on him, and he and the crazy girl burn to death. Gerrard and the Inspector pull Janine away just in time.
Commentary
“A tale of glands and statues.”
Peter Cushing was set to play Bonnet but for some vague reason “called in sick” for this movie. Hammer studio threatened to sue Cushing, but since he was their biggest star, they decided not to follow through.
It’s not clear why Bonnet killed his models every ten years or why he kept killing so many women recently– except for the gland he wanted to use on Janine, the others were unnecessary.. We know why he killed the most recent one, but that was a one-time-situation, not something that would repeat. I’m also vague on why he had that girl locked in the dungeon, or why his touch seemed to burn people when he turned green.