Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

A Brilliant Conflict

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

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

Whilst experimenting with a matter transmitter, scientist Dr Paul Steiner (Briant Haliday) succeeds in perfecting a technique that can teleport living beings from one end of his laboratory to another using mice as his guinea pigs. Steiner and his colleagues, Dr Patricia Hill (Mary Peach) and Dr Mitchell (Ronald Allen) prepare a demonstration for a visiting official from the Swiss government, Dr Lembach (Gerard Heinz). But, Steiner's bosses, Dr Blanchard (Norman Wooland) and Latham (Derrick de Marney), are planning to steal his research materials and sell the process to the highest bidder. To this end they feign scepticism of his theories and sabotage his equipment so that his demonstration goes wrong. Dr Blanchard them tells Steiner that no more time or money will be afforded to his experiments, which makes him even more determined to prove his theories correct. So he arranges to teleport himself from his laboratory into Blanchard's study, which goes horribly wrong and he is transformed into a hideously deformed creature that needs to be fed with electricity to survive. First, he electrocutes three small time crooks and a cat to death on a building site. Then he kidnaps his secretary, Sheila (Tracey Crisp), who tells him what his bosses have really been up to and he sets out to get revenge on them...Hokey sci-fi horror made during the British horror wave of the 60's, which was spearheaded by Hammer but other producers sought to jump on the bandwagon and cash in on it with their own low budget shockers. Some of the special effects work looks okay (for its time), but the shocks are routine and would unlikely chill a baby nowadays. Director Ian Curteis keeps the plot moving along swiftly but fails to create much in the way of suspense or tension. The climax at Battersea power station, however, is mildly thrilling where the cops have Haliday cornered inside and Mary Peach goes in alone to try and persuade him to come back to the laboratory where Allen thinks he has found a way to cure him. The budding romance between Peach and Allen is bland and insipid and they are just about the most boring hero and heroine imaginable. Bryant Haliday offers the best performance as Dr Steiner who is transformed into a monster during his vain bid to persuade his bosses that his discoveries are genuine. But, little did he know that Dr Blanchard and Latham actually knew the potential of his matter transmitter and only feigned scepticism in order to steal it from right under his nose and clean up. Haliday makes him a sympathetic character as he seeks revenge against them. Film buffs will spot Derrick de Marney, a former leading man in the 1930's and 40's, in the supporting cast as a villain complete with a cat a la Blofeld in the Bond movies. Oh, and the versatile Derek Farr is in there too as a police inspector.All in all, The Projected Man emerges as a hokey and rather dated sci-fi horror, but it is worth the watch as a pleasant reminder of a gentler era of British film making that has long since disappeared.

I enjoyed this film as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I am doubting I would have seen it otherwise, as I do not recall ever seeing this one play on television. A film that shares a premise with a couple of other films where a scientist is trying to do something grand, but instead of a rousing success story, the movie turns into a horror as something fails in spectacular fashion causing someone to get deformed, fused with something or have half their face looking quite icky, but on the plus side gain an ability to electrocute people so that they may take revenge on all those they perceive wronged them! Not a totally bad film as they did a wonderful job on the makeup, just takes a while for things to really get going and so for the most part during the first portion of the film we are treated to the wonderful world of grants, appropriation and sabotage. The film is already half over before we have the title character terrorizing the city and it kind of still moves slowly.The story has a woman arriving at an institution where a scientist is working on developing a device that can be used for teleportation. In fact, he has succeeded many times transporting inanimate objects from one point to the other and his only problem is doing the same with live subjects. Of course, the fact he was able to successfully transport inanimate objects should have been more than enough to secure funding for life, the people in this film seem to act as if this is not that big a deal. Kind of perplexing. Oh wow, you can transport things from one point to the other instantaneously...cool, wait, not animals. Loser! Well there is some sabotaging going on as soon the scientist who is played by the same guy who played the great Vorelli in "Devil Doll" decides to do something extreme to prove he has achieved success! The only way he can fail is if the other two scientist who are assisting him run into the room and yell, "Stop" right in the middle of the experiment...and they do, D'oh! He is transformed into a maniacal disfigured man who can touch people and kill them! This made for a very funny episode of MST3K as it is one of those films that has enough good in it so that their riffing does not have to completely carry the day. I would like to see the film without their aid as there seemed to be things that were not rectified on screen such as the mysterious man who seemed to be the one behind sabotaging the experiment. Most of the film though seems to be intact as the film only ran 77 minutes so most of it was likely featured. A lot of good jokes in this episode as I enjoyed Sheila in her underpants and the joke about being willing to give up half their face to break into drugstores and steal rubber gloves...just a very good episode.So the movie may have been good with a bit more work, it still made a fine episode of MST3K. I kind of wonder if Bryant Haliday's hair was naturally that orange color, if so it is a shame that "Devil Doll" was in black and white as that would somehow of made that film a lot creepier! This one had a great effect as Haliday as Professor Steiner's face was positively grotesque! I have seen things made a lot more recently than this film that did not look half as good as the makeup job they did here and it is the highlight of this film that is a bit strange as once again, shouldn't more people be shocked and in awe of something that can teleport stuff?

1966's "The Projected Man" obviously suffers from an unoriginal script eventually picked up for production in Britain by Richard Gordon, shot soon after its superior co-feature "Island of Terror." Elements of "The Fly," in its use of a matter transference machine, and "4D Man," in its sabotage and revenge plot line, make for a prosaic viewing unlikely to get a rise out of any but the most die-hard sci-fi fans. Not so much a bad film as subpar, Gordon regular Bryant Haliday, a genuine horror buff who co-founded Janus Films, takes the title role of Dr. Paul Stanton, dedicated researcher, so close to success that he enlists the assistance of his novice secretary in the lab, resulting in his being transported to the wrong location, one hand and half his face destroyed, a walking power station whose electrical touch proves lethal. Things only pick up following a gabby first half, aided by decent effects and suitably gruesome makeup design for Haliday's monstrosity. His performance lacks the proper zip, but easily stands out due to the lackluster actors around him. Top billed Mary Peach still cringes at the mention of this film, later the widow of Hammer screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, confining most of her efforts to television afterwards. Most viewers will recall newcomer Tracey Crisp, whose scantily clad appearance in her underwear couldn't help but be noticed! Alas, everyone else, particularly the bland villains, leave virtually no impression, save for one cast member retained from "Island of Terror," Sam Kydd (the constable), here sadly reduced to one scene as a thief who becomes one of Haliday's first victims.

Ok first of all, this movie sucks. But lets examine why. The proposition that a machine is capable of transforming matter into energy, storing it, and then transporting it and reasembling it is at the least intriguing. But that's as far as they take this premise. Instead of delving into what could happen if someone made this kind of machine, they break the damn thing. This could have been a good premise. Living with the responsibilty of this kind of power, and dealing with the constant temptation, ie.. the invisible man. But no.. they break the damn thing. And Lembach wants to leave. So then the doctor jerry-rigs the thing back together, and trys to transport himself. Only to have it goofed up by his beautiful but dumb secretary, (duh). Which wouldn't happened if Lembach hadn't decided to leave. So now he is roaming the country side killing people because his little experiment failed, and they wouldn't give him money. Wah. Then to make the movie worse, throw in a dry British relationship between the two semi-competent professors hired to assist him. Between their loving sessions, they make a couple of half-hearted attempts to find him while he kills off half of London. All of this could have been headed off by not breaking the damn machine, which would never have happened if Lembach hadn't left. This movie tried so I give it an honest 2 stars for effort, but it would have been better if they hadn't broke the damn machine, making Lembach leave, making him try it again. Damn you Lembach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!