zee I am predisposed to like 1950s B-movies. And this one had a lot of potential. It was basically the mummy story, set in the shadow of Vesuvius. Standard scientists and pretty girl who screams. There were two major flaws though. One was that the dialogue was full of exposition – "as you know, your specialty is… " And "as you know, you were once engaged to him." This is not only clumsy but easily remedied. In a strange twist, this movie actually made me scream aloud – but not for the reasons that the filmmakers would have wished. It was the voice-over narration. The film begins with it … All well and good. And then it goes away for 12 or 15 minutes and the next time it came back it surprised me so much I literally screamed. And it was ludicrous: the shot was of the scientist looking concerned for his girlfriend and the narration said something like " he was concerned for his girlfriend." It is as if they didn't trust their own actors, who were actually conveying the emotions quite well.The ending is very strange too. This could've been a solid seven star film for people like me who like old black-and-white horror and science fiction … But the two flaws were serious.

Scott LeBrun Indeed, the title character of this patently ridiculous schlock feature does not have a face. Incased in stone, he was a slave named Quintillus Aurelius in the days of ancient Rome, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and caused the destruction of the city of Pompeii. He's discovered in modern times by archaeologists, and goes about crushing the skulls of people unlucky enough to merely be in his way. What he really wants to do is reunite with the long ago noblewoman he loved, who's conveniently been reincarnated as the movies' leading lady, Tina Enright (Elaine Edwards).There's nothing particularly special here, but undemanding fans of low budget genre fare could find enough to keep them interested. It's cheaply made like so many other movies of its kind, and devotes too much of its time to exposition. There's also some pretty silly but endearing narration, which was spoken by the great and prolific character actor of the period, Morris Ankrum. The characters are entertaining (bravo to Felix Locher as Dr. Emanuel; he really looks like he's having fun reeling off that exposition). Edwards is a hell of a screamer, and both she and Adele Mara are definitely pretty ladies. Luis Van Rooten as Dr. Carlo Fiorillo and Jan Arvan as the requisite police inspector are solid. Richard Anderson is a jut jawed, decent enough hero as Dr. Paul Mallon, but man, oh man, is Paul a stubborn dummy. He remains hard headed and skeptical for too long.In the end, this is an okay update of Mummy type stories, if not too memorable overall. Writer Jerome Bixby, producer Robert E. Kent, and director Edward L. Cahn truly hit paydirt with a subsequent joint effort, "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", the movie that many people regard as the principal inspiration for "Alien".Six out of 10.

csdietrich CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN (1958) is little more than a low-budget rehash of "The Mummy" story set in Griffith Park Observatory doubling as the Museo di Pompeii and Malibu locations doubling as the Bay of Naples. Though the film clocks in at sixty-three or so minutes FACELESS MAN plods along at a snail's pace. Quintillus Aurelius is an Etruscan buried in the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius who returns to the 1950's to reclaim his lost love (who has superhuman lung power - when this girl screams, she SCREAMS!) Not completely without charm but not a memorable moment in horror film history either. With Richard Anderson (FORBIDDEN PLANET, SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN) and Wolf Barzell (FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER). This flick is probably best enjoyed by Baby Boomers who were frightened by it as kids.

Glenn Andreiev A citizen of Pompeii, entrapped by lava during the historic volcanic blast has turned into a solid stone mummy. It comes to life, and assumes the film's leading lady is his lost love. The usual fast paced, but cheaply made thrills by prolific genre director Edward Cahn (1899-1963). The usual drive in stuff from that period. The scenes where the stone man menaces the girl (who's one helluva screamer!) are a bit chilling.