The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)

The Man They Could Not Hang: Directed by Nick Grinde. With Boris Karloff, Lorna Gray, Robert Wilcox, Roger Pryor. When Dr. Savaard’s experiment in cryonics is interrupted by the short-sighted authorities, his volunteer dies, and he is condemned to death. He vows vengeance if he can survive his own hanging.

“This is the first of Karloffu0026#39;s cycle of u0026quot;Mad Doctoru0026quot; B-films for Columbia and, given that somehow I was under the impression that this was considered the least of them, I was surprised to find it great fun throughout. Essentially, all the films had similar plots (and itu0026#39;s interesting to see how the staru0026#39;s looks changed from one title to the next) – with Karloff on the verge of some great discovery or other but whou0026#39;s always thwarted at the proverbial 11th hour by thick-headed police and other figures of authority!; in fact, theyu0026#39;re so teeth-grindingly stupid here that Karloffu0026#39;s conversion from dedicated scientist to cold-blooded killer was actually quite convincing!! u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe star is in really fine form in this film – especially effective when delivering his threatening final statement before the court passes sentence on him and then, following his resurrection (complete with broken neck au0026#39; la Bela Lugosiu0026#39;s Ygor!), when exacting his elaborate and sinister revenge plan. In fact, the second half – intriguingly modeled on Agatha Christieu0026#39;s u0026quot;Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were Noneu0026quot; – is even more entertaining than the first. seeing how it finds all who remain of Karloffu0026#39;s intended victims being locked up in one room of his house (with all exits having been systematically blocked and wired with electricity!) and allowing 15 minutes between one execution and the next. Of course, his plans go sadly awry in the end as he hadnu0026#39;t counted on the presence of his daughter (alerted to Karloffu0026#39;s reappearance by her snooping reporter boyfriend) and, when she eventually u0026#39;sacrificesu0026#39; her life to save that of Karloffu0026#39;s unwilling guests, he sees the error of his ways and willingly accepts death anew from a bullet wound. Unfortunately, thereu0026#39;s a hokey, tacked-on happy ending of sorts – with Karloffu0026#39;s daughter getting resurrected in the nick of time, through the use of his own invention, before he himself expires.”