The Man They Could Not Hang

This film was by all means a head of its times with heart transplants and mechanical parts in the year 1939. This films success was encouraged by a Dr. Robert Cornish who was a biochemist hired by Columbia pictures who present the idea of a mechanical heart. Columbia signed Karloff for several more films in the same theme, staring the actor onto his second "crazed scientist" cycle. It is unbelievable that for more than twenty-five years later, human lives were successfully prolonged by surgical heart transplants. Karloff looks less menacing that he has been in the past. Karloff as usual, turns in his usual good performance.

Dr. Henryk Savaard (Boris Karloff) and his assistant are performing an experiment on reviving recently deceased people through use of an artificial heart. Unfortunately, the assistant's girlfriend is scared and runs to the police. They arrive before Savaard can complete the experiment and the assistant dies. Savaard is convicted and executed for murder. However, another assistant uses the artificial heart to bring him back to life. But the good doctor is batspit crazy and out for blood. So he starts killing off those he holds responsible for his death one by one. The first of several movies Karloff made for Columbia where he played a mad scientist type out for revenge. It's formulaic but it works. Karloff carries the movie as always.

A Boris Karloff vehicle from 1939. Karloff is a scientist on the cusp of creating a device to bring the dead to life (ironic coming from Frankenstein's monster!) & he already has a willing guinea pig, his assistant's boyfriend, volunteering for the task. On the cusp of completing his experiment, the distressed girlfriend has sent a phalanx of police to halt him in his tracks but the foul deed is done; the boyfriend is dead & the process was never applied. Imploring his assistant to hide the device when he hears the cops at his door, Karloff is arrested, tried (even though he gives an impassioned speech on his potential discovery) & hanged for his trouble. When he's revived by his aide, Karloff constructs an elaborate plan to kill off all the people (the district attorney, the jurors at his trial, even his assistant) in a rigged dining room in a large mansion. When Karloff's daughter, played by Lorna Gray, shows up, his game is thrown, will he succeed in his determination to murder the rest of his guests? Only Karloff's oily ham of a performance saves a rather muddled Agatha Christie-esque yarn which even w/its abridged running time still feels a little too wild for its own good.

The Man They Could Not Hang is a very solidly done film but falls short of greatness. The ending is tacky and felt somewhat like two endings in one. The first third does take its time to get going, it sets things up well but compared to what comes after it was a little dull, while the music is rather stock and you can tell that several composers were responsible. The Man They Could Not Hang looks very good however with fluid photography and creepy settings, while the script is witty and clever with a foreboding tone that really makes its impact, and the story may be standard but it is still very neatly told with the suspense levels appropriately sinister and the fun factor deliciously entertaining. The last third apart from the ending fares by far the best, that's fun and enough to make you bite the nails. The acting is good, Lorna Gray comes off best in the supporting cast, all competent but none make the same impression that Boris Karloff. Karloff is good reason to see any film and he is the best thing about The Man They Could Not Hang. He has an effortless eerie command and does it with his usual style and dignity. The artificial heart and organ transplant stuff is also very ahead of its time, and a further source of interest. Overall, standard with a hokey ending, stock music and a slow start but lots of fun and very effective in atmosphere and as ever Karloff is great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"The Man They Could Not Hang" is certainly a very watchable film. On the surface, it appears to be another mad-scientist-defies-nature story, but it has deeper roots.

Dr. Henryk Savaard (Boris Karloff) has designed an artificial heart and has tested it on various animals. A young man volunteers to be the first human recipient, so Savaard and his assistant terminate the man's life only to be interrupted mid-procedure, before they can restore the man's life.

What follows is a courtroom drama, then an Agatha Christie-like murder in a box, with a twist.

At each phase of the film, Dr. Savaard delivers a speech about science vs. ignorance, each with its own perspective. Each speech is well written and takes the story beyond the typical mad doctor genre.

This film does not fall into the horror genre. Perhaps the mere presence of Karloff prompted that labelling. But Savaard may be the most rational character in the film. It is a sci-fi crime story. And it is well worth watching and very entertaining.