Prima che m'impicchino

I am not exactly a connoisseur of Karloff, but this film makes me want to find out more about the great master--his performance in this was truly endearing, not to mention gripping.

Furthermore, this movie should be be required viewing for modern film-makers, because it really is a masterpiece of succinctness. Not a single frame of film is wasted! The movie only lasts for 62 minutes (although I'm sure the version I saw, early one morning, lasted a good ten minutes less than that!) and yet it crams more plot into that small timescale than a great many drawn-out 3 hour epics! And yet, the real genius of the work is that it does not for a single moment seem *rushed*. Everything flows smoothly right up to the final curtain, and you are left with the feeling of having watched a "full-length" feature--a truly astonishing achievement! I glanced at my watch at about the halfway stage , not out of impatience, but out of sheer wonder at how on earth everything was going to be wrapped up to a neat conclusion within only 25 minutes or so!

This film, more than any other that I can recall, bridges the gap between the frenetic single-reeler comedies of the 20s (which crammed a hell of a lot in, at the expense of a more welcome relaxed pace), and the modern day feature. If there really was five full minutes of piano-playing in this, I can't say that it perturbed me in any way whatsoever--it merely helped to set the melancholy mood of the piece. And that five minutes of a one hour film can be dedicated solely to mood setting, without generating any feeling of slow-down, is something really quite remarkable.

A great genius *can* make a 4 hour film work... but such directors are *extremely* few and far between (e.g. Kurosawa, von Stroheim). All others should learn from the director of this work: the Occam's Razor of feature films.

Boris Karloff would begin to repeat what might be considered the same part again and again in a series of "Mad Doctor" films he made for Columbia Pictures in the early '40s. As the elderly Dr. Garth, Boris is developing a serum which he hopes may preserve life. He's been convicted of the mercy killing of a terminally sick friend (would that make Karloff the first Dr. Jack Kevorkian?) but yet is allowed to continue his experiments while on death row with the aid of prison physician Dr. Miller (DRACULA's Edward Van Sloan). Garth decides to use himself as a guinea pig and injects himself with a serum made with the blood of a known murderer. The kindly doctor is subsequently pardoned from his crime, and the end result of his experiment produces the amazing effect of turning him into a much younger man. He has now inadvertently reversed the aging process, but the tainted formula has one slight side effect: it periodically turns him into a homicidal killer who is seized with the urge to strangle his victims. BEFORE I HANG is a decent offering in this series, though is not to be confused with the similarly-titled and superior THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG from 1939. **1/2 out of ****

Of the Karloff Columbia Mad Doctor pictures, my very favorite is "The Man With Nine Lives" with "The Devil Commands" a close second followed by "The Man They Could Not Hang" (which was still quite good). Similarly, "Before I Hang" is a good "B" picture with some good scenes such as the experimentation with the model in order to mix the chemicals and serums correctly. Karloff's "Dr. Jekyll - Mr. Hyde" transformations seem to be very hair-raising indeed.

As usual, Karloff proves he was one of the best mad scientists of classic shudder cinema.

This neat little "B" came with a good supporting cast including Bruce Bennett and Evelyn Keyes.

Worthwhile watching with all of your "B" buddies.

7/10.

Dr. John Garth (Boris Karloff) is convicted of a mercy killing and sentenced to hang. With the time he has left, he is allowed to continue his experiments in prison. He creates a serum that reverses aging and tries it out on himself. But side effects of the serum turn him into a homicidal maniac. Karloff is terrific in a role very similar to many others he had played before and always perfectly. He was so good at creating sympathetic performances out of characters that other actors would have played in broad strokes. Nice supporting cast that includes the always good Edward Van Sloan, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, Don Beddoe, and the underrated Pedro de Cordoba. You might not recognize some of those names but it's a solid cast for a 'B' picture. Not the best of Karloff's mad scientist films but highly enjoyable anyway. Definitely give it a shot.

BEFORE I HANG is an intriguing little chunk of B-Film that explores the old idea that blood has memory, that the tissues and bones of the criminally insane pulse with a life that makes them who they are. In short, blood will have blood, as Macbeth says after the appearance of Banquo's ghost.

Boris Karloff is strong in this piece about a Dr. John Garth, who is seeking a serum that may alleviate the ravages of age. His experiments have led him to "mercy kill" one of the subjects of his studies, and for this, he is sentenced to death. Offered a chance to redeem himself through medical research in prison, he and a colleague (played by the fine character actor Edward Van Sloan) inoculate Garth with an experimental serum drawn from the veins of an executed murderer. The serum works, but Garth becomes a homicidal maniac. He kills his colleague and a prison trustee, and manages to lie his way into a pardon from the state for his humanitarian efforts. After he gets out, he really has a killer's jamboree.

Aside from the mechanical gesture of touching his hand to the back of his neck whenever one of the murderous fits come on, Karloff creates a character who's pretty sympathetic. Evelyn Keyes as his daughter adds some spark to the melodramatic proceedings. Pedro de Cordoba, piano interludes and all, managed to build a soulful and arresting character who stands out all the more against the general flatness of the Columbia "B" company. All in all, the work holds up, and it's a must see for anyone who admires the efforts of Karloff and some of the other great characters of that era who (time and again) were able to lend some real spark to what would otherwise have been pretty lifeless strips of celluloid.