Before I Hang

Boris Karloff, typecast in the horror genre, was one of our most underrated film actors. Here is a typical film of his middle career that showcases his versatile skills, equally strong as the benign, elderly scientist and his murderous, strangling younger self. This b-picture packs a lot of atmosphere and suspense into it's hour running time. Any shortcomings cannot be blamed on anyone but the screenwriter, Robert D. Andrews, who was just trying to keep things moving- not such a bad thing, actually. Nick Grinde does an excellent job making the most out of the script and witness Karloff's fireside confession for an example of the film's above average cinematography. It's also nice to see Karloff side by side with Edward Van Sloan again nine years after Frankenstein. If you need proof of Boris Karloff's talent and charisma aside from Frankenstein, check out Before I Hang, as well as The Black Room, The Body Snatcher, and Targets. I wish we had a star like him today...

Boris Karloff played the benign "mad" scientist whose intentions were good but turn awry better than anyone else. Most of his mad scientists were men put into bad situations by some kind of catalyst beyond their control and Before I Hang is no exception. Karloff plays a doctor brought before a jury for a mercy killing - a man who had been living in terminal pain sought out Karloff's help with hopes that a youth age-suppressing serum he had been working on would help regulate the pain and off-set the aging process. It didn't work and Karloff aided in his assisted death. Karloff is sent to prison but finds that the warden believes in his work and allows him, with the aid of Edward Von Sloan the prison doctor, to work on his serum just weeks before he is to be hanged for his crime. Before I Hang has really quite a preposterous storyline but Boris Karloff breathes life into it rather nicely with a gentle performance edged by a maniacal turn as he injects himself with the serum that has some bad side effects. The other actors are all very good with old Karloff nemesis from Frankenstien Von Sloan doing very well with his rather small, thankless role and Eugene Palette giving a good turn as the warden. Karloff's three old friends are all well-played and Evelyn Keyes as his daughter adequate as is Bruce Bennet as her love interest and Karloff's former assistant. The movie is not particularly fast-paced but the tension does build increasingly with effect. Before I Hang is a rather nice addition to Karloff's Columbia Mad Doctor roles. Perhaps not the best of them but certainly stands strong with the rest of them.

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.

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.

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.