atlasmb
"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.
Rainey Dawn
This is one of my favorite Boris Karloff films. The movie is a bit ahead of it's time - the idea of prolonging human life by scientific means.Karloff plays Dr. Henryk Savaard. A very kindly man who's sole purpose is to prolong the human lifespan. Bob Roberts is a medical student and agrees to be his guinea pig - things go wrong when Dr. Savaard's nurse, Betty Crawford, is fearful of Bob's life and goes to the police. The police arrive during the experiment and arrest Dr. Savaard for murder. Dr. Savaard is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. After the hanging, Dr. Savaard's body is turned over to his assistant Dr. Lang who performs the experimental surgery on Savaard. Savaard is now "resurrected" and turns into a madman that seeks revenge on those that had him sentenced to death.This film is a great companion film to Karloff's Before I Hang (1940). The title of the two films seems backwards but once you watch both films you will understand the titles are appropriate and not backwards.9/10
AaronCapenBanner
Nick Grinde directed Boris Karloff as Dr. Savaard, a researcher into life and death who is working with a student on an experiment where he will be killed and returned to life, when it is interrupted by his foolish girlfriend, who gets Savaard arrested for murder(he didn't have enough time to resurrect the student) He is then tried, convicted, and hanged, but an assistant takes his body back to the lab, and after some neck reconstruction surgery, is returned to life. He then plots a campaign of revenge against all those responsible for his hanging... Boris Karloff is fine, and film has some potential, but it is squandered in a standard revenge tale that proves most unsatisfying; a bit more imagination and ambition could have made this good.
Hitchcoc
It isn't such a bad movie. It's just how many times does Boris Karloff get the same script. He is hanged or electrocuted or done in in some way and someone manages to bring him back. Of course, he's not the man he used to be. In this one, his work is compromised, costing a young assistant his life, due to a panic stricken girl. When his partner brings him back, he decides to kill the jury, the judge, the prosecuting attorney. It's a sort of "And Then There Were None" thing but doesn't work as well as the Rene Clair film. The device invented looks silly but is a precursor to an artificial heart. The science is bad but the idea is ahead of its time. There is a great courtroom speech that is hard to deny, but they hang him anyway. Still, I love this guy and am impressed by his acting. It's too bad he got himself typecast so badly. He did have some very nice dramatic roles, but most of it was this kind of thing. See it anyway.
AD
