Watch Before I Hang For Free

Wonderful Movie

So much average

Excellent but underrated film

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

While the 1939 Nick Grinde film "The Man They Could Not Hang" dealt with the story of a kindly scientist who vows revenge after his experiment with a mechanical heart is interrupted, this one takes a similar theme to new twists and turns out to be much better. The story opens with Karloff being sentenced to death for aiding an elderly man in "assisted suicide" which is labeled here as mercy killing. Karloff goes to prison and goes to work for the prison's doctor, keeping his experiment going as he prepares to die. On the day of his execution, he is sentenced to life in prison instead, and gladly continues his experimentation of aiding the elderly, unaware that the serum of a dead killer he had implanted in himself has poisoned his mind, making him do quite the opposite than what he originally intended.There's a sad look in the eye of the classic pianist Karloff visits to implant the serum in to test him and improve the quality of his life. The vulnerability and trust in this man is a quiet visual that will remain in my mind's eye when I think of this film. There are some touching realizations of how pathetic we become as our bodies age and mind fights to remain strong in spite of physical pain. Karloff literally becomes "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" as he struggles between the good doctor and the maniacal killer in doing what he wants to do for society and doing what the killer's poisoned blood did to make the dead prisoner kill in the first place.As fast moving as the predecessor, this isn't based upon the revenge plot which dominated and weakened the first film, but more on how good intentions are sometimes the pathway to hell when the rules of the universe aren't followed. Karloff goes between good and evil with ease, and his performance is one of his best. The doctor may not be mad, but his experiments will certainly drive him that way.

Nick Grinde directs Boris Karloff for the third time in a familiar-sounding tale of Dr. John Garth, who was sentenced to death for a mercy killing, who nonetheless is allowed by the prison warden to experiment with his serum using the blood of an executed murderer. Garth uses it on himself however, and it proves a success, but has the unfortunate side-effect of periodically turning him into a killer. After one such murder(which is blamed on an escaped inmate) he is pardoned, but that doesn't stop his lapses into murder, as he decides to help some doctors with his serum, but that plan backfires. Standard thriller has a good performance from Boris, but that's all. Seen this done before, and better.

Mad scientist Boris Karloff (as Dr. John Garth) is sentenced to hang, as an admitted "mercy killer". But, since his research in medicine is so important, Mr. Karloff is permitted to continue experimenting, in a laboratory behind bars. Karloff thinks human cells could be prompted to reproduce forever, curing both disease and old age. Believing he is going to be executed, Karloff uses his experimental serum on himself, and is transfused with the blood of a convicted murderer. Then, suddenly, Karloff is paroled. He becomes twenty years younger, but must fight the urge to kill, Kill, KILL! A cheap, ludicrous, but bearable star vehicle.**** Before I Hang (1940) Nick Grinde ~ Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Pedro de Cordoba

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...