The Man They Could Not Hang

Nick Grindé's 1939 film is the first link in the mad scientist series Boris Karloff made for Columbia. Dr Henryk Savaard, working on restoring life to the dead, is unjustly hanged for murder; his loyal assistant brings him back by his own method, and the returned man starts killing the jurors who convicted him one by one. The template is familiar, but what makes the film interesting is that the monster has been wronged: Savaard's rage is entirely comprehensible. A runtime a little over an hour shows the discipline of low-budget B production; no scene is wasted. Karloff works without monster makeup, on voice and bearing alone, which pulls his range out from under the shadow of Frankenstein. What the film says about capital punishment and medical ethics is sharper than the period would lead you to expect. Who it's for: viewers interested in 1930s horror and science fiction B pictures and in Karloff's work outside Universal. Who it's not for: anyone expecting high production values, or bothered by the shortcuts in the revenge plot's logic.