Before I Hang (1940)

Director:

Nick Grinde

Writers:

Robert Hardy Andrews (story)
Karl Brown (story)

Release Date:

17 September 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Beware! When Karloff stops the clock, your hour has come!

Plot:

A physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&-Hyde. |

Plot Keywords:

Experiment | Criminal Blood | Mercy Killing | Pardon | Serum

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Dr. John Garth
Evelyn Keyes	...	Martha Garth
Bruce Bennett	...	Dr. Paul Ames
Edward Van Sloan	...	Dr. Ralph Howard
Ben Taggart	...	Warden Thompson
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Victor Sondini
Wright Kramer	...	George Wharton
Bertram Marburgh	...	Stephen Barclay
Don Beddoe	...	Capt. McGraw
Robert Fiske	...	District Attorney
Kenneth MacDonald	...	Anson, Prison Guard
Frank Richards	...	Otto Kron - Convict
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ernie Adams	...	Sam - Hospital Prison Orderly (uncredited)
Stanley Brown	...	Prison Gate Guard (uncredited)
Frederick Burton	...	Governor Prentiss (uncredited)
Jack Cheatham	...	Patrolman Olson (uncredited)
Edward Earle	...	Dr. Nichols (uncredited)
Richard Fiske	...	Mandish (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Eddie Laughton	...	Guard (uncredited)
James T. Mack	...	Butler (uncredited)
George McKay	...	Reardon (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse	...	Cousel at Defense Table (uncredited)
Edmund Mortimer	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Charles Trowbridge	...	Judge Braden (uncredited)
John Tyrrell	...	Sanders (uncredited)
Gohr Van Vleck	...	Police Dispatcher (uncredited)

Directed by
Nick Grinde

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robert Hardy Andrews		story and screenplay (as Robert D. Andrews)
Karl Brown		story

Produced by
Wallace MacDonald	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Benjamin H. Kline		(as Benjamin Kline)

Film Editing by
Charles Nelson

Art Direction by
Lionel Banks

Makeup Department
Clay Campbell	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Milton Carter	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
J.S. Westmoreland	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director (as M.W. Stoloff)
Gerard Carbonara	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Leigh Harline	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Ben Oakland	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Karol Rathaus	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Gregory Stone	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2011) (USA) (DVD) (DVD-R)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Shooting lasted from June 27-July 12, 1940, released September 17.

Quotes:

Capt. McGraw:Dr. Garth, whatever he is, is the first man I've ever met who was polite to me and still made the chills run up and down my spine!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Lady with the Torch (1999)

Blood will have blood.

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.