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.
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Title: Before I Hang (1940)
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Edit
Cast
| Complete credited 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 | |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
Storyline
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.
Taglines:
Chill-filled tale of a monster! See more »Parents Guide:
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See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
17 September 1940 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
El mago de la muerte See more »Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)Color:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
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See more »
(uncredited)
Composed by Frédéric Chopin
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Film Daily Year Book (1941) and American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films 1931-1940 list the running time as 71 minutes; however, the original review in Variety, 2 October 1940, which followed the film's premiere in Lincoln, Nebraska on 26 September 1940, records it as 62 minutes, which corresponds to the time of the print from Sony shown on Turner Classic Movies in October 2008. See more »Quotes
Dr. John Garth: Someday, somehow, medical science will find a way to end the needless, ghastly suffering caused by the ravages of age!See more »
Soundtracks
Étude No 12 in C minor, Op 10 'Revolutionary'(uncredited)
Composed by Frédéric Chopin
See more »
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Boris Karloff would begin to repeat what might be considered the same part again and again in a series of "Mad Doctor" films he made for Columbia Pictures in the early '40s. As the elderly Dr. Garth, Boris is developing a serum which he hopes may preserve life. He's been convicted of the mercy killing of a terminally sick friend (would that make Karloff the first Dr. Jack Kevorkian?) but yet is allowed to continue his experiments while on death row with the aid of prison physician Dr. Miller (DRACULA's Edward Van Sloan). Garth decides to use himself as a guinea pig and injects himself with a serum made with the blood of a known murderer. The kindly doctor is subsequently pardoned from his crime, and the end result of his experiment produces the amazing effect of turning him into a much younger man. He has now inadvertently reversed the aging process, but the tainted formula has one slight side effect: it periodically turns him into a homicidal killer who is seized with the urge to strangle his victims. BEFORE I HANG is a decent offering in this series, though is not to be confused with the similarly-titled and superior THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG from 1939. **1/2 out of ****