Hey everyone and welcome to a new article series taking place during Monster Fest 2009. In this series of articles, I will post a full length horror / monster movie for your enjoyment. With services like Hulu and YouTube, there are a lot of ways to enjoy movies you would have most likely never heard of before by just watching it at your own convenience on your computer screen. I will choose one horror film from these services every week and post them here for you all to enjoy.
The first Monster Fest Movie of the Week is The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) starring Boris Karloff.
I actually had not seen this movie until last night. I spent most of the weekend studying for the GRE (which I take on Saturday) and, during study breaks, I would watch sections of this movie on YouTube. Believe it or not, it really helped me keep my sanity in this long and pretty boring weekend.
The Man They Could Not Hang tells the story of Dr. Henry Savaard who invents a machine that can revive the recently deceased. To test the machine, he kills a medical school volunteer and attempts to revive him. Unfortunately, the police arrive before the scientist can revive the volunteer and, because of this, the man dies for good.
Savaard is tried for the murder of the medical student and is hung. However, the brilliant scientist had his machine hidden with his loyal assistant. The assistant obtains Savaard's body and revives him. That's when the film turns into a clever revenge film with Savaard going after the people that had him hung.
For its time, The Man They Could Not Hang really has a clever concept and its execution is pretty solid. I was also intrigued by the story and really sympathized with Dr. Savaard before he went on his revenge spree. Boris Karloff, best known for his portrayal of the Frankenstein monster, really does a good job with Dr. Savaard. The speech he gives in the courtroom before he is sentenced to death is a really stand out moment.
For me, the film does lose some of its edge in its final eight minutes but its not enough to really make me not like the movie. With that said, I did find Dr. Savaard's actions in the last minute of the film very satisfying. I do also wish that the movie was a little longer (it's only an hour and six minutes long) and that the revenge section was explored more (because it really is well thought out and entertaining).
So, if you've got an hour and six minutes to spare, feel free to watch The Man They Could Not Hang below (cut into six parts). It's a movie not many people know about but they should. It's really entertaining and brings up some challenging issues, especially for a film made in 1939.
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