{"id":25594,"date":"2012-04-30T09:28:22","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T16:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25594"},"modified":"2020-12-12T10:21:08","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T17:21:08","slug":"man-they-could-not-hang-the-1939","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25594","title":{"rendered":"Man They Could Not Hang, The (1939)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;To operate on a living body is like trying to repair a motor when it&#8217;s still running.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Poster-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-25595\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Poster-300x235.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Poster-128x100.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Poster-1024x804.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA doctor (Boris Karloff) experimenting with a radical form of surgery is captured by police after temporarily putting his student (Stanley Brown) to death; unwilling to believe that he meant no harm, a jury sentences him to death by hanging. But Karloff&#8217;s assistant (Joe De Stefani) resurrects him using Karloff&#8217;s own methods, and soon Karloff begins seeking revenge on those responsible for his death.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Boris Karloff Films<\/li>\n<li>Horror<<\/li>\n<li>Mad Doctors and Scientists<\/li>\n<li>Revenge<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs noted in my review of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25549\"><em>The Walking Dead<\/em> (1936)<\/a>, Boris Karloff was cast in an ordinate number of B-level &#8220;living dead&#8221; flicks after achieving fame as the Monster in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18354\"><em>Frankenstein<\/em> (1931)<\/a>; in <em>The Man They Could Not Hang<\/em>, he plays the &#8220;mad doctor&#8221; rather than the subject of experimentation. The first half of the film &#8212; in which the premise is established, and characters are clearly divided between Sympathetic and Unsympathetic to Karloff&#8217;s cause &#8212; is rather standard fare; it&#8217;s not until the second half that things really kick into high gear, as the resurrected Karloff calls together all the remaining individuals who have wronged him, and proceeds to cause their deaths one by one. This section is nicely handled, and makes the film as a whole worth a look; otherwise, this one is strictly must-see for Karloff fans.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The gripping &#8220;old dark house&#8221; revenge sequence<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-House.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-House.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25596\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-House.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-House-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-House-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Cinematography.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Cinematography-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Man-They-Could-Not-Hang-Cinematography-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look simply for its tense second half. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0031614\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/82707\/the-man-they-could-not-hang#articles-reviews?articleId=253076\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2143karl.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/fantasticmoviemusings.com\/2015\/08\/30\/the-man-they-could-not-hang-1939\/\">SciFilm Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1939\/09\/21\/archives\/screen-reviews-and-news-of-the-studios-an-uneven-light-comedy-is.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;To operate on a living body is like trying to repair a motor when it&#8217;s still running.&#8221; Synopsis: A doctor (Boris Karloff) experimenting with a radical form of surgery is captured by police after temporarily putting his student (Stanley Brown) to death; unwilling to believe that he meant no harm, a jury sentences him to death by hanging. But Karloff&#8217;s assistant (Joe De Stefani) resurrects him using Karloff&#8217;s own methods, and soon Karloff begins seeking revenge on those responsible for&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25594\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25594"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57322,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25594\/revisions\/57322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}