The Man They Could Not Hang

The Man They Could Not Hang is a 1939 film about a scientist who seeks revenge on his executioners.
 * Directed by Nick Grinde. Written by Karl Brown.

TRANSFORMED BY THE HANGMAN'S NOOSE...from a doctor serving humanity into a demon filled with hate...and terrorizing blood-lust! (taglines)

Dr. Henryk Savaard

 * Think of it! The Edison or Pasteur of tomorrow need not die merely because his heart is worn out. We'll give him a new heart taken perhaps from the body of a young man who's been killed in a automobile accident. And our great genius is awakened to another sixty years of useful life! You ask me if that's a benefit to mankind? I answer it's the gift of eternal life! But whether man's wise enough or old enough to receive such a gift, I don't know. I don't know!
 * You who have condemned me, I know your kind. Your forbears poisoned Socrates, burned Joan of Arc, hanged, tortured all those whose offense was to bring light into darkness. For you to condemn me in my work is a crime so shameful that the judgement of history will be against you for all the years to come!
 * Always remember I offered you life, and you gave me death!

Dialogue

 * Bob Roberts: I'll be under anesthesia, that's all. There's nothing to it!
 * Betty Crawford: Well, what if he can't bring you back?
 * Bob Roberts: He won't miss! Why, inside of two hours we'll be eating chop suey and fighting about where we'll be going on our honeymoon.


 * Priest: It seems strange to see you in such good spirits, Doctor.
 * Dr. Henryk Savaard: Strange that I should have no fear of dying? Well, I have lived so long questioning the unknown that this plunge into its depths is only the last and perhaps the greatest of my experiments.
 * Priest: Have you no faith?
 * Dr. Henryk Savaard: As a scientist, I'm afraid I'm a professional skeptic who doubts everything - even the certainties.
 * Priest: But do you not recognize the great truths?
 * Dr. Henryk Savaard: I never found one that would bear analysis.
 * Priest: Can't you conceive of a truth too great for the human mind to analyze?
 * Dr. Henryk Savaard: Tonight, no, but tomorrow I may know better!

Taglines

 * TRANSFORMED BY THE HANGMAN'S NOOSE...from a doctor serving humanity into a demon filled with hate...and terrorizing blood-lust!
 * King of Horror...in his biggest role!
 * To the law...he was a murderer!...to society, a samaritan!
 * Boris Karloff, the "Frankenstein" Monster, the man whose name telegraphs weird, fascinating chills gives you the biggest of all his roles...as a doctor turned demon, burning with fierce hatred of humanity!
 * Boris Karloff dares you to see this holocaust of horror!
 * Weird! Horrifying! Fascinating!
 * Boris Karloff..master monster of filmdom...terrifying as a doctor-turned-demon in a holocaust of horror!

Cast

 * Boris Karloff — Dr. Henryk Savaard
 * Lorna Gray — Janet Savaard
 * Robert Wilcox — Scoop Foley
 * Roger Pryor — Dist. Atty. Drake