Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17155 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 4:53 pm Post subject: The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) |
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Excellent sci-fi in the medical science category, years ahead of its time.
Boris Karloff plays a noble scientist who labors to perfect an artificial heart and an organ transplant procedure. One of his loyal assistants volunteers for an experimental test that requires the young man to die and then be revived by the artificial heart.
The young man's girlfriend tries to stop the experiment by calling the police, but they arrive too late, interrupting the procedure before Karloff can revive the volunteer subject. When he dies as a result of this, Karloff is tried and hung for murder. A second assistant (Byron Foulger) uses the artificial heart to bring Karloff back to life, but Karloff is so embittered by the experience that he plots revenge on the judge and jury, trapping them in his sadistically booby-trapped house.
A gripping drama with a good supporting cast and a novel premise. Also starring Lorna Gray, Roger Pryor, Ann Doran, and Robert Wilcox. Directed by Nick Grinde.
Karloff's courtroom scene is prophetic as he declares that someday mankind while use organ transplants to save lives. The story was inspired by actual experiments conducted in the 1930s by biochemist Robert Cornish, who succeeded in restoring dogs to life after they had been gassed. He planned to test his methods on executed criminals, but the authorities wouldn't allow it. _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Oct 06, 2022 3:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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