Before I Hang (1940) - Columbia Essential Classics Region 2 PAL

This an interesting set of films from Boris Karloff, well chosen to show off the various aspects of his career.In the Black Room (1935) we are presented with a gripping tale of family curses and sibling rivalry. Karloff gets to play twins, one good and the other evil, and shows their struggle for the family inheritance. The film is a lot of fun, especially Karloff who really gets to ham it up as both the good and evil brother. It's an old favourite of mine, and I bought the set for this film alone.In The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) we see Karloff in full mad professor mode. At first he's a kindly doctor who invents a method of reviving the dead. Through an unfortunate series of circumstances there is a death and he is convicted of murder. Brought back to life by his own technique, he starts to wreak vengeance on those who wronged him with an inventive house of horrors. Another entertaining slice of horror, even if the ending feels a bit rushed.Before I Hang (1940) is pretty much along the same lines as the previous film. Entertaining, but not groundbreaking.The Boogie Man (1942) is, for me, the weakest of the set. Karloff parodies many of his earlier flms in this comedy, but for me the humour was unfunny and the plot thin, and it just does not work.There are two discs, with two films per disc. Each comes in a slimeline case and both are collected into a sturdy card slipcase. There are no extras, the sound is mono. The picture and sound are reasonably clean and sharp. This is an American set, so you will need a region 1 player.A decent price for three great films from the Master of Horror, and one not so good.

Boris Karloff again dons the mad scientist role, in Before I Hang. The movie grips you in from the beginning, with Karloff on fine form as a gentle scientist who has found a way to stop the aging process- but he will be hanged after an experiment left a patient dead.I won't give the rest of the plot away, suffice to say that the film is very watchable and Sony have given us a very good picture, mind in some scenes there is heavy grain, but hey ho the film is 70 years old.For a 40s film the bodycount is quite high. On another note it would have been interesting to see patrons reactions to the film, given how it is so similar to the previous years effort The Man Who Could Not Hang- again starring Karloff and directed by the same man.Though this effort isn't as good (there is a dip in the second half of the film), this is still a very good effort and one for any fan of Karloff's works.

This box set has received many mixed reviews over the years but I personally love it.The Black room is one of my old favourites and shows some great acting by Boris playing 2 rolls.I wont spoil it with any plotlines only to say it is a great little film.The Man they could not hang is brilliant and I remember it from when I was a kid. Before I hang is a good little film with Boris again as a mad scientist which he does so well.Lastly The Boogie man will get you which a lot of people slate isn't actually that bad at all , I enjoyed it especially with Peter Lorre in it along with Larry Parks who was famous for the Jolsen story and Jolsen sings again , The plot is simple and at times a bit scatty but it an easy film to watch in bed with the light off to chill out.

Experimenting with life nature, Boris Kaloff is spared from the death penalty to do further cruel work. Being given enough chances, to see the fate who suffer at his hands. Good from the start to finish.

i will just feature the black room menacing as it was black and white. rminds me of atmospheric films such as curse of the demon,city of the dead(horror hotel) and night of the eagle.good double portrayal.

i think boris karloff made some of his better films at "columbia" studios, even though none of them had much in the way of budget.out of the four films in this set, i would rate "the black room" and "before i hang" as being the best ones. the former is a showcase for karloff's remarkable skills as an actor, in playing an honest and decent character and also playing the evil twin. a fine bit of acting from him. the latter film, i like due to it having a tightly-written storyline, a good pace and plenty of excitement. karloff was well cast in the "mad scientist" type role and he plays it well here. "the man they could not hang" is pretty watchable but the plot gets rather bogged down towards the end and i was slightly disappointed with the climax. "the boogie man will get you" is just a lot of nonsense to me, i didn't enjoy it at all.

Four fantastic Boris Karloff movies here. Showing his wide range of acting. Not all strictly horror, but also with elements of period drama, sci fi and the mad professor genres.The best of the bunch is The Man They Could Not Hang- a superb feature and 5 star material. Karloff plays a mad doctor though a genius who can revive the dead, but after being given the death sentence he now has to revive himself. A beautiful picture.The Black Room is another winner, where Karloff plays duel roles as his evil twin brother and what lies beneath the black room? Utterly watchable.Before I Hang feels a lot like The Man They Could Not Hang, and I thought this would have been an odd choice for Karloff to partake with such similar roles. However the movie is a good one, in fact it runs the first movie very close.The box set is rounded off by The Boogie Man Wil Get You- another mad scientist tale but this one is played for laughs- also stars Peter Lorre, and is perfect Saturday afternoon fun.This set is terrific and one of the better Karloff sets out there. Picture quality is fantastic given these films are over 70 years old. There are no extras but just having these movies on a quality set like this is worth purchasing, indeed this is an essential purchase for any movie collector, especially horror.