Before I Hang (Region 2)

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.

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.

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.

set includes Before I Hang with Edward Van Sloan and Evelyn Keyes, The Boogie Man Will Get You with Peter Lorre, The Black Room and The Man They Could Not Hang. Picture quality is very good.

You get 4 films on two single sided discs - 2 films to a disc. All the films are presented in full screen 1.33:1, all are in black & white, all have English Dolby Digital 2-channel and all have English subtitles. Disc 1 - The Black Room - 1935, 68 mins, Boris Karloff, Marian Marsh, Robert Allen, director: Roy William Neill The Man They Could Not Hang - 1939, 64 mins, Boris Karloff, director: Nick Grinde Disc 2 - Before I Hang - 1940, 62 mins, Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, director: Nick Grinde The Boogie Man Will Get You - 1942, 67 mins, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, director: Lew Landers

Contrairement au descriptif technique du film, on ne trouvera aucun sous titrage en français pour ces films ! Aucune rectification n'a été faite depuis ma protestation auprès du fournisseur ! Alors, soyez prudent avant d'acheter !

By that title, I mean this collection gets 5 stars because of its one star, Boris Karloff. Karloff was a fine actor when given fine projects. Like his "running mate," Bela Lugosi, he sincerely applied himself to whatever the material. But unlike "poor Bela," Boris frequently got QUALITY roles and films. This collection shows a nice range, from two mad doctor roles (of which he played several for Columbia) to comedy to a nice tour-de-force of a dual role as twin brothers. Despite the title of the collection, these aren't "horror" films. They're dramas or melodramas (as TV Guide used to call them when they were shown on TV in the 50s). The sole comedy, THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU, is a welcome change of pace and a nice chance for Boris to be silly and get away with it. (Some of the other people in the cast don't fare as well, though Peter Lorre and Maxie Rosenbloom are delightful). It's nice to see Karloff get the releases he deserves on DVD. I still have my wish list (like DEVIL'S ISLAND and a watchable print of THE APE). But this set is a nice chance to see a fine old actor parade his talents.

This set is a winner from the moment you lay eyes on it! The designers of the package did a very good job; there's a very nice moody look to the slipcase, as well as the art on the individual disc cases. They have a nice "retro" feel to them that is great to behold. The movies are basically arranged in order of quality; "The Black Room" is easily the best film in the set, while "The Boogeyman Will Get You" is far and away the weakest. "The Black Room" features one of Boris Karloff's most celebrated performances, and with good reason. Without spoiling the plot for those who have yewt to see the movie, what begins as a dual role for the master actor becomes considerably more complex as the film really gets rolling. This performance ranks right up there with the like of Cabman Gray in "The Body Snatcher," Imhotep from "The Mummy," and the Frankenstein Monster as some of Karloff's very best work. "The Man They Could Not Hang" kicks off the often overlooked, yet much-maligned "Mad Doctor" series. Each film in the series featured a very similar basic plot, with Karloff portraying a scientist who performs experiments for the betterment of mankind, is forced for some reason to cease them, only to resume his work at the earliest opportunity, with disastrous results. This is the best film in the series, with Karloff's Dr. Savaard returning to exact revenge on those who condemned him. He gives a marvelous performance, elevating a script that is merely decent to the level of riveting entertainment. If you only watch one film from the "Mad Doctor" series, make it this one! "Before I Hang," the third film in that series, is not on the level of it's predecessor in this set. It still has plenty to offer the fan of films from this era, as a very atmospheric thriller with a few truly great scenes. Karloff's performance as the reluctant murderer is obviously the highlight, and his metamorphosis before each murder is wonderfully done. He repeats the same little ritual each time, allowing the tension to build in the viewer, until the actual murder is almost a sweet release. The feeling of impending doom mounts until the final act. "The Boogeyman Will Get You" seems to be very much in the vein of "Arsenic and Old Lace," without the same level of quality. Karloff's absent-minded, accidental murdering scientist and Peter Lorre's jack-of-all-trades Sheriff are a great pair, however, and honestly make the whole affair worth watching. They display the kind of chemistry in this film that made their future teamings in films such as "The Raven"(the 1960s version, with Vincent Price and a very young Jack Nicholson) and "The Comedy of Terrors" (with Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone) so enjoyable. For fans of classic horror movies, there is no shortage of DVD collections out there. It can be tough to decide which ones are worth adding to your collection. This release from Columbia is certainly a worthy purchase, and a bargain at this price. Devotees of Karloff, in particular, can't go wrong!

fine product