<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Before I Hang (1940) was directed by Nick Grindé. This black-and-white feature starred Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, Edward Van Sloan, Ben Taggart, and Pedro de Cordoba.

Before I Hang is perhaps the weakest of Karloff's short series of mad doctor movies for Columbia. This time he's Dr. John Garth, convicted of a mercy killing and sentenced to death by hanging. Continuing his experiments in prison, he creates a serum that prevents him from aging.

However, because he uses the blood of a convict, he is transformed into a homicidal maniac. It's an easy role for Karloff, and he turns in the best performance in the film, rubbing his rubber-gloved hands together or absently twisting his handkerchief before strangling a victim.

There's also good support from Van Sloan as his colleague Dr. Howard in this otherwise workmanlike thriller. It was cut by nine minutes when originally released in Britain.