The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) Plot Summary & Timeline

Dr. Henryk Savaard is a pioneering scientist deeply engaged in the groundbreaking and controversial field of resurrecting the dead. His latest experiment takes place in the privacy of his own laboratory located within his home, where he tests an innovative artificial heart designed to bring a person back to life. To validate his invention, he volunteers Bob Roberts, a young medical student and his fiancée’s close companion, Ann Doran. Bob agrees to be temporarily killed so that Savaard can attempt to revive him, believing that if successful, their work could revolutionize modern medicine by enabling procedures previously thought impossible on living patients.

However, concerns about the experiment’s safety and morality lead Betty Crawford, Bob’s fiancée, to become anxious and fearful of potential failure. She rushes to the police department, alarmed that Savaard’s actions might be deadly or illegal. When law enforcement arrives at Savaard’s house, the scientist attempts to hide the artificial heart and the evidence of his work, instructing his assistant, Lang, to conceal it. Despite his confidence in his invention’s potential, the police view Savaard’s experiments as murder and promptly arrest him, setting the stage for a tense and highly publicized trial.

The court proceedings garner significant media attention. During the trial, a jury convicts Savaard of first-degree murder, and he is sentenced to be executed by hanging. Before the sentence is carried out, Judge Bowman grants Savaard a brief opportunity to speak, which he does with fiery condemnation directed at those who doubted him and contributed to his downfall. His words are charged with bitterness and resentment, as he condemns the legal system and the society that judged him unfairly.

On death row, Savaard’s assistant Lang visits him. Showing a surprising act of loyalty or perhaps desperation, Lang signs a release form allowing him to take possession of Savaard’s body after execution. In a shocking turn of events, Savaard indeed is hanged, but subsequent events reveal that he somehow survived. Despite suffering a broken neck from the hanging, Lang had surgically repaired him—a feat that suggested extraordinary medical skill and advanced technology. Over the subsequent month, Savaard’s resurrection isn’t the only mysterious occurrence; six jurors who helped convict him are found dead, seemingly by their own hands, in apparent suicides. A reporter, Robert Sterling, follows the story closely and begins to suspect a pattern linking these deaths.

The plot thickens when, on a night with an assembled group—including police officials, jurors, and the district attorney—at Savaard’s house, suspense erupts. They have been lured there by messages attributed to Judge Bowman, as they gather by an invitation supposedly from Savaard’s daughter, Janet, Lorna Gray. When Judge Bowman arrives, he unexpectedly reveals that he received a telegram from Janet requesting him there. Moments later, Savaard reappears among them, alive and composed. With a calm and chilling demeanor, he offers his guests dinner and hints at his ability to eliminate them, asserting that his own legal death provides him immunity.

The situation escalates quickly. Judge Bowman tries to escape but meets his demise by electrocution when attempting to open a grille that separates the others from the front of the house. Savaard then disappears, leaving the remaining guests trapped inside. Savaard announces through an intercom that each of them will be killed at fifteen-minute intervals. Tense and terrified, the guests attempt to stay calm as Savaard begins his deadly game. Juror Clifford Kearney, the head juror, answers a phone that, unbeknownst to him, delivers a poison-tipped needle directly into his brain, killing him instantly.

As panic sets in, the guests realize that Betty Crawford is next on Savaard’s list. Meanwhile, Janet, distressed and determined to save her father, discovers him upstairs in his laboratory. She pleads with him to abandon his vengeful plans, urging him to reconsider his motives and the destruction he is causing. Savaard confesses that he had Lang killed after Lang threatened to reveal his murderous scheme, further highlighting the depths of his obsession with revenge and his moral decline.

Despite her pleas, Janet responds by deliberately touching an electrified grille, forcing Savaard into a corner. As the house turns into a trap designed by his own malevolent intentions, Dr. Stoddard quickly steps in with Savaard’s artificial heart apparatus. He manages to revive Janet after her life hangs in the balance, showcasing the deadly power of Savaard’s scientific innovations. Her revival underscores the scientific marvels at stake and the tragic consequences of playing God.

In a final act of defiance and despair, Savaard destroys his invention with a gun, acknowledging the destructive path he has taken. As he dies, the house is left in chaos, yet his actions leave a lingering question about the limits of science and the morality of tampering with life and death itself. The story concludes with a haunting reminder of the perilous pursuit of human resurrection and the dangerous obsession with defying mortality.