Classic Horrors Club

Captain Paul Onslow (Warner Baxter) has only 6 Hours to Live (1932) and it’s not because he’s ingested poison (he hasn’t) or that he’s the target of an assassination attempt (he is.) It’s because he’s been brought back to life and there’s a flaw in Professor Otto Bauer’s (George F. Marion) process.

Oooh… sci-fi with a touch of horror, I bet. Nope, strictly a drama where the process of being brought back to like doesn’t cause a monster to go on a rampage, but causes a man to find God…. or at least use the time he has left to take one last look at a world that’s alive.

I mentioned the God part because after his experience, Paul is able to comfort those who’ve suffered recent losses. For example, he tells a woman (Beryl Mercer):

Your son is with you always, watching over you. Someday you’ll be with him again. 

Even the little girl selling flowers (Marilyn Harris, tossed in the water by the other kind of creature brought back to life, the rampaging monster in Frankenstein, 1931) asks if he’s an angel. 

Although Heaven, or a paradise-like afterlife, is evoked, 6 Hours to Live isn’t a religious film. However, Paul does comfort others with words like:

Death itself is nothing. It’s only fearful in our minds.

Except for the three men involved with his revival, nobody knows what happened to Paul, but they do comment that he’s different than he was earlier in the day. Yes, earlier he was in love with Baroness Valerie von Sturm (Miriam Jordan), but now he shuns her rather than break her heart.

Let’s back up a bit. The film opens with Paul the one holdout for approving a deal at an international trade conference. Without a unanimous vote, the deal will collapse, so he’s received death threats. After a good long time of demonstrating that he loves Valerie…

…somebody is good on the threat and he’s strangled.

Dead men tell no tales… maybe this one will.

Paul is brought back to life to identify his killer. When he subsequently leaves a dinner party, he’s offered a gun for his revenge, but says he won’t need it. He’s going to wait until his last breath to reveal his murderer., which places him back at the conference.

On the way by foot, he meets ladies with dead sons, little girls with flowers, and a prostitute (Irene Ware) to whom he gives his wallet. After that encounter, she asks when she’ll see him again. He replies:

If you’re interested, day after tomorrow at my funeral.

6 Hours to Live is low key, with little to no excitement or suspense. But it’s touching. Director William Dieterle earned praise for his handling of the subject matter, which predates his other films that stir the emotions: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) and Portrait of Jennie (1948), to name two.