MovieChat Forums > Black Friday (1940) Discussion > Why is Dr Sovac being executed? What ca...

Why is Dr Sovac being executed? What capital offense did he commit?


Granted, Dr Sovac's operation was unethical but it hardly rose to the level of capital murder. As to his shooting of the professor, there would be a whole classroom that could attest to his violent state and Sovac's daughter could attest that it was self-defense.

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The execution framework, for me, was the weakest thing about this movie because they don't bother getting into it. I suppose it could be argued that Dr. Sovac is being executed because he deliberately killed the original Red Cannon (who was paralyzed but would definitely have pulled through) so he could use the gangster's brain to keep Prof. Kingsley alive.

Even then, would anyone be able to prove any of that, or that Kingsley was the one doing all the killings? Aside from Sovac confessing, the only real evidence would be the box of money (which could have gotten hidden fast) and Sovac's own diary. THe fact that Sovac is lugging around his diary on his way to the execution tells me it was NOT used as evidence in his trial.

That's probably more thought than necessary. ;)

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Most likely, Sovac never denied murdering Kingsley. He felt guilty for having caused this, and didn't want to soil Kingsley's name by claiming the man was killing his daughter.

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He's being executed for being in such a lousy movie... :)

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