Crime Doctor's Strangest Case

Warner Baxter is the "Crime Doctor," and here he is in the second film of the series, "Crime Doctor's Strangest Case," filmed in 1943. This one has a perk for baby boomers as it stars a very young Lloyd "Sea Hunt" Bridges as a man acquitted of killing his boss who consults Dr. Ordway (Baxter), the man who helped him in his case. Though he was found not guilty, he has had terrible trouble finding a new position. Now he's been offered a job working for a person instead of a company - a similar situation to his first job, and he wants to get married. Ordway recommends that he look instead for a corporate position, even if he has to leave town, and wait to get married.

The Bridges character doesn't take Dr. O's advice, and when his boss is killed, it does look as though he was given the job so he could be framed. Ordway steps in to investigate, dueling wits with the detective in charge of the case (Barton MacLaine).

This "Crime Doctor" has some comedy in it, with Jerome Cowan as a musician who is careless with matches. There's also a hilarious, very fast change of identity.

This is a good series, and I hope to see more of it on TCM.

There's some films that I saw over 20 years ago that if I ever get back to them after such a gap I wonder why I stayed away for so long. I think the Crime Doctor series is like that - I've had copies getting dusty for ages, and yet it's really too good to be treated like that. They were on a production par with the other Columbia stalwarts of Boston Blackie, the Lone Wolf and the Whistler - all well worth watching.

Avuncular type Warner Baxter playing Robert Ordway aka the Crime Doctor gets involved in the case of the murder by poison of a wealthy industrialist insofar as he tries to clear the name of his suspicious friend played by skinny and intense Lloyd Bridges. He leisurely sorts through a houseful of suspects much to cop Barton MacLane's irritation and who has a job keeping up with him throughout the picture. It can get a bit complicated with red herrings, a surreal dream sequence and a long flashback to precisely 31 years previous but all of it was necessary stuff. Favourite bits: Mrs Keppler's quick change vamoose; Jeremy Cowan's disposal of the fiery wastepaper basket through his window; Baxter's general imperturbable confidence; Lynn Merrick's towering hairstyle.

For those of us who mine this seam it's another fine example of the 1940's b&w detective comedy-mystery genre.

This second entry in the "Crime Doctor" series is a steadfast crime drama with enough red herrings to keep it interesting. It even has a bit of comedic relief involving a musician and his matches.

One caution, however -- a fair amount of the critical action occurs at night, and there aren't enough shades of gray in the print (as shown on TCM) to distinguish all the details, especially in the scenes which take place in an abandoned night club.

One delightful revelation, and what may make this worth watching for aficionados of Hollywood history, is the appearance here of Lloyd Bridges, who plays a prime suspect. Those of us who grew up on the TV series, Sea Hunt, and unfamiliar with his earlier work (this was made about seven years into his career, and about fifteen before the TV series) may wonder why this tall and lean, blond and handsome, deep-voiced, quick-talking actor didn't become one of Hollywood's premiere leading men.

Dapper yet avuncular Warner Baxter, one of cinema's earliest Oscar winners (Best Actor in 1928's IN OLD ARIZONA), is put through his paces in this second entry in Columbia Pictures' CRIME DOCTOR series, based on the hit radio series. Baxter plays the title character, a.k.a. Dr. Ordway, an amnesiac who learned (in the first CRIME DOCTOR movie) he used to be a gang leader. Since then, Dr. Ordway's been using his knowledge of the criminal mind to become an in-demand psychiatrist. (My husband wondered if he was able to psych out his rival gangsters in his hoodlum life.) Baxter's testimony had helped acquit Jimmy Trotter (a young Lloyd Bridges), who'd been accused of poisoning his previous employer. Jimmy finds that even when you're proved innocent, it's tough to find a job when you've got "Accused Poisoner" on your resume. But does Jimmy follow Dr. Ordway's advice and get a fresh start with his new wife in a new town? No-o-o-o! Jimmy grabs the first job he can get, as assistant to a Realtor, only to find himself jobless and the prime suspect when the Realtor dies of poisoning. Dr. Ordway gets involved, and before you can say "It's old Mr. Withers! He wanted to get the land cheap!", he's up to his fedora in wily blondes disguised as brunette cooks, family skullduggery, a would-be George Gershwin who's careless with matches (played for comic relief by Jerome Cowan, best known in our household as Miles Archer in the classic 1941 version of THE MALTESE FALCON. Fellow ... FALCON alumnus Barton MacLane plays the police detective on the case), and an anxious middle-aged lady whose freaky dreams may be the key to the mystery. That dream sequence is surprisingly intense, with imagery of silhouetted girls plummeting off cliffs and hanging from nooses; it's almost like a welcome bit of comic relief when a sinister male silhouette holding a suitcase labeled "POISON" shows up! THE CRIME DOCTOR'S STRANGEST CASE may not be THE MALTESE FALCON, but Baxter is an ingratiating lead and the flick is an entertaining way to spend 68 minutes. Give it a look next time it turns up on Turner Classic Movies!

Crime Doctor's Strangest Case finds Warner Baxter checking on Lloyd Bridges whom he considers a success story as a reclamation project while he was on the parole board. Bridges just got a job with George Lynn, a multimillionaire real estate tycoon whom we learn as Baxter arrives to visit Bridges on the job we learn that Lynn was poisoned by a cup of coffee Bridges brought to him.

This case is not only strange, but quite baffling as the roots go back thirty years to the disappearance of Lynn's partner in an old musical theater and vaudeville house. The theater has been boarded up and shut down ever since.

Other than Dr. Ordway and the police everybody is a suspect in this one, not excluding Bridges who has a couple of scenes that make you wonder whether Dr. Ordway missed a bet with him. This Crime Doctor is a worthwhile bit of time spent viewing.