Intriguing and clever, but maybe too self satisfied, the fifth "Crime Doctor" film is enjoyable but a bit weird, starting off with one weird character (a man who apparently murders his wives on a whim) then introduces a brother and sister team of dancers from Spain who may be vampires. One of them indicates that they've been doing their dance for 300 years then quickly changes it to their family has been doing that dance for 300 years. The sister (Lupita Tovar) manages to literally disappear during the elaborate ballet that they perform, and it's indicated that no one has ever caught them anywhere during the daylight hours.
The viewer meets the possibly homicidal husband (Stephen Crane) in the opening scene, and his new wife apparently falls to her death while they're standing on a rock overlooking the cliff, and in the next scene, Warner Baxter is meeting Crane's third wife (Hillary Brooke) who has just found out about the two previous ones. Crane happens to be murdered that night, and Brooke becomes engaged to marry Tovar's brother (Anthony Caruso) whom crime doctot Baxter suspects of being the newest cinematic Mr. Toothy.
While this was not directed by William Castle, it has his stamp of goofy pleasure written all over it. A spooky atmosphere beautifully created by Columbia 's B unit helps this come off as deliciously weird, and good character performances (Jerome Cowan, Lloyd Corrigan, Emory Parnell) aides this in coming off as fun. But there's too many unfulfilled twists and red herrings, and it's all wrapped up too neatly to be as good as the previous entries which were extremely good while this one is simply just good.
The viewer meets the possibly homicidal husband (Stephen Crane) in the opening scene, and his new wife apparently falls to her death while they're standing on a rock overlooking the cliff, and in the next scene, Warner Baxter is meeting Crane's third wife (Hillary Brooke) who has just found out about the two previous ones. Crane happens to be murdered that night, and Brooke becomes engaged to marry Tovar's brother (Anthony Caruso) whom crime doctot Baxter suspects of being the newest cinematic Mr. Toothy.
While this was not directed by William Castle, it has his stamp of goofy pleasure written all over it. A spooky atmosphere beautifully created by Columbia 's B unit helps this come off as deliciously weird, and good character performances (Jerome Cowan, Lloyd Corrigan, Emory Parnell) aides this in coming off as fun. But there's too many unfulfilled twists and red herrings, and it's all wrapped up too neatly to be as good as the previous entries which were extremely good while this one is simply just good.