The Crime Doctor's Courage

I reckon that this is my favourite of these Warner Baxter outings as the sleuthing psychiatrist "Ordway". A man posing as a waiter at an swanky dinner accuses their host of being a wife-murderer. Not just one wife, mind - but two. Anyway he retires to his study where he seemingly commits suicide. "Ordway" is drafted in to investigate at the behest of the puzzled "Capt. Birch" (Emory Parnell) and is soon caught up with the antics of a cabaret act whom people are gradually beginning to believe are three hundred year old vampires! Of course there's no such thing - but the act are never seen in the dark and have papers signed in Madrid by none other than King Philip IV in the 1640s! The doc is bamboozled, but we just know he will use science and common sense to unravel the mystery and that there is a common sense - most likely venal - reason behind it all. There's quite a fun dynamic between Parnell and Baxter and a solid contribution from Hillary Brooke's "Kathleen" as well as a few rope-spinning performances from the seemingly immortal "Bragga" magicians. It's even got it's own butler - and does raise a smile now and again.

Better than average World War II-era "who-dun-it" featuring Warner Baxter as a former gangster who suffered amnesia and has been reborn as a psychiatrist now known as Robert Ordway who helps both the police and criminals who want to go straight. Crime Doctor's Courage is the fourth in the series of ten and also involves a victim who might have some mental problems. The link to "courage" is not particularly clear.

This entry revolves around the death of fortune hunter Gordon Carson whose two previous wives have under mysterious circumstances and who in turn dies in a locked room under conditions that resemble suicide but Dr. Ordway labels murder. Hillary Brooke plays the part of widow Kathleen Carson who is involved with Anthony Caruso - a mysterious Spanish dancer whose act includes his sister that disappears on stage. As a mystery novelist, Jerome Cowan is a good supporting actor as is Lloyd Corrigan as an aficionado in crime.

Spooky houses with creaking doors, caskets in the cellar, and suspects that are never seen in daylight add to the air of suspense. The set for the dance sequence is quite elaborate and the ballet music very good. Direction, production design, and photography stand out. The exterior shots and costumes suggest more affluence rather than normally found in the average "B" detective thriller.

Strongly recommended.

As Doctor Robert Ordway, the Crime Doctor, Warner Baxter gets involved in all kinds of mysteries. But one usually doesn't get invitations to dinner like this even from beautiful women like Hillary Brooke.

Brooke married Stephen Crane whose two previous brides both had accidental deaths. For some odd reason, she's beginning to have second thoughts about the marriage. So the famous Crime Doctor is invited for dinner and a consultation to observe the behavior of her husband.

In true murder mystery style the husband is shot to death last night in a locked room with the house still full of guests. Baxter calls the police and Captaine Emory Parnell arrives on the scene. Of course Baxter is no small help in eventually arriving at the identity of the culprit though another murder takes place.

We've even got the supernatural involved because one of the suspects is half of a mysterious Spanish dancing team of Anthony Caruso and Lupita Tovar. They're suspected of being vampires.

The Crime Doctor's Courage I'm sure didn't people running for the exits when it played the bottom half of double bills in the Forties. One thing I will say though, the behavior of one of the suspects during a scene that didn't involve Baxter kind of gave away the identity of the murderer. Still it's a passable enough murder mystery.

This Crime Doctor film starring Warner Baxter, (Dr. Robert Ordway) causes the doctor to investigate a murder of a man who lost his both wives on their honeymoon. The doctor is approached by Hillary Brooke,(Kathleen Carson) while the doctor was on vacation and there becomes evidence that there is vampires operating in an old house who are dancers and can only be seen at night time. Their act consists of a mysterious dance created in bright lights and then the female dancer disappears into thin air. This film has many twists and turns and you will have no idea just who the killer is or just what direction this film will take you and why all these murders. This is a rather hopeless film.

... might be a better title than the vague "Crime Doctor's Courage".

The film starts by showing a young couple on their honeymoon. The new bride insists on going to the edge of a rocky cliff. Her husband (Stephen Crane as Gordon Carson) wants her to move away from the edge because his first wife died in an accident during the first week of their marriage just a year ago. She hit her head while swimming, it was ruled an accident, but the deceased bride's brother still thought it was murder.

The couple argue. During the argument, Gordon's new wife pulls away from him, loses her footing and falls off of the cliff to her death. The sheriff calls it an accident, but the brother of the first wife believes that now Gordon is some kind of maniac that enjoys marrying women and then killing them in ways that look like accidents. His parting words to the sheriff are "Who will it be next year?".

The answer to that question is Hillary Brooke as Kathleen Carson. She interrupts Dr. Robert Ordway (Warner Baxter) the psychiatrist on a vacation to sunny California that he is taking on doctor's orders. Kathleen has only been married one day and believes her husband could be insane. She asks Ordway to dinner to observe her husband. There are quite a few people at the dinner besides Ordway and the Carsons, and one of the servants is actually the first bride's brother who apparently has been popping up all over the place for the last year urging Gordon to either commit himself to an asylum or commit suicide before he kills someone else. Gordon is obviously troubled, retires to his study alone, and a shot rings out. Ordway and crime novelist Jeff Jerome (Jerome Cowan) burst in and find a gun near the body of Gordon, but the gun is cold. Somebody has tried to cover the murder of Gordon Carson with a fake suicide. But who could murder Gordon when he is locked inside his study and there are bars on the only window?

Ordway finds his help unwanted by the local police, but he can't help coming across clue after clue. For one, the newly widowed Kathleen disappears right after the murder, hiding at the castle like home of the mysterious Braggas. A new will leaving everything of Gordon's to Kathleen was made out the day before Gordon's death. As for the mysterious Braggas, nobody has ever seen them out after dark, there is a portrait of them that is apparently 300 years old, they keep coffins in their basement, and they perform a dancing act at a local club in which one family member disappears and then just as mysteriously reappears. Did I mention that Miguel Bragga is in love with Kathleen? Could a vampire that can disappear and reappear at will possibly be the murderer? Watch and find out in this atmospheric entry to the crime doctor series. There are more suspects than I mention here, so it is not so cut and dried as you might think and remember, this is the crime doctor we're talking about, a man of science and reason, not Kolchak the night stalker! Highly recommended.