Mystery of the White Room

1939's "Mystery of the White Room" was number 6 of the 7 Crime Club mysteries produced by Universal from 1937 to 1939, and one of the three included in the popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50's. Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater aired it twice, on February 8 1975 (following 1969's "Crucible of Horror" and second feature 1939's "The Human Monster") and April 16 1977 (following 1956's "The Creature Walks Among Us"). Boasting as fine a 'B' cast as Universal could offer that year, Bruce Cabot stars as Dr. Bob Clayton, who conducts an emergency operation on another doctor's patient, supported by former chief surgeon Amos Thornton (Frank Reicher, reunited with Cabot after "King Kong"), against the strict hospital rules enforced by current chief surgeon Finley Morton (Addison Richards). The following morning, a different operation finds Morton himself stabbed to death with one of Thornton's stolen scalpels, during a brief blackout engineered from the basement. The unseen thief was spotted by janitor Frank Puglia, whose now blind condition can be averted by delicately transplanting the corneas of the late Dr. Morton (shades of 1944's "Dead Man's Eyes"), hoping that he will then be able to identify the culprit. Among the nurses are an excellent Helen Mack, Joan Woodbury, Constance Worth, and underrated comic relief blonde Mabel Todd, whose distinctive laugh could be adorable or irritating (or even both!). Roland Drew and Don Porter (billed last in his film debut) are suspected doctors, with Thomas E. Jackson ("Little Caesar") as the investigating detective, contributing several sharp rebukes of comic relief ambulance driver Tom Dugan, calling him "Useless" or "You with the face," or my favorite, "would you do me a favor? Go down to the morgue, tell 'em I said you're ready." At another point, Dugan wants to announce his theory to the detective, who says "not while I'm conscious!" An intimate moment between Bruce Cabot and adorable Helen Mack ends with her backing away from a passionate kiss with the memorable line, "is there a doctor in the house?" One thoroughly enjoyable whodunit not weighed down by its comedy, briskly paced at a fast moving 58 minutes. Appearing uncredited are Holmes Herbert as the hospital administrator, Byron Foulger as the coroner, and John Harmon as Pete, the fingerprint man. The next Crime Club would be the last, "The Witness Vanishes."

In the middle of an eye-surgery operation in a large hospital, the lights in the operating room go out and the chief surgeon is murdered. It is the job of Police-Detective Spencer to figure out who in the room had something to gain from his death - he's aided by Bruce Cabot's doctor and Helen Mack's nurse.

The mystery of the white room is a fun whodunnit set in a hospital where there's patients, drama, affairs and murder - love mysteries set in one location, and here you get the usual false trails and red herrings - and of course, there's some humorous moments, with such lines like, "would you do me a favour? Go down to the morgue, tell 'em I said you're ready." The detective says this to an orderly who is trying to play detective. Most funny lines come from the detective. Needless to say, as in most mysteries of this kind, he doesn't solve the mystery- Bruce Cabot does, with the help of a patient who is given the cornea of a guy who saw the murderer! Yes, it's an absurd idea, but designed to reveal the murderer. Very sci-fi here.

This is an entertaining murder mystery from Universal Studios "Crime Club" series of the late 1930's.Basted on Dr James G Edwards mystery novel "Murder in the Surgery", it was the eighth of the Crime Club films. Rugged Bruce Cabot and pretty Helen Mack are appealing leads in a cast the includes old vets Frank Reicher and Addison Richards. Thomas E Jackson as the Detective Sargent investigator played police detectives so often in movies that he had his own personal badge.Joan Woodbury was a familiar on screen face at the time and the rest of the cast knew their way around a B film.Tom Dugan and Mabel Todd provide the obligatory if not irritating comedy relief. Director Otis Garrett worked as a film editor for Universal, the Crime Club movies were about the only films he directed. He died in 1941 at the age of 35.

Mystery of the White Room was probably the best of the Crime Club pictures. They were made to be at the bottom half of a Universal double feature. Oddly enough this movie was included in the original Shock Theater package the Universal Studios offered television stations across the country in 1957. It was marketed as a horror film rather than a mystery. Certainly not brilliant film making but an enjoyable way to pass an hour.

I've seen hundreds of old mysteries, and most turn out to be silly detective yarns where you know who the killer is from the start. This is a well-written exception where the clues gradually lead to the revelation of the killer at the end. Any of a variety of characters in a hospital could be the killer. The script balances suspense, drama, and humor to lead through some interesting plot twists to the inevitable conclusion. This film was a Crime Club selection. Bruce Cabot is probably best known as Driscoll in King Kong. Coincidentally Frank Reicher had a role in that too.

The film is of interest to me only because of Helen Mack. Otherwise, I would have never purchased the film. This film has a lot of interesting elements to make it a good mystery. However, someone really botched the story. There are lots of gaps in the logic that make the viewer totally confused. You can hardly wait to the end just to find out how they will tie up all the loose ends. They don't succeed very well. The characters are very good, but end up lacking some depth and connection with one another. The venue for the murders is a hospital, but the problem is you never see any patients. One key aspect of the story is about a patient who has to have a corneal implant. He has the implant done and the next day he can see. This was done to accomodate the outcome of the story, which takes place in a span of two days or so. This is so absurd that even an uneducated viewer would know that this is not possible.

As mentioned earlier, this could have been a good film, but the story just leaves good actors to struggle with poor material to work with. Watch the film if you are into nostalgia, but don't watch it for a good mystery.