The Murder of Dr. Harrigan

Hospital administrator Robert Strange, who is claiming all the credit for a new anesthesia developed by several doctors, has an operation performed by John Eldredge. Strange disappears and Eldredge is murdered. Police detective Joseph Crehan shows up to solve the mystery, but it's Doctor Ricardo Cortez and nurse Kay Linaker who do the work.

It's one of a dozen 'Clue Club' mysteries from Warner Brothers in the mid-1930s, and given it's from a novel by Mignon Eberhart, it's a decent enough mystery, if a trifle rushed at 67 minutes. The cast includes Mary Astor -- supposedly she turned down Miss Linaker's role and was made to play a lesser one as punishment, which makes no sense to me -- Mary Treen, Bill Elliott, and Don Barclay and Johnny Arthur as comic-relief patients. It's a trifle generic, but good.

The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936)

** (out of 4)

Fast paced Warner mystery has Dr. Harrigan being murdered in a hospital right before he's about to do surgery on a man who has also disappeared. Dr. Lambert (Ricardo Cortez) and Nurse Keating (Kay Linaker) decide to do some investigating on their own and realize that just about everyone in the hospital is a suspect and that Harrigan was working on a new form of anesthetic. THE MURDER OF DR. HARRIGAN isn't the best murder-mystery out there from Warner but even with all its flaws it's still worth watching thanks in large part to the nice cast of characters. Cortez is always hit and miss among film buffs but I thought he was rather charming here. The actor certainly didn't have to over extend himself but he did enough to at least keep you entertained in his character. Linaker, just signed off of Broadway, is actually very good in her part but sadly the screenplay gives her very little to work with. Character actor Joseph Crehan does a fine job at the main detective investigating the case and we also get fine support from Robert Strange, Phillip Reed and Anita Kerry. Then there's Mary Astor who according to the trivia section of IMDb turned down the lead part and to punish her the studio gave her a supporting bit. The role is certainly below her talents but she's good in the part and certainly helps make the film better. With that said, the plot here just isn't interesting enough to really pull you in and I'd argue that the direction isn't up to par either. Still, fans of the cast members will still want to check it out.

This picture was on TCM the other morning and the best that can be said is that it is over quickly. That, and the fact that if you are a 'movie sleuth' you have to figure out who the murderer is. But you can do that about halfway through the picture.

Two things strike you while watching this potboiler; first, the script is loaded with dialogue that is clichéd, trite and hackneyed - a great many lines that are cornball or just plain lame, no matter the time period. Second, the number of hospital practices that wouldn't pass muster today, for instance, a doctor wheeling his patient alone to the OR late at night for an operation he rescheduled, while wearing a suit and tie. Or people smoking all over the hospital, mostly in patients rooms.

The plot itself isn't too bad but the picture has a lot of nondescript, unattractive actors, the exception being the chipper, good-natured presence of Ricardo Cortez. But he, like everybody else, seems unaffected and unfazed by the murders occurring throughout the hospital. Check out the stiff and go about your business, nothing to see here.

But after all, it is a B picture. Maybe I was expecting too much but I can't get excited about this one. I would recommend it only to hardcore mystery fans who aren't too particular.

When a hospital administrator who has taken the credit for inventing a new miracle anesthetic goes missing while awaiting surgery, it starts a manhunt throughout the facility, one which uncovers the corpse of the doctor who was slated to perform the operation. The police are called in, and the mystery deepens as the number of suspects grow.

This minor mystery was based on the stories of Mignon G. Eberhart, who wrote a series of tales with Nurse Sarah Keate as the protagonist. However, besides changing the character name to Keating (played by Kay Linaker), she's also made secondary to love interest Ricardo Cortez as Dr. Lambert, who does all of the case solving. Interestingly, the Nurse Keating role was originally assigned to Mary Astor, who refused it. To punish her, the studio forced Mary to take a lesser supporting role as another nurse. This was one of a dozen or so mysteries released by Warner Brothers in the 30's that were stamped with the "Clue Club" banner.

A Warner's "Clue Club" presentation, this short (just over one hour) murder mystery will satisfy the hidden sleuths in the audience. As with so many murder thrillers then and now, "The Murder of Dr. Harrigan" is set in a hospital where nurses compete for recognition, advancement, and romance with the handsome physicians, especially Dr. Harrigan (John Eldredge) and Dr. Lambert (Ricardo Cortez, being groomed by the studio as a Latin lover). The popularity of this type film led to the highly successful Dr. Kildare series later in the decade and much later to TV's popular "Marcus Welby, M.D." Countless other imitations have appeared and are still popping up from time to time.

The mystery is extremely complex for its day and time. Suffice it to say that a medicinal sleeping formula is being touted by several members of the hospital staff including the administrator, Peter Melady. That he has the completed formula works to his disadvantage since his rivals are determined to claim it for their own. Melady is preparing himself for an operation while his wife, Agnes (Anita Kerry), is in the same hospital with a broken arm. She is surreptitiously being entertained by her paramour, Kenneth Martin (Gordon "William" Elliott--maybe this is how he got his epithet "Wild Bill"). Peter Melady asks his arch rival, Dr. Harrigan, to perform the operation. This is like asking Jack the Ripper to perform an appendectomy on a lady of the evening. To make a long synopsis short, Dr. Harrigan ends up stabbed to death, Dr. Melady ends up missing in action, and an African-American winds up being taken to the morgue, leaving a covey of suspects lurking in the corridors.

The romantic angle is almost as confusing. Dr. Lambert is lusting after vivacious nurse, Sally Keating (Kay Linaker), who in turn is lusting after him. Nurse Lillian Cooper (Mary Astor) is lusting after one of the suspects in the case, plus is burdened with a secret revealed at the end of the flick. Nurse Brody (Mary Treen) lusts after a funny line. And Agnes Melady, needless to say, is still lusting after Wild Bill.

Besides Nurse Brody, humor is provided by the patients, particularly Wentworth (Johnny Arthur) as a whiner with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who is staying in the hospital for a much-needed rest but keeps being bothered by nurses, doctors, plumbers, the police, and other patients; and by Jackson (Don Barclay), a harmless dipsomaniac who drinks rubbing alcohol and runs amok.

"The Murder of Dr. Harrigan" is worthwhile for those of us who love a good mystery. This is a short entertaining programmer in the Warner's "Clue Club" series, which included the popular "While the Patient Slept."