The Murder of Dr. Harrigan

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.

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" is a glorious example of the sort of low-cost quickies Hollywood churned out in the 30s to satisfy the double feature pipeline. It is almost entirely set in what has to be the sloppiest hospital in America. Here, a doctor reschedules an operation for midnight without bothering to assemble a surgical team. Nurses haphazardly wander in and out of patients' rooms. And when the only elevator in the place stops running, nobody's much concerned until it starts up again -- and a dead body turns up inside. For comedy relief, the orderlies stomach pump the wrong patient. Oh, those wacky hospital staffers! The plot centers on an eccentric millionaire who arranges for a doctor who hates his guts to perform a delicate operation on him, using a new anesthetic that's better than ether; it puts patients out for three days so they can heal painlessly. Somewhere in this melange of mayhem and malpractice, there's Ricardo Cortez trying to save the nurse he loves from being charged with murder by the usual myopic cop. But the mystery zips along and as a throwback to a bygone era, it's at least entertaining. And for trivia buffs, there's Mary Astor in a relatively small, thankless role, purportedly her punishment for bucking the studio system.

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.

A leading hospital surgeon and his prominent patient are discovered dead, leading to a police investigation involving suspicious hospital personnel and a formula for a revolutionary anesthetic.

Okay whodunit, without being anything special. Sleuthing programmers were popular in the 30's, probably because they were cheaper to produce. Warner's mounted this entry, and note the competency of studio craftsmanship, especially with acting and pacing. The 67-minutes is filmed in straightforward fashion that could have used more suspenseful atmosphere, but I guess that had to await the 40's. The mystery part is pretty complex so guessing the murderer is like a shot in the dark. Fortunately, the murders are reconstructed in detail at the end, tying together the many loose ends. Comedy relief comes mainly from a patient who drinks his rubbing alcohol rather than applying it, while Mary Treen makes an amusing nurse. There's not much action, mostly talk. At the same time, events remain limited to hospital rooms and elevator. Nonetheless, the characters are interesting enough to maintain involvement, much like TV's popular Perry Mason.