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Shadows in the Night

  • 1944
  • 1h 7m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
300
YOUR RATING
Nina Foch, Jeanne Bates, Warner Baxter, Edward Norris, Ben Welden, and George Zucco in Shadows in the Night (1944)
WhodunnitCrimeDramaMystery

A young woman wants The Crime Doctor to help her decipher her strange nightmares.A young woman wants The Crime Doctor to help her decipher her strange nightmares.A young woman wants The Crime Doctor to help her decipher her strange nightmares.

  • Director
    • Eugene Forde
  • Writers
    • Max Marcin
    • Eric Taylor
  • Stars
    • Warner Baxter
    • Nina Foch
    • George Zucco
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    300
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Eugene Forde
    • Writers
      • Max Marcin
      • Eric Taylor
    • Stars
      • Warner Baxter
      • Nina Foch
      • George Zucco
    • 12User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos2

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    Top cast11

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    Warner Baxter
    Warner Baxter
    • Dr. Robert Ordway
    Nina Foch
    Nina Foch
    • Lois Garland
    George Zucco
    George Zucco
    • Frank Swift
    Edward Norris
    Edward Norris
    • Jess Hilton
    Lester Matthews
    Lester Matthews
    • Stanley Carter
    Ben Welden
    Ben Welden
    • Nick Kallus
    Jeanne Bates
    Jeanne Bates
    • Adele Carter
    Charles Halton
    Charles Halton
    • Doc Stacey
    • (uncredited)
    Arthur Hohl
    Arthur Hohl
    • Riggs
    • (uncredited)
    Minor Watson
    Minor Watson
    • Frederick Gordon
    • (uncredited)
    Charles C. Wilson
    Charles C. Wilson
    • Sheriff
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Eugene Forde
    • Writers
      • Max Marcin
      • Eric Taylor
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews12

    6.3300
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    10

    Featured reviews

    7Spondonman

    Entertaining and engrossing

    Having seen most of the series over the decades there's a couple of Crime Doctor films I've still to see, this was one of them until last night. Was it worth it the wait? Like the previous commenter, as a fan of b movie detective films (especially from the Golden Age): Yes! This was no. 3 and Columbia were well into their stride by now – and with Boston Blackie, the Lone Wolf and the Whistler – churning out 10 films in 6 years until everyone ran out of steam in 1949.

    A mysterious woman visits Dr. Ordway (always played by the ever dependable Warner Baxter) at 3 am in the pouring rain for his psychiatric help because she doesn't know whether the bad dreams she's having tempting her to suicide are actually real. This leads him to stay at her spooky but extremely scenic house and grounds by the ocean containing a motley assemblage of strange guests and staff with secrets galore – when one of them gets murdered the game is afoot to unmask the culprit. The usual stuff in other words, but expertly handled with high production values and a nice brooding smoky atmosphere. George Zucco helps the film but hinders Ordway as a fairly mad scientist – a brilliant stroke to put him in! Distracted Nina Foch plays the woman apparently having nightmares; just about the only film you see her in over here nowadays is An American In Paris. Favourite bits: Ordway's sleepwalking adventure; searching the cellars and the dark underground journey. It's all reasonably cogent and it all fits neatly together by the end.

    A nice entry in the series, one I can recommend to fans of the genre as usual and encourage non-fans to save their time as usual.
    8the_mysteriousx

    Best of the Ordways

    This film is the tenth and last of the Crime Doctor films that I've tracked down. It's the hardest to see for reasons I don't know. The other films have screened on TCM over the past few years since TCM picked up the old Columbia catalog, but this one stubbornly refuses to show up.

    Well, I'm glad to say Dr. Ordway saved the best for last for me. The film's generic-sounding title is a little off-putting. It has plenty of shadows and in fact, even has a little bit of a horror film feel in a few moments. That's helped out by the presence of George Zucco, most welcome here as a mysterious chemist. Warner Baxter is terrific in his role as the Crime Doctor. I used to not like him so much based on some of his early films that I had seen, but he has totally won me over as Dr. Ordway. His extremely calm and unassuming manner is always relaxing to see and in this one (the third out of ten) he clearly has his character down and is able to get away with a few rather rude moments (such as throwing the chemical bottle at Zucco's feet) with barely a rise out of the other characters due to his otherwise professional demeanor.

    The plot is very exciting in this entry - a young woman comes to Ordway's home in the middle of a rain-stormy night to beg for his help with her sleepwalking nightmares. At her home, Ordway encounters a dead body after suffering a similar such sleepwalking nightmare. Yet, all of the characters, including the young woman (an excellent Nina Foch) think their friend died of natural causes. Ordway's persistence proves otherwise.

    As usual with classic Hollywood detective films there are always some plot holes, but this film easily overcomes them by succeeding with terrific atmosphere, steady pacing and by simply being a fun whodunit. Cheers to Dr. Ordway!
    2Dweezilaz

    Surprisingly Bad

    Flaccid. Incoherent. I don't know what movie other reviewers saw but this was truly a mess. Not enough of a motivator in the plot to generate all the mayhem and is never fully explained. Well it's explained and the explanation is absurd and unrealistic. You Tube has all the Crime Doctor movies available, which is where I found this one. I will watch another one as the cast was good in this particular offering. Very atmospheric. Looked like it had potential. What a dud. Many thanks to the other reviewers of this picture for the historical background on the series. Your synopses of the movie were far more interesting than the film itself. I found it trite, un-engaging and ridiculous. My opinion only. No one has to agree with me. I'll give the series another chance though.
    6bkoganbing

    One sinister group of guests

    One thing about Dr. Robert Ordway he keeps some strange office hours As in Shadows In The Night when Nina Foch comes to his home in the middle of the night and invites him to her place. Off he goes without any hesitation.

    Foch is a rich young woman who has a collection of permanent party guests, friends and relatives of a sinister nature. Right now Foch is just having sleepwalking problems, but soon murder among he guests happens.

    The solution is a scientific one and the murder for very understandable motives. With his knowledge of medicine and the mind Warner Baxter figures it out.

    The murderer was not who I expected so that is always a plus.
    7boblipton

    The Crime Doctor Goes Sleepwalking

    Nina Foch comes to see psychiatrist Warner Baxter. She''s been sleepwalking onto the beach from her house by the shore, and having threatening, incoherent dreams. Eventually, Baxter comes to visit her. Miss Foch's family is decayed gentry. Although she has the house, she earns a living as a textile designer. She also runs a perpetual house party for family and friends, including mildly nutty chemist George Zucco, her sister and brother-in-law, and so forth. To see if there is something about her bedroom, she sleeps in one of the guest rooms and has Baxter take hers for the night.... and he has threatening, incoherent dreams and goes sleepwalking onto the beach. Then Zucco turns up dead.....and everyone in the house seems intent on the inquest declaring it an accident.

    It's a pretty good mystery, although there's a fake-science edge to it, but the cast of capable performers do nicely with the material under high-speed director Eugene Forde. The result is an excellent B picture, one of the series that occupied Bater for most of the last decade of his life.

    More like this

    Crime Doctor's Man Hunt
    6.2
    Crime Doctor's Man Hunt
    The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case
    6.3
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    The Crime Doctor's Gamble
    5.8
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    6.1
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    The Crime Doctor's Courage
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    The Crime Doctor's Diary
    6.2
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    Crime Doctor
    6.3
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    Just Before Dawn
    6.3
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    The Millerson Case
    6.1
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    The Thirteenth Hour
    6.4
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    6.4
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    6.1
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    Related interests

    Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
    Whodunnit
    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
    Mystery

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The first of 10 films that Baxter's role as a doctor solves a crime.
    • Quotes

      Dr. Robert Ordway: Your friend paid me a visit. I found myself down on the beach.

      Lois Garland: Then it has got something to do with the room--I'm not going insane.

      Dr. Robert Ordway: Did I say you were?

      Lois Garland: You implied it. But I can't be insane! Unless...

    • Connections
      Edited into Who Dunit Theater: Shadows in the Night (2021)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 27, 1944 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Crime Doctor's Rendezvous
    • Production company
      • Larry Darmour Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 7m(67 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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