Shadows in the Night

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!

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.

Of the ten Crime Doctor films starring Warner Baxter released by Columbia from 1943 through 1949, this is the only one that Turner Classic Movies has never aired. This third entry is one of the earliest screen roles for the young Nina Foch (pronounced Fosh), who plays a neurotic young woman having strange nightmares and calls upon Dr. Ordway to pay a house call at her seaside estate. There is no shortage of suspicious characters not the least of which is Nina's chemist uncle Frank Swift, played by the always enjoyable George Zucco. Other familiar faces include Lester Matthews and Ben Welden. A screen heartthrob during the early talkie era whose health problems by this time included emphysema and arthritis, Warner Baxter was truly grateful for the steady employment of a 'B' movie series like this one. Columbia was one of the few Hollywood majors whose bread and butter came from series like the Crime Doctor, The Whistler, Boston Blackie, and the trio of "I Love a Mystery," all of which were based on popular radio shows of the day. Until their recent airings on TCM, these films had not been widely seen so 'B' movie buffs like myself have been rejoicing ever since. The Crime Doctor series differs from the others in that (with the exception of the initial entry) the title character was never saddled with a love interest and always dedicated to the psychological aspects of the cases (shades of Philo Vance!). Warner Baxter was a native of Columbus Ohio who died in 1951 at the age of 62, much beloved at the time but quietly forgotten today, although his early talkies include appearances opposite Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. While none of Dr. Robert Ordway's adventures were truly outstanding, the only one I could not recommend remains the one set in Paris (the ninth, "The Crime Doctor's Gamble," director William Castle's 4th and last entry). Perhaps the most intriguing entry would be the last, "The Crime Doctor's Diary" (1949) which featured an early Hollywood appearance by future Moneypenny Lois Maxwell.

Former criminal Dr. Robert Ordway is now a criminologist. Ordway is visited at three in the morning by the mysterious Lois Garland. Lois complains of nightmares, where the theme of suicide keeps recurring. Ordway then decides to stay in her haunted house, located on the Pacific Ocean. Lois receives several mysterious guests and one of them is murdered. Ordway decides to unmask the culprit using hypnosis and begins investigating the dark cellars beneath Lois's house.

A good entry of the crime Doctor series starring the charismatic Warner Baxter who gets involved in murder and strange apparitions. The ambience is certainly classic dark and brooding with lots of nooks and corners with the house overlooking the sea. Loved all the hidden stairways to the cave to the beach. The Gothic elements, headed by Zucco as a suavely sinister uncle and a ghostly apparition dripping wet from the sea, is well done.

"Shadows in the Night" is one of the weirdest of the Crime Doctor series of movies...probably the weirdest. The plot, though enjoyable, is just very strange and incredibly farfetched...but still watchable.

A woman comes to visit Dr. Ordway (Warner Baxter). She has been having weird dreams and has been having some suicidal thoughts. The doctor decides to drop by the lady's home for an extended visit..in order to investigate the strange happenings. Soon, the doc is having some strange visions himself. One involves finding a dead body. The body disappears and later is found dead in the surf nearby. Now this part makes zero sense....Dr. Ordway is the crime doctor and has a history of solving crimes. He quickly identifies the body in the surf as the one he saw in the house...yet everyone quickly dismisses him. Huh?? He is a trained psychiatrist and yet he's assumed to be delusional and the fact a body soon IS found means nothing! These sorts of logical errors and the actual cause of the sleepwalking and delusions is pretty silly....though the rest of the film is enjoyable and Baxter and the rest are good actors. Worth seeing for lovers of the series.