The Crime Doctor's Courage

Another nice entry in the Crime Doctor series [#4/10], with atmospheric almost noirish black and white photography and some splendid Spanish American backdrops and sets. And a more off-the-wall storyline too!

A man who looks like the insane murderer of his first two wives is found dead in a locked room after a dramatic dinner party. The Crime Doctor is on the scene (ostensibly as a guest) to immediately and resignedly proclaim it murder, and so we are presented with a quite weird set of people to mull over, for one of them did the deed. Was it the frothing brother of the dead 1st wife, the 3rd wife and rich widow Hilary Brooke, the dancing brother and sister vampires, the intense young man, the eccentric cabinet maker Lloyd Corrigan on loan from Boston Blackie, the irreplaceable butler, or odds-on Jerome Cowan? Police Inspector Emory Parnell had his work cut out, but Warner Baxter as Ordway was as unflappable as ever in working it all out. One of the goofs listed on the IMDb is wrong: On breaking into the murder room Ordway says "Right through the centre of the forehead" and Cowan replies "He didn't miss this time". Favorite bits: Baxter and Cowan travelling through club sandwiches and beer at the nightclub to make amends for their interrupted dinner party; The scene where the Braga's place of repose is seemingly rumbled. The plot does seem to meander a bit at times and the way it was all explained off was perhaps more worthy of Monogram, but leaving it in the air as supernatural wouldn't do either!

Well worth a watch if you already like the genre, you won't be disappointed unless you really don't like the genre.

Crime Doctor's Courage, The (1945)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Strange fourth entry into Columbia's series is your typical detective film until half way through when it turns into a horror film. The Crime Doctor (Warner Baxter) is asked to check out a husband who is on his third wife. The guy's previous two wives all suffered accidental deaths days after the wedding but there's a subplot with vampires thrown in. This is the third in the series that I've seen and it works the best because of how strange it actually is. I'm really not sure what made the writer turn to vampires but it makes for some interesting plot twists, although none of them really add up in the end. Baxter also seemed to do his best work here and the supporting cast is interesting if not totally successful.

I saw this on TCM recently and, through the IMDb I found that there were seven "Crime Doctor" movies with Warner Baxter as the psychiatrist-detective. Baxter is a bit long in the tooth compared to his stolid performance in 42nd Street a decade earlier. Not noir, and a bit campy today, the movie also has a touch of the possible supernatural. The plot, black and white cinematography and characters are far more complex than those of the Mr. Moto and Charlie Chan series. There are subplots, unexpected twists and appearances by a number of B movie stalwartly we all should recognize immediately (none ever made it to the A status). It is a wonderfully unpredictable 70 minutes.

I would love to see a boxed DVD series of these films.

This Crime Doctor film starring Warner Baxter, (Dr. Robert Ordway) causes the doctor to investigate a murder of a man who lost his both wives on their honeymoon. The doctor is approached by Hillary Brooke,(Kathleen Carson) while the doctor was on vacation and there becomes evidence that there is vampires operating in an old house who are dancers and can only be seen at night time. Their act consists of a mysterious dance created in bright lights and then the female dancer disappears into thin air. This film has many twists and turns and you will have no idea just who the killer is or just what direction this film will take you and why all these murders. This is a rather hopeless film.

The Crime Doctor (Warner Baxter) has his vacation interrupted by Hillary Brooke (Lorelei from the "Big Town" series). She's just married a wealthy man, only to find out his first two wives died mysteriously on their honeymoons. At a party, her husband his confronted by his former brother-in-law. He dies in a locked room of an apparent suicide. The Doctor isn't so sure. He enlists the help of a fellow party guest, mystery novelist Jerome Cowan. Lupita Tovar (from the excellent Spanish language version of DRACULA) and Anthony Caruso are a brother and sister dance team who just might be vampires.

There's some outlandish ideas, a foray into the supernatural, however the plot is all over the place, and it loses some steam after a good 30 minute start which grabs you. The denouement is weakly explained. But the vampire angle, some action and Warner Baxter performance keeps things watchable.