The Crime Doctor's Warning

Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

William Castle steps in to direct this fifth film in Columbia's mystery series. This time out the Crime Doctor (Warner Baxter) is investigating a painter who suffers from blackouts, which leads to his models turning up dead. Castle brings quite a lot of energy to this film but it's not enough for me to call this a good movie. This entry is pretty much on par with the rest of the series in that it's decent time killers but the stories just aren't strong enough or interesting enough to make them work all the way around. Baxter is good once again but the supporting cast doesn't leave him too much to work with. Castle makes for some interesting scenes where the suspected killer is under hypnosis but that's about it.

The Crime Doctor films are always interesting and intriguing, and he comes very close to the Sherlock Holmes standard. This is about an art riddle, art models are being murdered one after another, and a poor young artist suffering from moments of amnesia is worried about the possibility of he being the subconscious murderer. It's not as simple as that, which Doctor Ordway soon finds out. His murder intrigues usually start with a loose thread, which compels him to pull it in, which usually leads him into an inextricable mess of mysteries. It's the same thing here. It is impossible to guess at the clue of the mystery, while you are left like Doctor Ordway hanging entangled in a nest of loose threads, until a jolly Scotsman brings him to a proper lead. Like the other Crime Doctor films, the cinematography and the music add to the atmosphere, keeping you agog until the final strike. This crime mystery would be especially interesting to artists, there are some splendid eccentric artists on parade here, and the intrigue is well sustained until the last minute.

Hardly likely to rank with an Agatha Christie type of mystery, these are fast paced, entertaining little items from Columbia starring WARNER BAXTER as the crime doctor/sleuth. He's always faced with a bunch of red herrings and a crime that baffles the police--as well as the viewer, at least until the last five minutes when everything is wrapped up with such rapidity that you barely have time to recover from trying to guess who done it.

And there are plenty of suspects in the murder of models (male and female) and an artist--but at the center of the story is a young man (COULTER IRWIN) who blacks out on a regular basis and seems to be framed for the murder of one of his models.

Supporting cast is dotted with well-known character actors from the '40s, including JOHN LITEL as a detective, ALMA KRUGER as Coulter's overbearing mother, JOHN ABBOTT as a shady sculptor, and MILES MANDER as an equally shady art dealer. There's also an outrageously hammy performance by EDUARDO CIANNELLI as a crazed artist who knows something about a painting beneath a painting.

The viewer is kept in the dark as to the identity of a man creeping about and committing the crimes until the last few minutes in time for the usual abrupt ending.

Summing up: Too many elements of the story are unbelievable, but it's still briskly produced and passes the time quickly.

A struggling artist seeks help from the Crime Doctor (Warner Baxter). He's been suffering from blackouts and short term memory loss. When two models (one of which is his fiancee) are murdered, he's an immediate suspect. The Doctor isn't so sure. There are others with motive, including the artist's overprotective mother and a very misogynistic male model.

An efficient and solid mystery that is suspenseful and absorbing from beginning to the end. Coulter Irwin as the suspect who suffers from blackouts is excellent as is Warner Baxter as the hero. There's a dreamy quality to this great entry, it's well-paced and has a good, though unusual finale.

This was another nice entry in the Crime Doctor film series and sharper and darker than those preceding, maybe partly thanks to Columbia b unit director William Castle who teetered on the edge of murky seediness throughout.

Engage your senses from the off: there's a puzzling opening with Dr. Ordway (Warner Baxter) and a police Inspector (John Litel) reviewing their case in the bedroom of a murdered woman who had been stabbed earlier in the day. The man suspected has "mental lapses" but Ordway doesn't believe he did it, meaning at this stage we haven't seen the crime or the victim and are rooting for the suspect we haven't seen yet either! Psychoanalysis is called for, along with the usual unhindered sleuthing from the good Doctor. There's a descent into the Bohemian world of artists, models and paintings - most regrettably of gorgeous young women instead of ugly old men, plenty of lovely creeping about in the dark usually with pointy shadowy hats on, and an outlandish plot – great stuff! Favourite bits: the meeting between Baxter and art dealer Miles Mander – the epitome of succinct and scholarly sinisterness; the busy traffic up on the roof at night and those fabulous apartment windows; the hurried snack Baxter and Litel have after the second murder – what was that all about?

Well worth while to a fan of the genre, the effort will probably be too much for non-fans. I was concentrating so hard I missed what the Warning of the title was (if there was one), but my own warning is if you watch it be careful not to blink near the end because they closed this one down fast.