Doctor X (1932)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Howard Warren Comstock (play) &
Allen C. Miller (play) ...

Release Date:

27 August 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Out-Thrills Them All!

Plot:

A wisecracking New York reporter intrudes on a research scientist's quest to unmask The Moon Killer.

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Scientist | Reporter | Academy | Experiment

Cast

Lionel Atwill	...	Dr. Jerry Xavier
Fay Wray	...	Joanne 'Joan' Xavier
Lee Tracy	...	Lee Taylor, Daily World Reporter
Preston Foster	...	Dr. Wells (Academy of Surgical Research)
John Wray	...	Dr. Haines, Academy of Surgical Research
Harry Beresford	...	Dr. Duke, Academy of Surgical Research
Arthur Edmund Carewe	...	Dr. Rowitz, Academy of Surgical Research
Leila Bennett	...	Mamie, Xavier's Maid
Robert Warwick	...	Police Commissioner Stevens
George Rosener	...	Otto, Dr. X's Butler
Willard Robertson	...	Detective O'Halloran
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Daily World Editor (as Thomas Jackson)
Harry Holman	...	Mike, Waterfront Policeman
Mae Busch	...	Cathouse Madame
Tom Dugan	...	The Sheriff

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (2-strip Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (theatrical) | USA:Unrated (DVD)

Filming Locations:

Laguna Beach, California, USA

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

Warner Bros. paid $5,000 for the rights to the play.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As Dr. Xavier displays the wax figures of the murder victims, on the first figure, that of the "woman of the streets", the left hand can be seen trembling slightly.

Quotes:

Mamie, Xavier's Maid: Something tells me if I go in that room tonight, tomorrow I'll be... in my coffin!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Independent Lens: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (#8.22)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Prelude in C Sharp Minor, Op.3 No.2

"Synthetic" early horror film is fun despite a hokey plot...

When you think of it, everything about this film is strictly synthetic...the plot, the hokey comic relief, the occasional ham acting--but the atmosphere photographed in crisp looking two-strip Technicolor is fully charged and the taut direction of Michael Curtiz (long before he did another more polished noir called THE UNSUSPECTED), makes this a very watchable early horror film from Warner Bros.

The Anton Grot sets in early color will keep the viewer totally enhanced even when the plot holes become too obvious. The annoying comic relief supplied by Lee Tracy as a fast-talking newspaperman (was there any other kind?), is fortunately not much of a handicap when the cast includes an assortment of richly eccentric characters.

I have to confess I guessed who the murderer was from the start--but it didn't dampen my enjoyment of the melodramatic and very creepy events. The storyline concerns a killer known for striking when there's a full moon and Lionel Atwill is the doctor who thinks he can solve the crime by some scientific detective work of his own.

It's the sort of film that became a staple of the "old dark house" mysteries audiences loved in the '20s and '30s--and even into the '40s with films like THE CAT AND THE CANARY. None of it seems quite as compelling as some of the better known fright films (including MURDER IN THE WAX MUSEUM), but we do get a chance to hear some first rate screams from Fay Wray (who looks very attractive in close-ups even though the Max Factor make-up is a little too extreme), and the capable cast includes such sturdy performers as Lionel Atwill and Preston Foster.

Trivia note: The killer's synthetic flesh make-up is very effective when he's in full mode on the kill. Kudos to Michael Curtiz for a fun-filled fright film.