Doctor X (1932)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Howard W. Comstock (play) &
Allen C. Miller (play) ...
(more)

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Selmer Jackson	...	Willard Keefe, Daily World Night Editor (uncredited)
Charles McMurphy	...	Detective At Headquarters (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Curtiz

Writing credits
Howard W. Comstock		(play) &
Allen C. Miller		(play)
Robert Tasker		(screenplay) &
Earl Baldwin		(screenplay)
George Rosener		(contributor to screenplay construction) uncredited

Produced by
Hal B. Wallis	....	executive producer (uncredited)
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Bernhard Kaun		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Ray Rennahan
Richard Towers		(black and white version) (uncredited)

Film Editing by
George Amy

Art Direction by
Anton Grot

Makeup Department
Ruth Pursley	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Ray Romero	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Alleborn	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Marshall Hageman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Herbert Plews	....	props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Robert B. Lee	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Fred Jackman Jr.	....	special photographic effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Thad Brooks Jr.	....	assistant camera: Technicolor (uncredited)
Owen Crompton	....	grip (uncredited)
Ellsworth Fredericks	....	camera operator (uncredited)
W. Howard Greene	....	second camera operator: Technicolor (uncredited)
Carl E. Guthrie	....	second camera operator: black and white unit (uncredited)
Ernest Haller	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Floyd Lee	....	assistant camera: Technicolor (uncredited)
Scotty Welbourne	....	still photographer (uncredited)
William Williams	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	conductor: Vitaphone Orchestra

Production Companies

• First National Pictures (controlled by Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.)

Distributors

• First National Pictures (1932) (USA) (theatrical)
• Vitaphone Corporation, The (USA)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD) (on "Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection")

Other Companies

• Max Factor Co.  mask effects
• UCLA Film and Television Archive  restoration (color version)

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:

This is the film for which Michael Curtiz is quoted as saying, "This will make your blood curl!"

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:

Lee Taylor, Daily World Reporter: Are you going swimming with me in the morning?
Joanne 'Joan' Xavier: No thanks. Good night.
Lee Taylor, Daily World Reporter: What will you do if I start to sink and yell for help?
Joanne 'Joan' Xavier: Throw you an anvil. Good night!

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

Beware The Full Moon & What It Brings!

A creepy laboratory where eccentric doctors engage in bizarre experiments. An intrepid reporter & a beautiful young woman involving themselves in terrible danger. And a fiendish strangler who only strikes during the full moon...

DOCTOR X does have an absurd plot, but it is undeniably entertaining to watch. Much of the credit for this must go to the look of the film. Art Director Anton Grot designed some very spooky interior sets. The Max Factor make-up is striking. And both elements are enhanced because this was one of the first movies to be shot in two-strip Technicolor.

Lee Tracy, one of the most enjoyable actors of the early 1930's, plays another in his long line of fast-talking wise-crackers - this time a newspaperman out to get a big story. Fay Wray is lovely as always & gets to use her famous scream (a year before KING KONG). Lionel Atwill hams it up a bit as the instigator of many of the more unusual elements in the plot.