The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

William Nigh

Writers:

Alex Gottlieb (story)
Clarence Upson Young (writer)

Release Date:

17 April 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

FOLLOW HIM -- at Risk of Insanity! FIND HIM -- and You'll Never Return!

Plot:

After five men previously acquitted of various criminal charges are murdered by a mysterious avenger known as Dr...

Plot Keywords:

Murder

Cast

Patric Knowles	...	Private Detective Jerry Church
Lionel Atwill	...	Dr. Fish
Anne Gwynne	...	Kit Logan Church
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Dudley Crispin
Mona Barrie	...	Eileen Crispin
Shemp Howard	...	Det. Sgt. Sweeney
Paul Cavanagh	...	John Crispin
Edmund MacDonald	...	Det. Capt. Bill Hurd
Mantan Moreland	...	Horatio B.Fitz Washington
John Gallaudet	...	Ernie Paul
William Gould	...	Dist. Atty. Mason
Leyland Hodgson	...	Thomas, the butler

Also Known As:

Dr. Rx (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

66 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:15

Company:

Universal Pictures

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942) (#1.9)" (1979)

The Doctor Perscribes Death

A killer is going around murdering men who have eluded the clutches of the law thanks to the legal system, known only as Doctor Rx. The police ask private detective Jerry Church to help them, but he insists on returning to a legal practice in Boston. When DA Crispin asks for Church's help, he say he'll go watch the end of his latest case (involving gangster Tony Zarini) as a favor, but when Zarini mysteriously becomes Rx's 6th victim Church says he'll work on the case. This all changes when Church meets up with former flame, mystery writer Kit Logan, and after they marry Church now wants a peaceful life and decides to drop the case again, but after he is threatened by suspect Ernie Paul, he gets even worse treatment from Dr. Rx himself who plans to transplant Church's brain into the head of a gorilla. Is there no stopping this fiend? The film doesn't exactly stay in one genre with mystery, crime, comedy (thanks to Mantan Moreland & Shemp Howard), and romance, but you can't say the film isn't fun. After the midway mark of the film, it seems to get more interesting and curious to know what's going on here and when Dr. Rx actually appears, boy the film jumps up in fun. The cast is full of the usual Universal stock company of actors and they play their roles to the best they can. Fun film all together, Rating, 7.