Ever-delightful Lionel Atwill plays another of his crazed scientist roles in this minor but amusing Universal genre picture of the period. It marked his last starring role in a motion picture after the scandal that would derail his career and ruin his health. Here, he plays Dr. Ralph Benson, a nutcase working to perfect suspended animation: killing subjects and bringing them back to life. When his first human victim goes missing, authorities are quick to respond, and he must take it on the lam. He arrives on a tropical island, where his medical abilities endear him to the natives - but his fellow shipwreck survivors want to get away A.S.A.P. Knowing that they'll report him the first chance they get, he refuses to let them leave, while enjoying his new role of "God" on this exotic locale.
Overall, "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" is nothing special, but it IS B-level horror designed to be over and done with quickly, and it entertains quite adequately for a fairly painless 61 minute run time. The supporting cast - top-billed Una Merkel as annoying airhead Aunt Margaret, Nat Pendleton as dumb boxer Red Hogan, Claire Dodd as the lovely Patricia, the briefly seen Hardie Albright and Anne Nagel as hard-luck Saunders and his despairing wife, Richard Davies as likeable deck hand Jim, John Eldredge as the cowardly Dwight, and Noble Johnson as the native chief Elan - are all fine. But Atwill, as was so often the case, is the main reason to watch. He clearly did enjoy playing characters like the evil Benson. He also does well at selling a sense of panic towards the finish as he is given a time limit to prove just how good he is at restoring life.
Low-budget filmmaker Joseph H. Lewis, renowned for some of his later works (especially the noir classic "Gun Crazy"), does a perfectly acceptable job at directing this routine, amusing little programmer. The setting for the tale - including the doomed cruise ship and the island - helps to give it a breath of fresh air. Benson spends barely any time at his lab of horrors on Market Street before the story kicks into gear and he must head for the hills.
A must for Atwill fans and Universal sci-fi / horror completists, if no-one else.
Six out of 10.
Overall, "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" is nothing special, but it IS B-level horror designed to be over and done with quickly, and it entertains quite adequately for a fairly painless 61 minute run time. The supporting cast - top-billed Una Merkel as annoying airhead Aunt Margaret, Nat Pendleton as dumb boxer Red Hogan, Claire Dodd as the lovely Patricia, the briefly seen Hardie Albright and Anne Nagel as hard-luck Saunders and his despairing wife, Richard Davies as likeable deck hand Jim, John Eldredge as the cowardly Dwight, and Noble Johnson as the native chief Elan - are all fine. But Atwill, as was so often the case, is the main reason to watch. He clearly did enjoy playing characters like the evil Benson. He also does well at selling a sense of panic towards the finish as he is given a time limit to prove just how good he is at restoring life.
Low-budget filmmaker Joseph H. Lewis, renowned for some of his later works (especially the noir classic "Gun Crazy"), does a perfectly acceptable job at directing this routine, amusing little programmer. The setting for the tale - including the doomed cruise ship and the island - helps to give it a breath of fresh air. Benson spends barely any time at his lab of horrors on Market Street before the story kicks into gear and he must head for the hills.
A must for Atwill fans and Universal sci-fi / horror completists, if no-one else.
Six out of 10.