The Man Called Back (1932) User Reviews

A Decent Little Pre-Code

[boblipton · 5/10 · 15 May 2019]

Conrad Nagel is a doctor drinking off his disgrace in the South Seas. He is summoned to tend to Doris Kenyon's broken leg. The sight of her recalls his dignity to him and when she leaves, he proceeds to repair himself. One day, he is called to John Halliday's yacht to deal with its owner's appendicitis. Halliday decides to take him back to England and set him up in practice again. When Halliday brings Nagel to his home, he introduces the doctor to his wife: Doris Kenyon.

It's tightly plotted, which is a good thing, although the coincidences in the set-up and as the plot unwinds are a little too efficient. Conrad gives one of his bland, capable performances. Miss Kenyon is good, Halliday is very good as the nasty rich man, and there are some other good performances, like Reginald Owen as a society doctor and Alan Mowbray as a prosecuting attorney. It's not an unappreciated masterpiece of he Pre-Code era, but it is a good time-waster, with a nice mystery to cap it off -- which I figured out as soon as it was raised.

Tiffany's, the rhinestone of B movie studios.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 26 August 2016]

Purely adequate melodrama, this is another tale of a lost soul who makes it back to life with the help of a beautiful woman. Conrad Nagel is a doctor, humiliated from scandal in London, with a ruined career through drink, and now stuck on a dreary island in the south seas where his drunken past is about to come to an end. Through the grace of an unhappy beauty (Doris Kenyon), he turns his life around, taking a job as doctor to her vindictive older husband (Alan Finehart) who verbally abuses her while flaunting his affairs. After vowing to ruin his wife and Nagel, Finehart is found dead by poisoning, and the obvious suspicions soon follow.

This is typical early talkie melodrama, inadequate technically yet fascinating because of the way it is presented. Such familiar A character players as Reginald Owen and Alan Mowbray add a touch of class to this story which creaks along like an abandoned ship and gets rather tedious at times. The performances are melodramatic but never too over the top, with Dinehart memorably cruel. Yet, it's a fun story, and even if you know that you've seen this plot over and over again, there's a fascinating element in how it all falls together.

An unexpected little masterpiece!

[JohnHowardReid · 9/10 · 4 October 2013]

32 movies were copyrighted by World Wide Pictures, Inc., between 1929 and 1933 (when World Wide presumably went out of business thanks to the stock market crash). This one, a Quadruple Film presented by Tiffany Productions is undoubtedly the best. For a starter, it features a very able cast led by Conrad Nagel. Normally a somewhat stiff performer, Nagel is surprisingly fluid here, managing the transition from drunk beach bum to Harley Street professional with remarkable dexterity. John Halliday is also most effective as the vengeful millionaire who loves to run people's lives. But then Halliday is almost always a screen presence to reckon with. Gordon St. Claire, however, is probably his best role ever, as it gives him a chance to be both charming and vindictive as well as charismatic. As usual, the beautiful Doris Kenyon (as Halliday's victim) is thoroughly convincing. And it's a double pleasure to see Alan Mowbray and Reginald Owen in important roles. But, in addition to its great acting and its compelling screenplay, The Man Called Back is very stylishly and inventively directed by Robert Florey, who manages the plot's various mood transitions with astonishing skill. Florey also collaborated with Robert Presnell on the screenplay (although Presnell alone is credited on the movie's copyright entry). Henry Sharp's consistently moody photography also deserves high commendation. Available on an excellent Alpha DVD.