The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) 7.0
Black comedy about a brilliant Park Avenue doctor who becomes a criminal in order to do research into the criminal mind. Director:Anatole Litvak |
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The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) 7.0
Black comedy about a brilliant Park Avenue doctor who becomes a criminal in order to do research into the criminal mind. Director:Anatole Litvak |
|
| 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Edward G. Robinson | ... | ||
| Claire Trevor | ... |
Jo Keller
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| Humphrey Bogart | ... | ||
| Allen Jenkins | ... |
Okay
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| Donald Crisp | ... |
Inspector Lane
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Gale Page | ... |
Nurse Randolph
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Henry O'Neill | ... |
Judge
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| John Litel | ... |
Prosecuting Attorney
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Thurston Hall | ... |
Grant
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Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom | ... |
Butch
(as Maxie Rosenbloom)
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Bert Hanlon | ... |
Pat
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Curt Bois | ... |
Rabbit
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| Ward Bond | ... |
Tug
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Vladimir Sokoloff | ... |
Popus
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Billy Wayne | ... |
Candy
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Dr. Clitterhouse is fascinated with the working of the criminal mind. His interest is so deep that he finds the best way to observe criminals in action is to become one himself! Whilst robbing a safe at an exclusive party he stumbles across an organized gang trying to the same thing. He teams up with the gang to observe them in action but one of the members, Rocks Valentine would like nothing better than to see Clitterhouse out of the way. Written by Col Needham <col@imdb.com>
It's interesting to muse about the similarities and differences between "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" and Fritz Lang's "Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse". In both, medical doctors become underworld bosses, and both main characters are mentally unbalanced.
Although they are vastly different films -- "Mabuse" is dark, almost noirish, with a stylistic debt to German Expressionism, while "Clitterhouse" is more straightforward and less stylistically defined -- it's almost as if "Clitterhouse" was intended to be the lighter, comic, Americanized version of "Mabuse", which predated it by 5 years. At the very least, I wonder if "Mabuse" was the initial inspiration for writing "Clitterhouse."
I found "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" to be entertaining, if not among the best of the period's films.