The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

John Wexley (screen play) and
John Huston (screen play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

30 July 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

. . . a thunderbolt of thrills and intrigue

Plot:

Black comedy about a brilliant Park Avenue doctor who becomes a criminal in order to do research into the criminal mind.

Plot Keywords:

Criminal | Criminal Mind | Robbery | Park Avenue | Sociopath

Cast

Edward G. Robinson	...	Dr. Clitterhouse
Claire Trevor	...	Jo Keller
Humphrey Bogart	...	'Rocks' Valentine
Allen Jenkins	...	Okay
Donald Crisp	...	Inspector Lane
Gale Page	...	Nurse Randolph
Henry O'Neill	...	Judge
John Litel	...	Prosecuting Attorney
Thurston Hall	...	Grant
Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom	...	Butch (as Maxie Rosenbloom)
Bert Hanlon	...	Pat
Curt Bois	...	Rabbit
Ward Bond	...	Tug
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Popus
Billy Wayne	...	Candy
Robert Homans	...	Lt. Johnson
Irving Bacon	...	Foreman of Jury
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edgar Dearing	...	Patrolman (scenes deleted)
Susan Hayward	...	Patient (scenes deleted)
Frank Anthony	...	Gambler in Room 920 (uncredited)
Wade Boteler	...	Captain MacLevy (uncredited)
Sidney Bracey	...	Police Chemist (uncredited)
Georgia Caine	...	Mrs. Frederick R. Updyke (uncredited)
Romaine Callender	...	Roberts - Updyke's Butler (uncredited)
Glen Cavender	...	Alarm Company Clerk (uncredited)
Loia Cheaney	...	Nurse Conner (uncredited)
Hal Craig	...	Detective Getting Rocks' Fingerprints (uncredited)
Ray Dawe	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Hal K. Dawson	...	Pedestrian at Burglary Site (uncredited)
Earl Dwire	...	Surgeon (uncredited)
Frank Fanning	...	Fingerprint Expert (uncredited)
Mary Field	...	Millie - Mrs. Updyke's Maid (uncredited)
Edward Gargan	...	Police Sergeant (uncredited)
William Haade	...	Mrs. Updyke's Watchman (uncredited)
Winifred Harris	...	Mrs. Ganswoort - Patient (uncredited)
John Harron	...	Alarm Company Operator (uncredited)
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Inspector Connors (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Gambler in Room 920 (uncredited)
Vera Lewis	...	Juror (uncredited)
Al Lloyd	...	Sequin Hotel Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Bruce Mitchell	...	Bailiff (uncredited)
Edmund Mortimer	...	Updyke's Guest (uncredited)
Jack Mower	...	Second Detective (uncredited)
Ronald Reagan	...	Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Bob Reeves	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Frank Reicher	...	Professor O.J. Ludwig (uncredited)
Ky Robinson	...	Third Detective (uncredited)
Ruth Robinson	...	Updyke's Guest (uncredited)
Eric Stanley	...	Dr. Ames (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Updyke's Guest (uncredited)
Libby Taylor	...	Mrs. Jefferson - Jo's Maid (uncredited)
Arthur Thalasso	...	Forensic (uncredited)
Monte Vandergrift	...	First Detective - with Earphones (uncredited)
Joyce Williams	...	Patricia (uncredited)
William Worthington	...	Updyke's Guest (uncredited)

Directed by
Anatole Litvak

Writing credits
John Wexley		(screen play) and
John Huston		(screen play)
Barré Lyndon		(from the play by) (as Barre Lyndon)

Produced by
Anatole Litvak	....	producer
Robert Lord	....	associate producer (uncredited)
Gilbert Miller	....	producer (uncredited)
Hal B. Wallis	....	executive producer (uncredited)
Jack L. Warner	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Max Steiner		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Tony Gaudio		(photography)

Film Editing by
Warren Low		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Carl Jules Weyl

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Sullivan	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
C.A. Riggs	....	sound

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Milo Anderson	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
George Alexander Osborne	....	composer: "The Last Rose of Summer"
George Parrish	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Jo Graham	....	dialogue director
Leo Morton Schulman	....	technical advisor (as Dr. Leo Shulman)
Robert Lord	....	supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. (presents) (A First National Picture) (An Anatole Litvak Production)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. (1938) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Included in "Warner Bros. Gangster Collection Set 4")

Also Known As:

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1938) | USA:Approved (PCA #4154) | Australia:PG | Norway:16 | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros.

Trivia:

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on June 5, 1944 with Edward G. Robinson and Claire Trevor reprising their film roles.

Goofs:

Continuity: At about 80 minutes into the film, the prosecutor cross examines the incomprehensible expert witness. In the first shot, the prosecutor unbuttons his jacket. In the next shot, he unbuttons it again.

Quotes:

Dr. T.S. Clitterhouse:Now, just relax, counselor. Nothing to be jittery about.
Grant:My dear boy, I've had over a hundred clients face the electric chair. I've never been jittery.
Dr. T.S. Clitterhouse:But your clients were.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bullets Over Hollywood (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Last Rose of Summer

Two Doctors

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.