The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945)

Director:

George Sherman

Writers:

Max Marcin (radio series characters)
Eric Taylor (story)

Release Date:

27 February 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

Dr. Ordway looks into death of man whose first 2 wives were murdered. |

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Murder

Cast

Warner Baxter	...	Dr. Robert Ordway
Hillary Brooke	...	Kathleen Carson
Jerome Cowan	...	Jeffers 'Jeff' Jerome
Mark Roberts	...	Bob Rencoret (as Robert Scott)
Lloyd Corrigan	...	John Massey
Emory Parnell	...	Police Captain Birch
Stephen Crane	...	Gordon Carson
Charles Arnt	...	Butler
Anthony Caruso	...	Miguel Bragga
Lupita Tovar	...	Dolores Bragga

Also Known As:

The Doctor's Courage (UK)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Larry Darmour Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the nightclub performance, Miguel's location on the stage before and after the momentary blinding light that hides the secret of Dolores' reappearance changes greatly, revealing that the real secret is that the flash hides an edit between two separate shots.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Just Before Dawn (1946)

Bizarre story with Warner Baxter again as the crime doctor/sleuth...

This one is not only baffling, it's weird.

It starts off with a good hook for drawing the viewer into the story--but then veers off in so many different directions that the plot is soon downright bizarre. The opening has HILLARY BROOKE urging Dr. Ordway (WARNER BAXTER) to attend a dinner at her home so that he can have a good look at her husband (STEPHEN CRANE), a man whose previous wives have died mysteriously and whom she suspects might be insane.

When Crane is murdered that evening, behind doors in a locked room, Dr. Ordway must solve the case. LLOYD CORRIGAN is on hand as a bumbling carpenter friend but the plot revolves around Spanish dancers (ANTHONY CARUSO and LUPITA TOVAR), suspected of being vampires because no one has ever seen them in daylight.

A series of baffling twists and turns shed little light on whatever the outcome of the case will be--and the explanations that come forth during the film's last five minutes are less than satisfying, nor are they the least bit credible.

It's a murky yarn that starts out acceptably in typical mystery fashion, but soon gets bogged down in a far-fetched story that deals with vampirism, a jealous suitor, trick effects to make a dancer disappear, and a rather abrupt ending with virtually no character development to prepare the viewer for the final explanation.

Summing up: Interesting, but a bizarre mixture of mystery elements.