The Strange Case of Doctor Rx

source: The Strange Case of Doctor Rx

Lesser Universal horror starring Patric Knowles as a detective out to solve a string of murders by the titular evil doctor. This is not a particularly memorable movie, even for a Universal horror fan like myself. It's one of the few that I've only seen a handful of times. Patric Knowles does ok but he's not really the quippy type this part calls for. Lloyd Nolan would've been great in the role. Lionel Atwill is always worth a look but here he has a very small part. Shemp Howard and Mantan Moreland provide comic relief. I'll let you guess which one is more likely to generate discussion today. Anne Gwynne is the frustrated love interest. A few more recognizable character actors round out the cast. Oh and there's a guy in an ape suit. That's always great.

The handsome Patric Knowles is cast as Jerry Church, a private detective who reluctantly agrees to look into an odd series of murders. The victims are criminals who had been acquitted of their misdeeds, and the killer would seem to be an avenging medico who leaves their literal calling cards on the body of each victim. Despite how this may be advertised, "The Strange Case of Doctor Rx" is NOT sci-fi or horror but a mystery thriller with heavy doses of comedy. However, once this viewer got over his disappointment, he had some fun with it. Characters CONSTANTLY bicker and banter with each other; it would be true to say that there's way more talk here than action. And the dialogue is more silly than genuinely funny, although it garners some modest chuckles now and then. The convoluted plot (concocted by Clarence Upson Young) ultimately leads to a climactic scene where the villain comes out of the dark (so to speak) to terrorize our hero. Knowles is good in the lead, and the cast is full of familiar and reliable actors: Anne Gwynne as Knowles' leading lady, Samuel S. Hinds as successful defence attorney Dudley Crispin, Mona Barrie as his wife, Paul Cavanagh as his brother, Edmund MacDonald as flustered police captain Hurd, and John Gallaudet as menacing mobster Ernie Paul. The most blatant comedy relief, unsurprisingly, is delivered by Shemp Howard as a REALLY dumb cop, and Mantan Moreland as Churchs' agitated manservant. Both men are hilarious. However, the film makes an egregious waste of Lionel Atwill, as a mystery man appearing throughout. "The Strange Case of Doctor Rx" can get tiresome at times, but at least it has the typically short running time of many programmers from this era, so even if viewers dislike it, they don't have to stick it out for too, too long. It isn't until near the end that it introduces more of a sci-fi / horror element....complete with a dude in a gorilla suit. Silly, put passable. Five out of 10.

This obscure "Universal" film is one of the lesser ones by a considerable margin. Even Lionel Atwill couldn't save this one. The plot is so unimaginative and boring, it felt more like serving a prison sentence than watching a movie! I have this one but I only keep it to see Lionel Atwill.

Dr Rx falls between two stools -the B Movie mystery and the B movie Horror flick. Unfortunately, while not a complete failure, it isn't particularly good at either. Patrick Knowles takes on the detective duties trying to solve a series of killings involving exonerated felons. Lionel Atwill does his best to look sinister, but he turns out to be a red herring named Dr. Fish! We have a lurch into horror territory when Dr. Rx threatens Knowles with a gorilla (all mad scientists need one!) and seems to be preparing for a quick brain transplant between the two! No one is going to mistake this for The Maltese Falcon, but it passes an hour in a modestly entertaining way. Knowles is pretty good, and with better handling his character might have made for an okay mystery series. With better handling. This is not one of Universals star jewels, but it's okay.

In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made a ton of amateur detective films...ones in which supposedly ordinary folk solve crimes because they are brilliant and the cops total idiots. Because of this, "The Strange Case of Doctor Rx" is very familiar. Despite a few unusual twists here and there, the story is all too familiar...especially with the inclusion of Mantan Moreland was his usual scared black man routine. There is a psychopath murdering people they think are worthy of death! And, these deaths are obviously related because with each victim is a letter from someone calling themselves 'Dr. Rx'. Jerry (Patric Knowles) is about to get married and keep his promise to his new bride--to give up crime-solving. But some of the baddies have a different idea. Overall this is just a fair film to watch. This is because it ended poorly with a 'scene missing here' portion that disappoints. Additionally, the usual cliches abound.

Patrick Knowles plays private detective Jerry Church, who is recruited by the police to help solve a series of murders where wrongfully acquitted criminals were subsequently murdered by a mysterious vigilante calling himself Dr. RX. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Kit Logan(played by Anne Gwynne) pops back into his life, and they get married, though she will later get mixed up in the case itself. Who can the mysterious Dr. RX. be, and what does a locked up gorilla have to do with anything? Despite some brisk performances,(and Jerry's gorgeous Art Deco apartment and hallway!) this is a most dull, unfocused and ridiculous film, that feels much longer than its hour running time...

Outside of Lugosi, Karloff, Rathbone and Deanna Durbin... This B Universal thriller creates a mysterious new monster, an unseen allegedly doctor who decides to play judge and jury when the jury commits travesties of justice. Patric Knowles is a famous detective brought into the case when nobody else can find any clues as to who the guilty party is. "The most notorious case since Jack the Ripper", Sherlock Holmes would say, and while there's no Holmes and Watson, there is a brief appearance by Scottish Mary Gordon, not Mrs. Hudson here from the "Sherlock Holmes" films, but the mother of one of Dr. RX's victims who survived. This is initially intriguing, but quickly stagnates as talk takes over any suspense, giving either clues and suspects which are possibly red herrings. Anne Gwynne, as Knowles's wife, does nothing but fret, while Mantan Moreland and Shemp Howard provide low brow comedy. Other familiar faces pop up in needless roles, and it's surprising that they didn't include Lugosi, Karloff and Chaney in uncredited cameos. It's not hideous and flies by pretty quickly, culminating in a tense chase sequence, but I think most viewers can simply agree that this had been done before but better. The twist at the end makes really no sense and seems desperate to get chills when it really only provides groans.

Clients for a certain lawyer are bumped off by a maniacal physician who leaves his calling card by "Rx" along with each individual victim's number as he kills them via poison. Dr. Crispin hopes a well-renowned detective, John Church, will halt his plans of retirement and seek the identity of the killer before he winds up as the next victim(not to mention, rescue his law practice which took a hit thanks to the fact that if you attain Dudley as your lawyer you wind up dead). Patric Knowles, as Private Eye Jerry Church, many will know from FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, is the star while Anne Gwynne(HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN)is his worried newspaper reporter wife, Kit Logan. With Samuel Hinds(THE RAVEN)as attorney Dudley Crispin, Paul Cavanagh(THE SCARLET CLAW)his brother John, bug-eyed Mantan Moreland as Church's oft-abused butler Horatio(sure to make African-Americans cringe as honkies push and slap him around as the poor guy is used as a bumbling foil), and Shemp Howard(of all people)as a goofy cop. Edmund MacDonald is a cop who wants Church to partner with him on the case of the mysterious psychopath, Dr. Rx. Marital shenanigans between Knowles and Gwynne are used as comic touches as is the casting of Moreland and Shemp to off-set the morbid plot of a killer who keeps to taking out low-life criminals in the mobster underworld. The signature of Rx could be the key to the murderer's undoing. Lionel Atwill, in coke-bottle glasses, is the character of suspicion(which means he's likely a red herring), but his part is so small he's almost a non-entity. I was disappointed in this one more because it plays too much for laughs and not chills. The only real "horror" to the movie is the gorilla scene where it appears that Church will be another victim on Rx's hit list.

Patrick Knowles has had it with being a private detective in New York, and is about to head back to Boston. However, when the fifth acquitted murderer is found strangled with a note signed "Doctor Rx", attorney Samuel Hinds, whose clients all the victims were, and old buddy Police Chief Edmund McDonald rope him in on helping out with the case. Adding to the complications is Knowles' estranged wife, Anne Gwynne, who comes back into his life. She wants him retired from his dangerous profession and he agrees. It's a decent comedy-mystery with most of the humor provided by Mantan Moreland as Knowles' manservant and Shemp Howard as McDonald's assistant. There is also Lionel Atwill as a "Doctor Fish" who always seems to be near at hand, Ray Corrigan in a gorilla suit to spice up proceedings, and a tiny but compelling role for a sultry Jan Wiley as a gangster's moll. William Nigh, who had been directing movies for thirty years, helms the movie; he was one of the many A-list directors of silent movies who retreated to the Bs and never raised their heads after that. In the 1920s he had directed Marion Davies for Cosmopolitan and Lon Chaney for MGM. By 1932, he was directing B westerns, and spent the last fifteen years of his career at Monogram and PRC. This decent Universal programmer was as rarefied as he got in the sound era. He retired in 1948.