The Mad Doctor of Market Street

1941's "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" was the second time Lionel Atwill starred as a crazed scientist after receiving top billing over Lon Chaney in "Man Made Monster," but settled for second below Una Merkel here, who was coming off one of her best known roles, playing the ditsy daughter of W.C. Fields in "The Bank Dick." Una's likability survives intact, despite her unfunny material (can't say the same for Nat Pendleton). Nearing the end of her screen career was lovely Claire Dodd, busy at Universal that year ("The Black Cat" and Abbott and Costello's "In the Navy"), while cowardly scoundrel John Eldredge is in familiar form ("The Black Cat" and "Horror Island"). Even Noble Johnson ("King Kong") appears as a dignified native chief, not easy under such studio bound conditions. Atwill's Ralph Benson escapes a murder charge in San Francisco, only to wind up a prisoner on a South Sea island, until a demonstration of his technique on suspended animation on a supposedly dead native woman makes him 'God of Life' among the savages, who grant him his every wish. I certainly can't blame him for coveting Miss Dodd, just as he eyed beautiful Anne Nagel in "Man Made Monster" (here reduced to a cameo as his first victim's widow). Writer Al Martin earlier scripted Lugosi's "Invisible Ghost" (also directed by Joseph H. Lewis), and in 1957 turned out "Invasion of the Saucer Men," a rare science fiction comedy. Included in Universal's popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50's, and aired 3 times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, Dec 18 1965 (following 1959's "The Hideous Sun Demon"), Dec 28 1974 (followed by 1970's "Night of the Witches"), and Sept 3 1977 (the first feature), paired with the only screening of 1934's "Secret of the Château" (a Claire Dodd double feature!).

Lionel Atwill lifted a few average horror films to the status of being tolerable. Luckily, he was able to achieve this by being a theatre- trained actor who was a genuine talent. "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" is a typical example. He plays another mad scientist who is forced to leave the United States after causing the death of a patient whilst conducting some bizarre experiments. Lionel Atwill finishes up by being shipwrecked on a desert island along with other people and then attempts to conquer the island's inhabitants. Strictly speaking, this is routine stuff but worth seeing...just.

Ever-delightful Lionel Atwill plays another of his crazed scientist roles in this minor but amusing Universal genre picture of the period. Here, he plays Dr. Ralph Benson, a nutcase working to perfect suspended animation: killing subjects and bringing them back to life. When his first human victim goes missing, authorities are quick to respond, and he must take it on the lam. He arrives on a tropical island, where his medical abilities endear him to the natives - but his fellow shipwreck survivors want to get away A. S. A. P. Knowing that they'll report him the first chance they get, he refuses to let them leave, while enjoying his new role of "God of Life" on this exotic locale.

Overall, "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" is nothing special, but it IS a B-level horror flick / jungle adventure designed to be over and done with quickly, and it entertains quite adequately for a fairly painless 61 minute run time. The supporting cast - top-billed Una Merkel as annoying airhead Aunt Margaret, Nat Pendleton as dumb boxer Red Hogan, Claire Dodd as the lovely Patricia, the briefly seen Hardie Albright and Anne Nagel as hard-luck Saunders and his despairing wife, Richard Davies as likeable deck hand Jim, John Eldredge as the cowardly Dwight, and Noble Johnson as the native chief Elan - are all fine. But Atwill, as was so often the case, is the main reason to watch. He clearly did enjoy playing characters like the evil Benson. He also does well at selling a sense of panic towards the finish as he is given a time limit to prove just how good he is at restoring life.

Low-budget filmmaker Joseph H. Lewis, renowned for some of his later works (especially the film noir classics "Gun Crazy" and "The Big Combo"), does a very capable job of directing this routine, amusing little programmer. The setting for the tale - including the doomed cruise ship and the island - helps to give it a breath of fresh air. Benson spends barely any time at his lab of horrors on Market Street before the story kicks into gear and he must head for the hills.

A must for Atwill fans and Universal sci-fi / horror completists, if no-one else.

Six out of 10.

As some of you may know, for the longest time I was only familiar with the more popular of the classic Universal horror/sci-fi films; recently, however, I managed to get my hands on a number of their lesser and/or non-monster outings – needless to say, few if any of these proved as rewarding in the long run…though they were never less than entertaining, something which the vintage Hollywood product could always be relied upon to deliver.

This, then, marks Lionel Atwill’s last starring role as a result of his fall from grace in a trial which exposed scandalous behavior in private – and which would subsequently relegate him to Poverty Row or virtually nothing parts in Universal chillers! In any case, he gives the titular role his all – in fact, I don’t think I’d seen Atwill being so arrogant (spouting lines such as “I’ll be the most important man to have ever walked the earth” with complete immodesty, as if it was second nature to him!) and wild-eyed since the delightfully Pre-Code MURDERS IN THE ZOO (1933). Incidentally, I may be attributing undue importance to the fact but I wonder whether the script intended to give his character’s ‘control’ over death a religious undertone – at one point, Atwill mentions that he’ll be able to bring back to life someone who’d been dead for three days (a reference to Jesus Christ?), while the unwilling ‘guinea pig’ hero is buried in the rocks and the entrance to the tomb covered by a huge stone (as we’re told in the Bible that Lazarus was)…!

Not knowing all that much about the film beforehand, I was surprised to see this turn out to be more of a jungle adventure (especially given the title) – following the opening moments set in the city and a brief stint on board ship which, pretty soon, ends up submerged and the only six survivors eventually land on a tropical isle. Atwill is a “pseudo-doctor” whose notorious experiments with suspended animation (recalling the Boris Karloff vehicle THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES [1940]) has landed him in professional disrepute, not to mention in hot water with the Law – I’m sure the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on the beleaguered actor!; anyway, he flees on a cruise-liner traveling all the way to New Zealand and, as I said, ends up ashore in uncharted territory with a bunch of other passengers. This doesn’t stop him from continuing his experiments (for one thing, finding the locals convenient and gullible subjects) – actually, he’d been traveling incognito but, when the native leader’s woman goes into a coma from a heart attack, he can’t resist impressing them with his life-giving ‘magic’…after which they name him “God Of Life” and, naturally, he appoints himself there and then supreme ruler of the island (these obvious Fascist attributes more than anything expose it as a product of the war years)!

The film falls into a category best described as comedy-horror or, if you like, horror comic; neither element is really all that successful – though the former (provided by Una Merkel, top-billed despite her character being clearly of secondary interest[!], and Nat Pendleton) isn’t overly intrusive, the latter is too familiar to generate much suspense…while the jungle setting eschews the fog-laden atmosphere usually representing the ‘in-house’ Universal style! The remaining members from the civilized world are a selfish ship’s officer who leaves the others behind when attempting to flee the isle in a canoe – only to be killed by a native, and the obligatory romantic couple (Merkel’s niece and another former crew member of the sunken liner) – typically, the two had gotten off on the wrong foot but are slowly drawn together…especially after Atwill is persuaded into taking a wife by the native woman he ‘resuscitated’ and, naturally, singles out the heroine for this role. By the way, the film’s biggest laugh is an unintentional one: during Atwill and Claire Dodd’s marriage, following the native custom, some doubt is deliberately thrown by his companions on the unethical activity he leads, which causes the celebrations to cease abruptly – at which, perplexed, Atwill asks the native leader to order his men to “dance…or something” (as delivered by the actor in his inimitable high-strung fashion, it not only shows all too clearly the character’s disdain of their lot but definitely edges the film into camp territory; I know I couldn’t stop giggling for a good five minutes afterwards!).

His status on the island takes further beating when the native who killed the escaping officer also turns up dead; the hero – belatedly introducing himself as being well versed in medicine himself (a plot point so contrived as to smack of lazy scripting!) – knows that Atwill’s miracles were performed on people who only had the semblance of death, so that he’ll never be able to reap results in this particular case (though, up until this time, it was never intimated that he could be a charlatan but rather came across as typically misguided but genuinely obsessed!) and the natives will turn on him as a result…which they do in a fiery climax that barely registers (incidentally, some rather important exposition in the fast-paced 61-minute film is entirely by-passed or taken for granted). Tying with my comments about the same director’s CRIMINALS WITHIN (1943), which I’ve also just watched, Lewis’ hand is apparent here via his choice of odd angles on a number of occasions (though the shot of an intense Atwill approaching the camera, holding a chloroformed cloth to subdue an intended victim, is unfortunately diluted through sheer repetition!). By the way, the music for the film – credited solely to “Musical Director” Hans J. Salter – includes recognizable cues from Frank Skinner’s classic SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) score (Universal shamelessly, and habitually, re-cycled these…as hardened genre fans are surely aware!).

Lionel Atwill plays Br Benson a scientist experimenting with suspended animation. Atwill has found a way of putting animals in to suspended animation, then curing their disease and then bringing them back to life. Unfortunately when he tries to move to people the good doctor finds that he can not revive his subjects thus provoking the police to look for the murderer. Fleeing he boards a ship and heads for the south seas. When the ship catches fire, Atwill and several other survivors end up on an island where Atwill uses his medical tricks to enslave the natives.

B movie or not this is a mess of a movie. The film starts okay, with Atwill trying his experiment on a man trying to get money for his family. The police burst in and he's forced to flee. After that comedy sets in and the film doesn't know what it wants to be. Once the ship sinks and the survivors end up on the island things become a mixed bag.

Its it suppose to be serious or a comedy? First billed Una Merkel makes me think it was a comedy. Merkel as a crazy woman going to New Zealand for the fifth time to find love would usually be in the background to Atwill's craziness, but here she's often front and center. The problem is that the comedy is very heavy handed and not very funny. As a drama it isn't much better. Its natives in sarongs bowing before the mad Atwill, who looks bored and distracted. It reminded me of some of the dreadful jungle monster pictures from the 1950's where the mad scientist goes to the jungle and sets some creature loose like in From Hell it Came, except those movies were fun.

I don't think that it helps that this film has something resembling a budget. Certainly the use of stock footage helped, but the fact that Universal spent probably twice what something like Republic, Monogram or a Poverty Row studio made me think that this would be something more than a really cheesy film. I know the reasonable look of the film made it hard to forgive the dopey script.

To be honest this is a hard film to really discuss. Its a light weight B movie that is not bad enough to make one want to spend time commenting on it. Its a bad movie that makes you want to forget it after you've seen it, with a "well that was a waste of an hour" before moving on to something else. Its a misfire and not worth saying anything bad about simply because the movie inflicts enough damage on itself.

Not worth bothering with except as a footnote in Lionel Atwill's career, his last starring role, and possibly his worst performance.