Shadows in the Night

Of the ten Crime Doctor films starring Warner Baxter released by Columbia from 1943 through 1949, this is the only one that Turner Classic Movies has never aired. This third entry is one of the earliest screen roles for the young Nina Foch (pronounced Fosh), who plays a neurotic young woman having strange nightmares and calls upon Dr. Ordway to pay a house call at her seaside estate. There is no shortage of suspicious characters not the least of which is Nina's chemist uncle Frank Swift, played by the always enjoyable George Zucco. Other familiar faces include Lester Matthews and Ben Welden. A screen heartthrob during the early talkie era whose health problems by this time included emphysema and arthritis, Warner Baxter was truly grateful for the steady employment of a 'B' movie series like this one. Columbia was one of the few Hollywood majors whose bread and butter came from series like the Crime Doctor, The Whistler, Boston Blackie, and the trio of "I Love a Mystery," all of which were based on popular radio shows of the day. Until their recent airings on TCM, these films had not been widely seen so 'B' movie buffs like myself have been rejoicing ever since. The Crime Doctor series differs from the others in that (with the exception of the initial entry) the title character was never saddled with a love interest and always dedicated to the psychological aspects of the cases (shades of Philo Vance!). Warner Baxter was a native of Columbus Ohio who died in 1951 at the age of 62, much beloved at the time but quietly forgotten today, although his early talkies include appearances opposite Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. While none of Dr. Robert Ordway's adventures were truly outstanding, the only one I could not recommend remains the one set in Paris (the ninth, "The Crime Doctor's Gamble," director William Castle's 4th and last entry). Perhaps the most intriguing entry would be the last, "The Crime Doctor's Diary" (1949) which featured an early Hollywood appearance by future Moneypenny Lois Maxwell.

Nina Foch comes to see psychiatrist Warner Baxter. She''s been sleepwalking onto the beach from her house by the shore, and having threatening, incoherent dreams. Eventually, Baxter comes to visit her. Miss Foch's family is decayed gentry. Although she has the house, she earns a living as a textile designer. She also runs a perpetual house party for family and friends, including mildly nutty chemist George Zucco, her sister and brother-in-law, and so forth. To see if there is something about her bedroom, she sleeps in one of the guest rooms and has Baxter take hers for the night.... and he has threatening, incoherent dreams and goes sleepwalking onto the beach. Then Zucco turns up dead.....and everyone in the house seems intent on the inquest declaring it an accident.

It's a pretty good mystery, although there's a fake-science edge to it, but the cast of capable performers do nicely with the material under high-speed director Eugene Forde. The result is an excellent B picture, one of the series that occupied Bater for most of the last decade of his life.

"Shadows in the Night" is one of the weirdest of the Crime Doctor series of movies...probably the weirdest. The plot, though enjoyable, is just very strange and incredibly farfetched...but still watchable.

A woman comes to visit Dr. Ordway (Warner Baxter). She has been having weird dreams and has been having some suicidal thoughts. The doctor decides to drop by the lady's home for an extended visit..in order to investigate the strange happenings. Soon, the doc is having some strange visions himself. One involves finding a dead body. The body disappears and later is found dead in the surf nearby. Now this part makes zero sense....Dr. Ordway is the crime doctor and has a history of solving crimes. He quickly identifies the body in the surf as the one he saw in the house...yet everyone quickly dismisses him. Huh?? He is a trained psychiatrist and yet he's assumed to be delusional and the fact a body soon IS found means nothing! These sorts of logical errors and the actual cause of the sleepwalking and delusions is pretty silly....though the rest of the film is enjoyable and Baxter and the rest are good actors. Worth seeing for lovers of the series.

Having seen most of the series over the decades there's a couple of Crime Doctor films I've still to see, this was one of them until last night. Was it worth it the wait? Like the previous commenter, as a fan of b movie detective films (especially from the Golden Age): Yes! This was no. 3 and Columbia were well into their stride by now – and with Boston Blackie, the Lone Wolf and the Whistler – churning out 10 films in 6 years until everyone ran out of steam in 1949.

A mysterious woman visits Dr. Ordway (always played by the ever dependable Warner Baxter) at 3 am in the pouring rain for his psychiatric help because she doesn't know whether the bad dreams she's having tempting her to suicide are actually real. This leads him to stay at her spooky but extremely scenic house and grounds by the ocean containing a motley assemblage of strange guests and staff with secrets galore – when one of them gets murdered the game is afoot to unmask the culprit. The usual stuff in other words, but expertly handled with high production values and a nice brooding smoky atmosphere. George Zucco helps the film but hinders Ordway as a fairly mad scientist – a brilliant stroke to put him in! Distracted Nina Foch plays the woman apparently having nightmares; just about the only film you see her in over here nowadays is An American In Paris. Favourite bits: Ordway's sleepwalking adventure; searching the cellars and the dark underground journey. It's all reasonably cogent and it all fits neatly together by the end.

A nice entry in the series, one I can recommend to fans of the genre as usual and encourage non-fans to save their time as usual.

Former criminal Dr. Robert Ordway is now a criminologist. Ordway is visited at three in the morning by the mysterious Lois Garland. Lois complains of nightmares, where the theme of suicide keeps recurring. Ordway then decides to stay in her haunted house, located on the Pacific Ocean. Lois receives several mysterious guests and one of them is murdered. Ordway decides to unmask the culprit using hypnosis and begins investigating the dark cellars beneath Lois's house.

A good entry of the crime Doctor series starring the charismatic Warner Baxter who gets involved in murder and strange apparitions. The ambience is certainly classic dark and brooding with lots of nooks and corners with the house overlooking the sea. Loved all the hidden stairways to the cave to the beach. The Gothic elements, headed by Zucco as a suavely sinister uncle and a ghostly apparition dripping wet from the sea, is well done.