El genio del mal

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse that Warner Brothers presented in 1938 is an adaption of a British play which had been done in London a few years back with Sir Cedric Hardwicke in the title role that Edward G. Robinson does here. Of course the difference in personal styles and country cultures made it a different Clitterhouse than originally presented.

But both are medical doctors doing research into the pathology of the criminal mind. How better to do it than to become a criminal oneself in the interest of science. He does some burglaries on his own and then with the unsuspecting help of police inspector Donald Crisp finds a fence in the person of Claire Trevor and the gang she does business with.

He works his way into the mob earning everyone's trust even though they find the "professor" a little eccentric. All that is except Humphrey Bogart who resents his presence.

It's an interesting idea for a story and the film does have some good plot twists that I'm sure the audience won't figure out if they haven't seen it. The key to remember as Robinson remembers that at all times he's a man of science.

Take a successful broadway play, add Edward G Robinson, Humphery Bogart, Claire Trevor and the Warner Brothers stock company to the mix and you can't go wrong. And this one doesn't go wrong.

Robinson plays Dr Clitterhouse, an extremely successful doctor catering only to High Society patients.

In reality Clitterhouse only wants to do a study on criminals with the hope of developing a cure for crime by finding out what makes these men tick.

To do this he joins a gang led by Trevor as the brains and Bogie as the Brawn.

Clitterhouse participates in their ventures and while on the job measures things like blood pressure, heartbeat and other vital signs, but what he doesn't count on is his near addiction to crime.

Robinson makes a great Clitterhouse(Cedric Hardwicke played him on Broadway)Bogart in his gangster milieu, plays Rocks Valentine like it is second nature to him. The Stock company in this one consists of Ward Bond, Vladimir Sokoloff, Maxie Rosenbloom, Donald Crisp, Gale Page and John Litel.

Dr Clitterhouse is a fun film, but don't ask him to make a house call

The prominent Dr. Clitterhouse (Edward G. Robinson) becomes a burglar to study the criminal mind. After four heist, he meets the fence Jo Keller (Claire Trevor) that has a hotel to cover-up her activities. He decides to team-up with her gang to observe the thieves in action using the alias The Professor and becomes close to Jo. However the gangster "Rocks" Valentine (Humphrey Bogart) decides to get rid of The Professor and double-crosses him up during the heist of a store. When Rocks discover the true identity of The Professor, he blackmails Dr. Clitterhouse that sees only the ultimate crime to resolve the situation: murder. What will happen to Rocks and Dr. Clitterhouse?

"The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" is a cynical black-humor comedy with Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart and screenplay by John Huston. The plot is funny, with hilarious situations of Dr. Clitterhouse, a prominent doctor that uses his relationship with the high-society and the chief of police to rob and understand the criminal mind. In the end, is Dr. Clitterhouse sane or insane? My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available on Blu-Ray or DVD.

There's a physician who is seeking to deduce, why villains, rogues and miscreants are induced, into a life of crime, breaking laws most of the time, has a theory that he's willing to enthuse. Before he does, he gathers data on the flawed, encouraging a gang to break the law, as they do he takes their pulse, monitors things from their skulls, all the time he's making notes of what he saw.

It's not the best but it's not the worst, entertaining in places but quite ridiculous in part, Edward G. Robinson is always entertaining and Humphry Bogart bides his time once again, waiting for the big one, although he reaches his nadir the following year with The Return of Doctor X!

This film is an excellent gangster film. The negative reviews I've read here are the remarks of mere quibblers, people who don't have a true appreciation for the 1930's Gangster Film. I used to have a 16mm print of this film. And every time I screened it people would come up afterward and say how much they liked it. No self respecting fan of Warner's gangster films would dare say a bad word about this film and others I've seen poorly reviewed on this site. Perhaps people brought up on Good Fellas and The Godfather cannot help but try holding older films up to current sensibilities. I don't know. But I see it a lot.

Anyway, don't believe the hype: Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart are great as are the rest of the cast. Character roles are well cast. Writing is solid. There's a great scene where Bogart gets slapped for misinterpreting a double entendre.

This film has something that I think is significant for the time. It deals with possible psychological reasons for crime. The good doctor who is doing experiments to fully understand the criminal mind was probably represents some sort of extension of public interest as well as paying lip service to the growing acceptance of psychology as we currently know it. The fact that the doctor is actually corrupted by the excitement and challenge of crime and getting away with it are interesting to note and may, again, parallel public interest.

The ending has an irresistible twist as the doctor incorrigibly revels in his bizarre circumstances as the camera closes in on an excited Robinson as chaos ensues all around.

I rate this film a strong 8 and recommend that Ivars give this film another chance.