Médico misterioso

I cannot say I was aware of this one before our own Michael Elliott gave it a thumbs up not that long ago; actually emerging as only borderline horror, it effectively mingles a traditional plot – an English village, complete with hulking idiot and disfigured bartender hiding his features behind a hood(!), lives in fear of an ancient curse involving a headless ghost – with topical (i.e. WWII) concerns. The village mine was being utilized to produce tin for the Allied cause so the Axis powers apparently felt the need to send out one of their own to intermingle in the community and recreate by night the legend of The Headless Ghost, thus curtailing the mining operations which are subsequently abandoned. The prerequisite foggy atmosphere is thickly laid on, the plot is fairly engaging and the modest but pleasing cast – squire John Loder, the lovely Eleanor Parker, title character Lester Matthews, dim-witted Matt Willis, etc. – is sympathetic to the material at hand. Besides, being a compact 57-minute 'B' flick, it is essentially comparable in quality and effect to the likes of Fox's DR. RENAULT'S SECRET and THE UNDYING MONSTER (both 1942).

"The Mysterious Doctor" is an enjoyable, atmospheric B movie about a unmine-able tin mine in Morgan's Head, England, due to the presence of a headless ghost. It's wartime and the country needs the tin, but no amount of persuading can get the workers back after so many people have been killed by the spirit, which goes back to a local legend in the town.

It sure feels and looks British, and the cast includes a young, vibrant Eleanor Parker who fits right in with actors John Loder and others.

This is an excellent little wartime gem. Don't miss it when it's on TCM.

Having seen this film at the tender age of nine, the images of a "headless ghost" walking around, conjured up nightmares for many nights to come. For a "b" film running a bit under one hour, The Mysterious Doctor manages to convey the proper amount of chills. While not in the Val Lewton class, the cast of Lester Matthews John Loder, Elenor Powell and a standout performance by Matt Willis,atmospheric photography of fog shrouded moors and an eerie score all combine to perhaps take the film up a bit from an average " b" thriller. The ending might seem sugary to todays viewers, but one must take into account that these were the war years.Having just recently seen it again on line, I still enjoyed the movie after all these years!

Mysterious Doctor, The (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Strange horror/mystery from Warner has a small town living in fear that a headless ghost stalks their fog filled town. Legend has it that the ghost haunts a local tin mine and will kill anyone who goes close. This is a rather unique little film because of what was going on in the real world at the time. We all know that WW2 was going strong and a lot of war talk often made its way into movies but very few horror films had this. That's not the case here as this film features plenty of talk about the war and Hitler, which is used to show that other fears can cause people to hide when they should be out fighting. The actual story isn't all that original but with these added fears it makes for an interesting film. The mystery aspect of the movie also works quite well as the truth behind the legend is never really known. The atmosphere is another bonus as it really comes off and feels like a Universal film from the period. John Loder, Eleanor Parker, Bruce Lester and Lester Matthews turns in good performances in this forgotten gem, which desperately needs to be released to DVD.

The doctor of the title is Dr. Frederick Holmes (Lester Matthews). He comes upon a small, fog-bound English village in WWII England. It contains a tin mine--tin which is badly needed in the war against the Nazis. But the local men are terrified to go into the mine because of the headless ghost that roams the mine and kills people. The bodies start piling up and the village starts to get very panicked....

Strange combo of patriotism and horror story. The plot is totally predictable (although there were a few surprises at the end) and this has a cast of B actors (John Loder, Eleanor Parker) or total unknowns. Still, it's pretty good. The settings are fairly elaborate (I suspect they were shooting on the sets of other films), the constant fog provides a nice spooky atmosphere, the appearances of the ghost are kind of fun and the acting is pretty decent--Parker especially does wonders with her role as "the girl" and Loder is tall, handsome and seems to be really enjoying himself.

Nothing new or thrilling but competent and quick (59 minutes). There are worse ways to kill an hour.