El eco de la muerte

Good entry in the Crime Doctor series where our hero, Dr. Robert Ordway, inadvertently gives poison to a man in diabetic shock. The police are willing co-conspirators to the Crime Doctor's sleuthing in this case but there will be additional murders before a final resolution.

The real issue is not murder but a business being run out of a funeral parlor. The dying diabetic mumbles something before passing that is later revealed to be from Hamlet: "God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another" (Hamlet 3.1). What could possibly be going on in the funeral parlor in the evening? Direction by future horror meister William Castle results in some excellent shots of where something sinister is implied with off-screen mayhem. Recommended

Some new neighbors of Dr. Ordway call on him one nigh as the man of the house is not feeling well. Turns out he's a diabetic and missed his insulin shot. Warner Baxter gives him his shot, but moments later the man is dead.

After that introduction the police allow Baxter a free hand t work as their agent in solving the crime. The investigation leads him to a funeral parlor where he director Martin Kosleck has an interesting sideline in plastic surgery for criminal types.

Baxter takes a potentially fatal gamble in finding he final solution. Watch and see what i mean.

Interesting Doctor Ordway's investigation ,with good scenes in the mortician's funeral parlor ;it's an easy place to get rid of dead bodies, although there are plenty of implausibilities , Shakespeare's quotation to begin with , but it's the name of the game : extremely eventful ,with many characters, many suspects ,and an originality:although Ordway summons and gathers all the suspects a la Hercule Poirot , the whodunit is solved later on ,when the hero is alone with the murderer.

When his neighbour knocks on his door to say they are having a party in the house opposite, she doesn't actually invite "Dr. Ordway" (Warner Baxter) but instead asks him to come and treat a suffering diabetic. He helps out with the insulin only for the man to promptly collapse in a heap, dead, with only a dying phrase to help explain. The autopsy reveals the drug was poisoned, and so police inspector "Burns" (Charles D. Brown) suggests to the doctor that the best way to exonerate himself from any suspicion of complicity is to do the detective work himself. His investigations prove quite perilous, though, and as the body count starts to mount we are introduced to a couple of sinister characters and begin to see the a pattern of greed and duplicity. "Ordway" must use his guile to outwit his unknown antagonist at some considerable risk to himself (and his eyesight) as he tries to entrap the culprit. This is quite good fun with Baxter delivering engagingly as he tests and tricks his suspects. There are no shortage of them, and the supporting cast provide workmanlike efforts as he whittles down the suspects and tries to stay on the right side of the crematorium wall. The denouement is all rather rushed and the audience is well ahead of the curve as he follows the clues, but it's still quite a watchable short drama.

This is the 7th entry in the "Crime Doctor" series starring Warner Baxter as Dr. Robert Ordway. This time, at a party, he gives a diabetic in shock insulin, using a bottle of insulin in his pocket, only to find out it was poison when the patient dies. Before the man dies, he mutters something which turns out to be from Hamlet.

There are two other murders, but as usual, Ordway figures it out. He has plenty of suspects, too.

Directed by William Castle, this is an interesting story, though none of these "Crime Doctor" films are particularly thrilling. Baxter gives his usual relaxed performance, though it's noticeable in the later films that his health was failing.

Good film for mystery buffs, even if you can figure out the end.