The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse

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.

I loved it! The story isn't great but Eddie G. is slick as he runs circles around his less intelligent counterparts. He has some clever lines and proves once again how a great actor can carry a film. Eddie plays Dr. T. S. Clitterhouse, a successful doctor who is intrigued by the criminal mind. As he gets involved in pulling off some robberies for his "research", he finds himself feeling a "heady intoxication like champagne". He tries to get out of the criminal life but his antagonist, Bogie of course, won't let him. As in many films, it's now Bogart vs Robinson. Who wins? Nice try, just watch and enjoy the movie and you'll see. This was before Bogie was a headliner and it's fun to see how he was developing his on screen persona. If you're a Bogie and Eddie G. fan, you'll like this one. It's definitely worth a look.

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.

What a fun movie!

Edward G. Robinson plays a respected doctor who decides that the only way to truly understand criminal behavior for an academic study he is writing is to become a criminal himself. He joins a thieving ring run by Jo Keller (Claire Trevor, looking hotsy-totsy) and proceeds to both help the thieves with their crimes while at the same time studying them for the biological and psychological effects of their actions. Trouble arises when Jo's right-hand man, played by Humphrey Bogart, begins to feel like a third wheel, and blackmails Robinson when he discovers his true identity.

This film is a real treat. It's funny, creepy and suspenseful, all at the same time. Robinson begins to enjoy being a criminal, and his detached approach to crime makes him capable of committing murder without a second thought. Is he sane or insane? That's the question a jury must answer at the film's climax, and one the viewer still won't be able to answer after the movie's over.

Robinson, Trevor and Bogart have enough chemistry together to start a fire, and the three of them would team up again 10 years later for another terrific film, John Huston's "Key Largo." Anatole Litvak provides the fluid direction.

Grade: A-

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!