A Voz do Morto

Last of ten in the series with Warner Baxter playing the part of Dr. Robert Ordway, former criminal turned psychiatrist. The series ran from 1943-1949 and always involved the outsider specialist trusting and then helping hapless victims of the criminal justice system.

This entry opens with Dr. Ordway talking about the impending parole of inmate 9815, Stephen Carter (Stephen Dunne), after serving three years for a crime of arson that he did not commit. The plot thickens when the accused is implicated in the murder of the man who took his job when in prison. The solution should not be a surprise.

Lois Maxwell is not nearly as good looking or glib as she will become years later as Miss Moneypenny in seventeen James Bond movies. She plays the same role as a gate keeper for the head of the firm.

Prolific character actor Whit Bissell plays Pete Bellem who records and keeps playing a song that seems to be central to the strange comings and goings on at the Bellem Music Company…"In the house where I was born" …"When I was just a boy. A recording of Pete's song becomes a critical part of the plot.

Robert Armstrong looks a bit tired as gangster George 'Goldie' Harrigan. His new girlfriend Inez Gray, played by Adele Jergens, is best featured in a revealing negligee.

Interesting introduction to the new technology of piping recorded music over phone lines to paying customers rather than having them order selected records at a juke box.

The police are incredibly poor shots until the end. The writing is above average in this entry with such lines as, following an incomplete response to the police asking an alternate way out of an apartment building, "Did they ask if it was open?" Recommended.

I was a bit surprised with this film, as in the Leonard Maltin Guide this film got a pretty poor rating and sounded like the worst film of this series. However, it was a pretty decent film and definitely NOT the worst of the series (this was CRIME DOCTOR'S GAMBLE, 1947) and was a nice final film of the series.

Doctor Ordway's wonderful psychiatric prowess is called into question, as a man he recommended for parole is the prime suspect in a revenge murder. Part of this was because the guy did act like he'd done it, but the true reason came out in a very nifty ending---where you learn who and how they set him up for the fall.

There were only two small problems with the film. The song that was sung again and again was absolutely horrid and tough on the ears. Also, the writing, except for one bad bit of dialog, was just fine. The bad dialog was as follows:

(lady speaking to man) "Goldie, you're a gentleman"

(after which, the man responds) "I wish you were"

Huh?! Did he wish SHE were a gentleman or did he want her to get a sex change or what?! While this was a very MINOR problem with the film, it did make me laugh!

... and that is understandable because by this time - 1949 - Warner Baxter was pretty much in constant pain due to his arthritis. It's painful for me to watch this film not because it isn't good but because you can clearly see the man is suffering.

Thus the usually supporting players take up the slack here, with Baxter really not participating that much in the action. Here we have a man, Steve Carter, getting paroled after serving three years for an arson he says he did not commit. The advice from the warden is for Steve to stay out of trouble, but with nothing but revenge on his mind for whoever it was who framed him, Steve isn't listening. The ever loyal Jane is waiting for him at the prison gates even though Steve threw her over for the more elegant Inez. Inez is now involved with tough guy George Goldie Harrison, played by Robert Armstrong, but that doesn't mean the two don't get locked in a passionate embrace the first time they meet after Steve's release. The news of this infidelity does not amuse Goldie.

It isn't long before one of the guys on Steve's short list of people who could have framed him turns up dead. Since Dr. Ordway (Baxter) recommended Steve for parole in the first place and Steve is acting quite guilty by running from the police, will the good doctor wind up with egg on his face? Watch and find out.

Making sure the mood doesn't get too heavy is Whit Bissell as a song writer who is obsessed with recording and performing just one awful tune. Is he harmless but annoying or is he the red herring villain that has ruined Steve's life for some reason real or imagined? Again I say, watch and find out.

Warner Baxter, (Dr. Robert Ordway) gave his final appearance in this role and I found this film had improved over all the other Crime Doctor Series. In this film, Dr. Ordway is called by the warden of a prison to visit him as he was going to parole a man called Steve Carter,(Stephen Dunne) who was a former patient of Dr. Ordway's. Steve Carter was sentenced to prison as an arsonist who burned a music recording studio. Dr. Ordway tells the Warden he really does not believe that Steve Carter committed this crime and is going to help him prove his innocence. Jane Darrin,(Lois Maxwell) meets Steve Carter as he gets out of prison and drives him home and talks about him going back to work with the music recording company. It is not very long before a murder is committed and Steve has become a likely suspect for another crime. Jane Darrin and Doctor Ordway come to Steve's assistance and a very strange recording is discovered that solves the crime. Lois Maxwell who played Jane Darrin was also "Miss Moneypenny" in most of the older James Bond Films. Great film Enjoy

One thing that makes this final entry in the Crime Doctor series better than average, aside from the interesting collection of players, is the writing, a mixture of 1940s crime dramas with a few throwbacks to 1930s comedies.

On one hand we have a spattering of old-timey cops-and-robbers lingo, with terms like "moll," "dip," "binnie", "pigeon," and "prowl car". Plus, there's the gratuitous use of firepower to pursue an obviously unarmed suspect which wouldn't be tolerated in today's televised police procedure.

On the other hand there are several laugh-out-loud zingers and one-liners that are clever in context but would make no sense if repeated here.

With a less convoluted plot than previous entries in the series, there is still a sufficient number of suspects to keep one guessing as to the perpetrator; but this tale depends less on our good doctor's crime-solving abilities than on a device introduced midway through the action at which one's immediate reaction is "evidence".