The Strange Case of Doctor Rx

1941's "The Strange Case of Doctor Rx" was part of Universal's popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50s, turning up twice on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, on May 8 1976 (following Cameron Mitchell's "Nightmare in Wax") and Jan 29 1983 (solo). Yes, Lionel Atwill is criminally wasted, but what's worse is how the ads promoted it as a horror film prominently featuring his countenance (billed second, as he also was in "The Mad Doctor of Market Street"). Patric Knowles is the actual star, before "The Wolf Man" and "Mystery of Marie Roget," and has no trouble carrying the picture, but the on again-off again sparring between his detective Jerry Church and new bride Kit (Anne Gwynne) wears thin very quickly. Church has just returned from South America, only to be bludgeoned by the recent series of murders committed by a mysterious Doctor Rx (not to be confused with Atwill's 1932 "Doctor X"), who executes criminals that escape the justice system. The couple are likable performers, but the 'Battling Churches' were mercifully not granted a sequel (it really is less a horror film than a domestic mystery/whodunit, certainly no THIN MAN). Still entertaining for those who encountered it long ago, particularly for the excellent cast, with Samuel S. Hinds, Paul Cavanagh, Mary Gordon, pretty Jan Wiley, and Ray 'Crash' Corrigan as the gorilla Nbongo, in the lone nightmarish sequence that climaxes the picture. The underrated Mantan Moreland, who always rose above his material, easily steals every scene he's in, which the better known Shemp Howard fails to do (some 5 years before he rejoined The Three Stooges).

In THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. RX, private detective, Jerry Church (Patrick Knowles) is drawn into the murder spree of the titular mad physician, in spite of his plans to the contrary.

One of the lesser-known horror films from Universal Studios, it's more of a crime-mystery movie. It's rather lighthearted considering the subject matter. Any real terror is saved for the finale. Mr. Knowles is a serviceable gumshoe. Both Shemp Howard and Mantan Moreland are on hand to help keep things from getting too serious. Lionel Atwill plays the mysterious Dr. Fish, hiding behind his ultra-thick eyeglasses.

A harmless timewaster...

Patrick Knowles has had it with being a private detective in New York, and is about to head back to Boston. However, when the fifth acquitted murderer is found strangled with a note signed "Doctor Rx", attorney Samuel Hinds, whose clients all the victims were, and old buddy Police Chief Edmund McDonald rope him in on helping out with the case. Adding to the complications is Knowles' estranged wife, Anne Gwynne, who comes back into his life. She wants him retired from his dangerous profession and he agrees.

It's a decent comedy-mystery with most of the humor provided by Mantan Moreland as Knowles' manservant and Shemp Howard as McDonald's assistant. There is also Lionel Atwill as a "Doctor Fish" who always seems to be near at hand, Ray Corrigan in a gorilla suit to spice up proceedings, and a tiny but compelling role for a sultry Jan Wiley as a gangster's moll.

William Nigh, who had been directing movies for thirty years, helms the movie; he was one of the many A-list directors of silent movies who retreated to the Bs and never raised their heads after that. In the 1920s he had directed Marion Davies for Cosmopolitan and Lon Chaney for MGM. By 1932, he was directing B westerns, and spent the last fifteen years of his career at Monogram and PRC. This decent Universal programmer was as rarefied as he got in the sound era. He retired in 1948.

This obscure Universal "B" horror flick is also included in that yet-to-be released Box Set I mentioned in my review of HOUSE OF HORRORS (1946) above and, unfortunately, while I would certainly say that this one is more readily enjoyable, my verdict overall is equally lukewarm. For one thing, much of the film's entertainment value stems more from the interaction between "master" Patrick Knowles (an insurance salesman moonlighting as a private dick!) and klutzy valet Mantan Moreland (who even devices a convoluted method for remembering his most basic instructions)! Also on hand are Knowles' girl Anne Gwynne, distinguished lawyer Samuel S. Hinds (whose guilty but off-the-hook clients are meeting sudden death at the hands of the enigmatic titular medico), the bumbling investigating duo of Edmund MacDonald and Shemp Howard (of "The Three Stooges" fame) and even a brief, thankless "red herring" cameo from a mousy(!) Lionel Atwill. As I intimated earlier, the surfeit of comic incident (not to mention the endless, dull chatter in which various parties, including Hinds' brother Paul Cavanaugh, try to talk Knowles out of taking on the case) – far outweighs the film's horror elements which are puzzlingly relegated to the last five minutes of the 66-minute movie – as if the screenwriter suddenly realized which genre he was supposed to be working in! What happens towards the end, however – with the belated "in costume" appearance of the raspy-voiced doc suddenly hard at work on transplanting the brain of his caged gorilla with that of Knowles?! – comes so utterly out of left field as to seem ridiculously far-fetched and, therefore, unable to redeem this would-be chiller. But, at least, Moreland and, to a lesser extent Howard, are funny

In spite of a title which sounds like something for a horror film and the second billing of Lionel Atwill, this Universal programmer is a breezy "mystery" (not a lot of mystery here) which opens with a series of murders committed of men found innocent of a crime by a killer who leaves notes nearby signed, you guessed it, Doctor Rx.

Patric Knowles plays a dapper detective who lives in a beautiful penthouse apartment with a servant. Don't they all? He spends much of his time looking suave and bantering, with the servant (Manton Moreland), his girlfriend (Anne Gwynne) or a hard nosed police captain (Edmund MacDonald) who wants him to work on the Dr. Rx case because, well, he's hopeless to solve it on his own.

Lionel Atwill, prominently displayed in posters advertising the film and wearing coke bottle bottom glasses, also pops up on the rare occasion, as a suspect. But he's barely in this 65 minute feature. There is, for those who enjoy it, a lot more in the way of clowning from Mantan Moreland and Shemp Howard, the latter playing a police detective who, at one moment, plays craps with Moreland then arrests him for illegal gambling.

As the film is winding down suddenly, out of no where and seemingly from another film, there is a ten minute sequence involving a caged ape straight out of a mad scientist horror film. It's a fun over-the-top piece of stereotypical melodrama, certainly enjoyable while it lasts, but the viewer has to wonder, "Why didn't we get this kind of stuff in the first 50 minutes of this film?"

For those who enjoy Universal "B"s this is a minor effort, but they will still probably get a kick out of some of it, certainly the horror portion, brief as it is, towards the end.