"Doctor X" is probably best remembered as an early two strip Technicolor movie (it was also filmed simultaneously in B & W) rather than as the horror/comedy its supposed to be. Granted, the settings and the color photography are excellent, I just didn't like picture all that much overall. The film could have been a great horror film but for the comical interludes that we find throughout. Director Michael Curtiz did the best he could with a weak and confusing script.
The "full moon strangler" has been murdering people during full moons and removing parts of the victims' flesh. Cannibalism? Hmmmm. Police Commissioner Stevens (Robert Warwick) has traced the suspected killer to the Academy of Surgical Research run by a Doctor Xavier (Doctor X--get it?). The suspects include Dr. Wells (Preston Foster), Dr. Haines (John Wray), Dr. Duke (Harry Baresford) and Dr. Rowitz (Arthur Edmund Carewe). All are engaged in various areas of medical research. One is identified as an expert in the the area of cannibalism so its not too difficult to identify the killer early on.
Thrown in with the horror element is comedy relief, provided by Lee Tracy as Reporter Lee Taylor and Leila Bennet as the Xavier's maid. For the romantic interest and plenty of screams is brunette Fay Wray as Xavier's daughter Joan. Although some laud the comedic segments, I for one feel that it spoils the whole film. It plays like a Bob Hope comedy a few years down the road.
The transformation of one of the doctors into the full-moon strangler is well done and the best part of the picture (synthetic flesh...ha, ha, ha). It reminds one of a similar sequence in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" released the same year. The scene where all of the doctors are all shackled in order to watch a re-enactment of the crime makes no sense to me at all.
Lionel Atwill is totally wasted hereto . He has nothing to do but roam between the various laboratories and comfort his nervous daughter. He would do much better in "Mystery of the Wax Museum", also in color, released the following year.Tracy is totally out of place as the wise cracking reporter. As I have said, without the comedic elements, this could have been a horror classic. And in pre-production code Hollywood, watch for Mae Busch as the Madame of an obvious house of ill repute.
The "full moon strangler" has been murdering people during full moons and removing parts of the victims' flesh. Cannibalism? Hmmmm. Police Commissioner Stevens (Robert Warwick) has traced the suspected killer to the Academy of Surgical Research run by a Doctor Xavier (Doctor X--get it?). The suspects include Dr. Wells (Preston Foster), Dr. Haines (John Wray), Dr. Duke (Harry Baresford) and Dr. Rowitz (Arthur Edmund Carewe). All are engaged in various areas of medical research. One is identified as an expert in the the area of cannibalism so its not too difficult to identify the killer early on.
Thrown in with the horror element is comedy relief, provided by Lee Tracy as Reporter Lee Taylor and Leila Bennet as the Xavier's maid. For the romantic interest and plenty of screams is brunette Fay Wray as Xavier's daughter Joan. Although some laud the comedic segments, I for one feel that it spoils the whole film. It plays like a Bob Hope comedy a few years down the road.
The transformation of one of the doctors into the full-moon strangler is well done and the best part of the picture (synthetic flesh...ha, ha, ha). It reminds one of a similar sequence in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" released the same year. The scene where all of the doctors are all shackled in order to watch a re-enactment of the crime makes no sense to me at all.
Lionel Atwill is totally wasted hereto . He has nothing to do but roam between the various laboratories and comfort his nervous daughter. He would do much better in "Mystery of the Wax Museum", also in color, released the following year.Tracy is totally out of place as the wise cracking reporter. As I have said, without the comedic elements, this could have been a horror classic. And in pre-production code Hollywood, watch for Mae Busch as the Madame of an obvious house of ill repute.