Clients for a certain lawyer are bumped off by a maniacal physician who leaves his calling card by "Rx" along with each individual victim's number as he kills them via poison. Dr. Crispin hopes a well-renowned detective, John Church, will halt his plans of retirement and seek the identity of the killer before he winds up as the next victim(not to mention, rescue his law practice which took a hit thanks to the fact that if you attain Dudley as your lawyer you wind up dead).
Patric Knowles, as Private Eye Jerry Church, many will know from FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, is the star while Anne Gwynne(HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN)is his worried newspaper reporter wife, Kit Logan. With Samuel Hinds(THE RAVEN)as attorney Dudley Crispin, Paul Cavanagh(THE SCARLET CLAW)his brother John, bug-eyed Mantan Moreland as Church's oft-abused butler Horatio(sure to make African-Americans cringe as honkies push and slap him around as the poor guy is used as a bumbling foil), and Shemp Howard(of all people)as a goofy cop. Edmund MacDonald is a cop who wants Church to partner with him on the case of the mysterious psychopath, Dr. Rx. Marital shenanigans between Knowles and Gwynne are used as comic touches as is the casting of Moreland and Shemp to off-set the morbid plot of a killer who keeps to taking out low-life criminals in the mobster underworld. The signature of Rx could be the key to the murderer's undoing. Lionel Atwill, in coke-bottle glasses, is the character of suspicion(which means he's likely a red herring), but his part is so small he's almost a non-entity. I was disappointed in this one more because it plays too much for laughs and not chills. The only real "horror" to the movie is the gorilla scene where it appears that Church will be another victim on Rx's hit list.
Patric Knowles, as Private Eye Jerry Church, many will know from FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, is the star while Anne Gwynne(HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN)is his worried newspaper reporter wife, Kit Logan. With Samuel Hinds(THE RAVEN)as attorney Dudley Crispin, Paul Cavanagh(THE SCARLET CLAW)his brother John, bug-eyed Mantan Moreland as Church's oft-abused butler Horatio(sure to make African-Americans cringe as honkies push and slap him around as the poor guy is used as a bumbling foil), and Shemp Howard(of all people)as a goofy cop. Edmund MacDonald is a cop who wants Church to partner with him on the case of the mysterious psychopath, Dr. Rx. Marital shenanigans between Knowles and Gwynne are used as comic touches as is the casting of Moreland and Shemp to off-set the morbid plot of a killer who keeps to taking out low-life criminals in the mobster underworld. The signature of Rx could be the key to the murderer's undoing. Lionel Atwill, in coke-bottle glasses, is the character of suspicion(which means he's likely a red herring), but his part is so small he's almost a non-entity. I was disappointed in this one more because it plays too much for laughs and not chills. The only real "horror" to the movie is the gorilla scene where it appears that Church will be another victim on Rx's hit list.