Saturday, February 16, 2019

Mascot Update: The Crime Doctor

As the third of my 4 spotlights on B movie sleuths, we have The Crime Doctor. Warner Baxter played the title character, who was based on books and radio fame.

 The Crime Doctor was Baxter's come back set of vehicles, although in the old studio system there really wasn't such a thing. Baxter had won acclaim, and the Oscar, for a series of Latin Lovers / Bad Guys.

By the 1940s Warner Baxter's young latin-ish looks had faded. But he was cast as The Crime Doctor, and played him for 10 more movies.

The plot (from IMDB with some tweeks by me). "Amnesia victim, Robert Ordway, becomes the country's leading criminal psychologist. So, this man wakes up with amnesia and no one can help, so he self-ecucates to become a criminal psychologist. When he is hit on the head (by someone from his past) he suddenly remembers his previous life as a criminal. He uses his psychological expertise and his criminal expertise to solve crimes for the police."

Thee movies are pretty rudimentary B movies, reused sets, training grounds for Directors and Cinematographers, but clearly had a following. You don't make 10 of them for no reason.



They are great, but they are great fun if you just want to hang back for an hour or so and be entertained. Some jokes, some crime, some solutions. Like the TV show "Elementary" for the 1940s (sans Lucy Lui).