Paramount Pictures didn’t have much box office success with their adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau, Island of Lost Souls, but that very same year director Michael Curtiz delivered another “mad doctor” entry, one that not only proved quite successful it also introduced actor Lionel Atwill to the general public, playing the titular Doctor X and starting his long career of playing doctors mad or otherwise.
This horrific mystery centres around a serial murderer that the press had dubbed the “Moon Killer” as he only strikes during the full moon, worse is the fact that each body has been cannibalized after the murder, and we're talking decades before Hannibal Lecter would make the scene. On the trail of the killer is reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) who hopes to get a scoop and secure his job at the Daily World, but this job becomes more complicated when the police bring in renowned Doctor Xavier (Lionel Atwill) to examine the latest victim of this gruesome murderer and Xavier is no fan of newspaper publicity. Unfortunately for the good doctor, the police aren’t just interested in his skills as a coroner but more to the fact that all of the murders have occurred near his Academy of Surgical Research, then add to the fact that the type of scalpel used by the killer is only to be found at his facility, the suspicion falls heavily one of the academics working for under him.
“Clearly, someone was just out for a late-night bite.”
Or suspect list consists of Dr. Haines (John Wray), Dr. Duke (Harry Beresford) and Rowitz (Arthur Edmund Carewe), and while there is a fourth doctor working for Xavier he is the one-armed Wells (Preston Foster) and doesn’t seem a likely candidate as the killer, one who first strangles his victims before getting down to cannibalism. The police want a full investigation but Dr. Xavier, desperate to keep his business out of the newspapers, begs them to let him find the killer in his own way via some rather outlandish pseudoscience bullshit. For some reason, the police agree to give him 48 hours to figure out on his own which of his people is a murderous madman, but will that be enough time and will the killer strike again?
My guess is that the body count will rise.
The plot of Doctor X is fairly absurd and the scientific mumbo-jumbo Doctor Xavier spouts is about as realistic as anything you’d find in a Commando Cody adventure serial. The fact that Michael Curtiz employed the great Lionel Atwill to produce reams of this techno-babble nonsense shows what an astute director he was, because Atwill is fantastic at delivering such pieces of exposition as “Now, it is my theory, that one of us in the past, through dire necessity, was driven to cannibalism. The memory of that act was hammered like a nail into the mind of that man. Shrewd and brilliant, he could conceal his madness from the human eye, even from himself... but he can't conceal it from the eyes of the radio sensitivity.” This is a machine that will, apparently, be able to deduce which one of them is the killer. If only Scotland Yard had such a device.
This movie is just chock full of mad science.
And how exactly does all of this “science” work? Simply put, the suspects are all hooked up to this elaborate piece of apparatus that will measure their reactions to certain stimuli, which consists of subjecting them to the light of a full moon and lifelike reproductions of the Moon Killer's pitiful victims. Then Xavier's creepy butler (George Rosener) and hysterical maid (Leila Bennett) would act out the latest murder, which to Xavier’s theory, would cause strong mental repressions and phobias hidden from the darkest corners of the subconscious mind, which would be brought to the surface and thus expose the guilty man. I’m guessing this device works something like a lie detector, we do see each suspect hooked up to an electrical system that records his heart rate, but the whole setup looks absolutely insane, and I love it.
I bet Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot would have loved this device.
What’s amazing is that the film doesn’t just rely on Xavier’s crazy madness detector for its mad science, nope, this film goes all in when it comes to mad science because we get the big reveal is that one-armed Wells had somehow invented something he calls "synthetic flesh" and has been creating artificial limbs and a horrific mask to aid him in carrying out his crimes, which was to collect living samples of human flesh for his experiments. That he achieved such knowledge by researching cannibals in Africa and “stealing the flesh” from them just adds more layers to this villain’s madness, to the point where it is so over-the-top crazy you almost have to respect him for it.
Even Doctor Jekyll would have called this a bit much.
Stray Observations:
• The villain of this film is referred to as the Moon Killer and is almost certainly a very thinly disguised reference to Albert Fish, aka the Moon Maniac, whose cannibalistic crime spree ranged from 1924-32 and was still ongoing at the time of this film's release.
• Dr. Wells is an expert on cannibalism and Dr. Haines and Dr. Rowitz were once shipwrecked with a third person who “vanished” and they were both suspected of cannibalism. Talk about on-the-nose suspects for a case revolving around a cannibalistic murderer.
• Doctor Xavier is able to commission figures of Moon Killer’s victims on a moment's notice, which is impressive unless he made them himself, Atwill later became quite adept with them in Mystery of the Wax Museum.
• A killer unable to control himself during a full moon would, of course, become a key ingredient of Universal’s The Wolf Man.
• The dark house overlooking the sea, a group of murder suspects, and a masked killer roaming through secret passageways all make this film a proto-Scooby-Doo mystery.
"You're gonna have yourself a Scooby Snack!"
One of the standout qualities of Doctor X is its visual style and atmospheric setting. The film presents a hauntingly beautiful depiction of a mysterious laboratory tucked away inside a looming mansion on a seaside cliff. The shadowy lighting and eerie set designs create a palpable sense of dread and suspense, perfectly capturing the tone of the narrative. The use of two-strip Technicolor in select scenes further enhances the film's otherworldly charm. And it should be noted that this film was produced in the pre-Code era of Hollywood and thus it contains adult themes throughout, such as those of murder, cannibalism, prostitution and rape, elements that would definitely not appear in later films of the genre.
“Fay, we’ve got to get busy before the Hays Code takes effect.”
The performances in Doctor X are all top-notch, particularly Lionel Atwill as the bombastic Doctor Xavier. Atwill brings a commanding presence to the character, conveying both brilliance and a hint of sinister motives. And while Lee Tracy's portrayal of the witty and determined reporter adds a dose of humour and energy to the film it probably would have worked better with someone like Bob Hope in the role, something akin to The Cat and the Canary. The film also supports a love interest, something genre films always have whether the plot needs them or not, and in this case, it comes in the form of Doctor Xavier’s daughter Joanne (Fay Wray), who inexplicably made the trip to this creepy mansion, and while no logical reason is given to her inclusion in the events it does allow her to fulfill the role of damsel in distress.
Note: A year after the release of this film Fay Wray will take on her most iconic role, that of Anne Darrow in the monster classic King Kong.
While Doctor X is often categorized as a horror film, it possesses a unique blend of genres that sets it apart from the typical horror fare of its time. It incorporates elements of mystery, science fiction, and even dark humour and it's this amalgamation of genres that keeps the audience engaged and invested in the unfolding story. Now, Doctor X quite perfection as it does have one failing and that is in the mystery aspect itself, which has to with the reveal of the killer being as impossible as it is absurd - cue the silly science fiction of synthetic flesh - and the obviousness of his identity could have only been more obvious if the butler did it. But despite absurdness of the villain the film still manages to create a chilling atmosphere without relying on excessive gore or jump scares, instead, it focused on suspenseful storytelling and intriguing character dynamics. For fans of classic horror or those interested in the evolution of the genre, Doctor X is a must-watch.
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