Michael O'Keefe
You just can't go too wrong when William Castle directs something. I really love sitting back and watching an old Black & White mystery. THE CRIME DOCTOR'S WARNING fills the bill. Very good story line and not-over-the-top dramatic dialogue. Dr. Robert Ordway(Warner Baxter)is a brilliant criminologist and is requested by the local authority, Inspector Dawes(John Lidle)to investigate the murder of two artist's models. Modern artist Clive Lake(Coulter Irwin)seems suspect because of having ravaging headaches and blackouts about the same time as the murders. When it is discovered that the two young ladies posed for a missing painting with a third model, Dr. Ordway seems to be racing the clock trying to find that missing painting, plus the identity of the third model whose life may be in jeopardy.Also in the cast: John Abbott, Dusty Anderson, Miles Mander and Franco Corsaro.
blanche-2
Warner Baxter reprises his role as the "Crime Doctor" in "The Crime Doctor's Warning," one of the later entries into the series. The director this time is William Castle.In this episode, Dr. Ordway is trying to help a young artist who has blackouts, during which one of his models is killed.I have to disagree with those who found this fast-paced. For me, it moves slowly, though the story is interesting. These Crime Doctor films generally have off-beat stories, but not the budget or quality directors to bring them up a level. In this case, Castle is an effective director, all right, but some of the acting is awful particularly from Coulter Irwin, who apparently was told to act like a vegetable.Warner Baxter, so frenetic in "42nd Street," is much more relaxed as Dr. Ordway, probably because he suffered a nervous breakdown. In any event, he's very natural and a likable character.These movies aren't great, but they sure did come up with some wild plots.
HallmarkMovieBuff
One of the better films in the Crime Doctor series, this entry has enough variety to sustain interest, enough characters to keep one confused, and enough twists and turns to keep the viewer guessing as to the perpetrator right up towards the end.But where has the luscious Dusty Anderson, who plays one of the artist models, been all my viewing career? A bit player for Columbia around the end of WW II, research reveals that she married director Jean Negulesco and became a painter, not too far distant a profession from the one she plays in this movie. I'd suggest to anybody wanting to see more of her, however briefly, to look for her in one of several Rita Hayworth movies. (Check her IMDb.com entry for a list.) For me, however, this movie was stolen by J. M. Kerrigan and Miles Mander, both of whom play art dealers, and both highly credible in their parts, the former a Scotsman who "would swim to Glasgow for a farthing" (if I recall the quote correctly), and the latter a sophisticated high-end dealer who doesn't sell any painting for under $500 (no small sum in those days).
Neil Doyle
Hardly likely to rank with an Agatha Christie type of mystery, these are fast paced, entertaining little items from Columbia starring WARNER BAXTER as the crime doctor/sleuth. He's always faced with a bunch of red herrings and a crime that baffles the police--as well as the viewer, at least until the last five minutes when everything is wrapped up with such rapidity that you barely have time to recover from trying to guess who done it.And there are plenty of suspects in the murder of models (male and female) and an artist--but at the center of the story is a young man (COULTER IRWIN) who blacks out on a regular basis and seems to be framed for the murder of one of his models.Supporting cast is dotted with well-known character actors from the '40s, including JOHN LITEL as a detective, ALMA KRUGER as Coulter's overbearing mother, JOHN ABBOTT as a shady sculptor, and MILES MANDER as an equally shady art dealer. There's also an outrageously hammy performance by EDUARDO CIANNELLI as a crazed artist who knows something about a painting beneath a painting.The viewer is kept in the dark as to the identity of a man creeping about and committing the crimes until the last few minutes in time for the usual abrupt ending.Summing up: Too many elements of the story are unbelievable, but it's still briskly produced and passes the time quickly.
AD
