calvinnme I found this film fascinating, mainly because of the setting of Dr. Ordway's case. Dr. Robert Ordway, eminent New York City psychiatrist, is taking his first vacation in years, and decides to go hunting and fishing for a month. The name of the town Ordway stays in is mentioned - Brook Falls - but the state is not. And there is good reason. Whatever state that was named as the location would have been up in arms about the backwards depiction of its residents.Several townspeople get ill with "summer complaint" as it is named, and many often die. The town doctor turns out to not really be an M.D. at all, instead, as Ordway finds out by looking at the doc's office wall, the "squire" of the town just gave him a certificate to practice medicine in Brook Falls 30 years before, and he's been feeling his way through ever since! "Doctor" Millerson is more of an herbalist than anything, and doesn't even understand basic chemistry, microbiology, or that a wound needs to be sterilized! Millerson is also resentful of anybody going to the new county clinic for treatment rather than himself. Town barber Ward Beachy becomes very ill and, even though he's been going to the county clinic, Millerson agrees to a house call and gives him some of his "complaint bitters", which is actually a useless yet harmless concoction of herbs.Now Ordway is boarding with the Millersons since apparently there is no hotel in town, and he has just arrived when the state police and health officials arrive and quarantine the town. Apparently what Millerson calls "summer complaint" is actually typhoid. Once the state officials realize they have the famous Dr. Ordway in their midst they ask him to help out, and of course he agrees. Three people ultimately die during the epidemic, one of them being Beachy. However, a post-mortum shows Beachy did not die of typhoid, instead he was poisoned. Suspicion immediately falls on "Doc" Millerson, since Millerson did treat Beachy and was known to harbor a grudge about Beachy going to the county clinic.But Ordway just isn't buying it. He figures Millerson may not be a real doctor, but he doesn't figure he's a killer either. Further probing by the good doctor reveals that the married Beachy was a real lady's man, giving possible motives to Beachy's girlfriends, their husbands, maybe even Beachy's own wife. I'll let you watch and see how this all shakes out.Someone wrote here that the setting is the Blue Ridge Mountains, which is never stated in the film. However, if so, there is even a bigger mystery to solve here. Why would Ordway drive such a long distance for hunting and fishing when upstate New York has the same thing? One possible motive - there appear to be no phones in the town, so nobody back at the office could possibly bother him. Watch this one not just for the mystery, which is engaging, but to see how the urbane Ordway is able to get along with and relate to all kinds of people - a real talent in itself if you think about it.

mark.waltz When the Crime Doctor heads to the boonies for a week of fishing and hunting, it is only a matter of time before murder follows. What starts off as a series of typhoid cases resulting in quarantine reveals murder. So far, so smart, but not for long. These country folk all have secret resentments, and when one of them dies of something other than typhoid, the backwoods doctor is made out to be the top suspect. There is obviously a reason why one film press agent wrote, "Hicks Nix Stykx Pix", and this just gets more and more ridiculous as it uncovers such idiot hokum as corn whiskey, home-made medical remedies and a town fair that of course ends up with a square dance. The creators were stretching this series to the max with this entry that would insult the residents of TV's Bugtustle and Petticoat Junction. Not to mention that this was a re-tread of a plot similar to 1932's "The Circus Queen Murder" where detective Adolph Menjou also headed to the country for a vacation and ended up involved in murder as well.

MartinHafer Well, one thing you can say about the Crime Doctor detective series is that it sure didn't fall into a predictable pattern. Unlike other Columbia Pictures films of the genre (such as Boston Blackie and The Lone Wolf), the plot lines and locations of the Crime Doctor films generally made them a bit fresher and more interesting.Here, oddly enough, Dr. Ordway takes a needed vacation in what looks like the Ozarks or Appalachians (though the exact setting was never mentioned). Talk about a big departure from the usual sophistication of New York! While his going there for hunting and fishing is unusual, what ISN'T unusual is that murders occur here--just like in the city! The troubles begin in this very backward little town when Typhoid breaks out and Dr. Ordway is pressed into service by the county health department. While assisting with autopsies, Ordway discovers that one of the victims has no trace of Typhoid in his blood and the man was actually poisoned! At this point, given that this is the country and Ordway is quite the amateur detective, he helps the police solve the crime as well as rid the town of infection.Because of the strange combination of the New York psychiatrist and the Li'l Abner-like locals, this makes for a very strange mix. While certainly far from the best Crime Doctor film, fans of the genre no doubt will be thrilled to see a unique story and decent writing. And don't worry--this is NOT anything like SWING YOUR LADY or other silly hillbilly films.

whpratt1 Greatly enjoy these classic films which featured Dr. Robert Ordway,(Warner Baxter) who plays the role of doctor and also a detective who always manages to catch the killer. In this story, Dr. Ordway cancels all his appointments at his office in New York City and hands all his cases over to his assistant and tells everyone he is going on a vacation way out in the country for some good fishing and hunting and he will not involve himself with anything else, because he has not taken a rest for a very long time. Dr. Ordway no sooner gets to his location that the local town becomes sick with a Typhoid epidemic and everyone is getting sick and some people are dying. There is a local doctor who mixes all kinds of herbs and way out contents and Dr. Ordway has to take matters into his own hands. Dr. Ordway runs some tests with the state health department and discovers that someone has been poisoned and then the story takes on a different twist and Dr. Ordway stops enjoying any kind of vacation and tries to find out who the killer is. This is a great look back at films in 1947 and is lots of fun to watch.