The Return of Doctor X (1939)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

As colorless as Humphrey Bogart's skin in this D grade Warner Brothers' horror film. this has as much connection to the 1932 science fiction classic "Doctor X" as the Universal series of 1940's mummy films had in common with with the 1932 Karloff classic. There is a slight connection, but it is completely unbelievable. Good scientist/doctor Dennis Morgan must discover why nearly bloodless corpses of the same blood type keep turning up and why one alleged victim turns up alive, only to die for real out of the blue. This brings him and detective Wayne Morris to blood specialist John Litel who has some answers, some of which make this preposterous film more convoluted and hardly suspenseful, especially when they meet Litel's seemingly anemic assistant (Bogart), made up to resemble Karloff in 1934's "The Black Cat". Bogart has never looked so embarrassed on screen, and with good reason. After all, what movie star can say that they were made up to look like both Karloff AND Pepe le Peu in the same film? If Hollywood ever starts a wax museum of the most bizarre looking people on screen, Bogart's character here should be the first created!

Reporter Walt Garrett (Wayne Morris) stumbles into the biggest story of his career. A fiend is running around draining people of their blood; who could be responsible? Walt, trying desperately to vindicate himself and save his career, does a lot of sleuthing with a friend of his, a young doctor named Michael Rhodes (Dennis Morgan).Co-star Humphrey Bogart was none too happy to be doing this feature, believing his role was more for the likes of Karloff and Lugosi. But his fans will be greatly intrigued to see him in this one-shot genre role, and certainly Dr. Quesne is one of the creepiest that he ever played. Pasty faced, with a shock of white hair, and given to cuddling bunnies, this *is* a fun character. Basically, what gives "The Return of Doctor X" any stature is the fact that it's Bogart playing this villain.The story is still punchy and entertaining. Scripted by Lee Katz, it's notable for a lot of lively and sometimes funny dialogue. Morris is quite engaging in the primary role, and Morgan is similarly likable. Rosemary Lane is lovely and amiable as Joan Vance, the dedicated nurse who catches Rhodes's eye. There's an amusing small role for Huntz Hall, and appearances by a number of top character actors - John Litel (as the well meaning Dr. Flegg), Charles C. Wilson, Olin Howland, Creighton Hale, John Ridgely, Glenn Langan, and Ian Wolfe.The movie benefits from a breezy pace, snappy direction by Vincent Sherman, and a decent finale.Six out of 10.

An actress is murdered in her hotel room, and the body discovered by a news reporter. However, when the body disappears, and the "murder victim" comes back to life, newspaper reporter who covered the murder must find out exactly what is going on. Something having to do with blood-type groupings, but it was difficult to pay full attention to this yawner. Not a horror film at all, but an unsuccessful mix of 1940s glitz and glamour and bad comedy. It is mostly just a chore to sit through, despite some well done cinematography and lighting, probably the only real draw to this film. Well, that, and the opportunity to see mis-cast Bogart with a white stripe through his hair, looking like a zombie skunk.

According to legend, in the late 1930s, studio chief Jack Warner was outraged that Humphrey Bogart was bad-mouthing him at every opportunity. He supposedly called his casting director and said "What's the worst role on the lot for a star?" The answer was the zombie in "The Return of Dr. X." Is the story apocryphal? Who knows? But under contract to Warner Bros., Bogart was forced to play a doctor brought back from the dead. And there has never been a more entertaining revivified corpse. From the moment he appears, stroking an albino rabbit, offering to "discuss hemoglobin" with another medico, he's a pleasure to watch. It's as if he is saying, "Take this, Jack. And thanks for a fun role." The score I've given "The Return of Dr. X" hardly signifies high cinematic art. But simply the enjoyment of watching one of the screen's most charismatic performers turn a routine B horror story into a camp classic.