calvinnme In this entry of the Crime Doctor series, starring Warner Baxter as psychiatrist Dr. Robert Ordway, Ordway's neighbor knocks on his door one night and asks him to attend to a party guest, a diabetic, who has passed out. He hasn't taken his insulin, which he usually takes before dinner, but dinner has been delayed. Dr. Ordway asks the diabetic's sister where he keeps his insulin, she retrieves it, and Ordway gives him the dose. The man regains consciousness for just a few minutes and then dies. Ordway has injected him with a mixture of insulin and poison. As the police say to Ordway the next day "Someone has made a fine sucker out of you." It turns out that Walter Foster, the victim, was a man who inherited 250 thousand dollars - a tidy sum in those days - and in a couple of years had blown through it all. The victim also had some interesting last words "God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another", from Hamlet. Me? If I was in such a bind I'm sure I would just say "Help me I'm dying!!!", rather than quote Shakespeare, but that's another story.Angry that he has been made the patsy in this murder, and also having his natural curiosity about crime, Ordway goes about trying to find the murderer. This entry just oozes atmosphere. You have strange goings on at a funeral parlor, a screaming woman trapped in the funeral parlor with a dead body that is to be buried the next morning, and the parlor's hearse driving around menacingly at night, looking more like it is in search of creating corpses rather than just hauling them.This entry was directed by William Castle and has that macabre feeling for which his films were well known. I'd say the story and direction make this a cut above the other Crime Doctor films, not that any of the others were bad or even mediocre. I'd recommend it.

blanche-2 This is the 7th entry in the "Crime Doctor" series starring Warner Baxter as Dr. Robert Ordway. This time, at a party, he gives a diabetic in shock insulin, using a bottle of insulin in his pocket, only to find out it was poison when the patient dies. Before the man dies, he mutters something which turns out to be from Hamlet.There are two other murders, but as usual, Ordway figures it out. He has plenty of suspects, too.Directed by William Castle, this is an interesting story, though none of these "Crime Doctor" films are particularly thrilling. Baxter gives his usual relaxed performance, though it's noticeable in the later films that his health was failing.Good film for mystery buffs, even if you can figure out the end.

sol **SPOILERS**Being a good neighbor Dr. Robert Ordway, Warner Baxter, after being summoned to his next door neighbors house party in the hope that he'll revived the out cold Walter Foster, George Meeker, who passed out after he took a couple of drinks. The celebrated crime doctor sees that Walters condition is the result of Walters drinking and forgetfulness of him taking his daily insulin injection. After getting the insulin kit from Walter's overcoat Dr. Ordway gives him a shot in the arm and within seconds Walter, regaining consciousness, is as good as new. Then inexpediently seconds later he goes into a series of deadly convulsions and expires.It's obvious that someone at the Foster party pulled a switcheroo substituting the insulin for poison to take Walter out of his life as well as the killers hair. But with some two dozen people at the party who was it! It becomes evident from watching the movie that this creepy looking undertaker Karl Ganss, the Joesph Geobbles looking Martin Kosleck, and his hulking henchman Casper played by the TV "Millionaires" Marvin Miller-look alike Marian Miller were responsible for Walters death. As we later find out, together with Dr. Ordway, that there's a lot more then meets the eye in this murder mystery and that has to do with who the two weirdo, Ganss & Casper, are working for. And far more important whats the motivation, besides money, that their doing what their doing.Dr. Ordway gets a little too close to what's behind Walter Foster's murder when his sister Clair, Adele Roberts, and Ganss funeral assistant Connie Day, Peggy Converse, goes missing. Thats after he gets involved with them in uncovering Walters strange death. It's later that even the doctor himself becomes the victim of Ganss' and Casper's shenanigans. Thats when Casper brings in to see the doctor for help this paranoid schizophrenic, played the skeletal-looking Skelton Knaggs, claiming to be his crazed and unstable brother Louie. Casper after getting Dr. Ordway alone in his office sicks, like he was a mad and rabid dog, Louie on him who ended up shooting the doctor in the face temporally blinding him. Louie himself was soon discarded by Casper who threw him out the window of Dr. Ordways high rise building as he quickly fled the scene of his crime.Recovering from his wound Dr. Ordway played it cool making it look like he was blinded and used that excuse to have the Walter Foster's, as well as his sister Clair and Connie Day, killers drop their guard and have them exposed, thinking that Ordway was sightless, themselves. It's then the cops, together with the crime doctor, could not only get the drop on them but get Mr.Big himself to confess. But only after Dr. Ordway risked his life in giving Mr. Big enough confidence and rope , knowing that the good doc was not long for this world, to hang himself. We and Dr. Ordway can all thank God for the invention of the good old stomach pump which without it would not have made a happy ending in the movie "Just Before Dawn" possible.

Neil Doyle This time Dr. Ordway (WARNER BAXTER) is involved in a plot concerning diabetics and insulin with the reliable MARTIN KOSLECK as the villain of the piece who is not above switching a bottle of insulin for poison and making Dr. Ordway the unsuspecting killer.While there are plenty of suspects who might have wanted the deceased man out of the way, the plot hinges mostly on sinister doings at the Ganss Mortuary run by Kosleck who is prone to dispose of anyone who is going to reveal information to Dr. Ordway.It's a good old-fashioned mystery with some creepy characters among the villains assisting Kosleck and the plot is less murky than some of the others in the crime doctor series. There's a clever plot twist with the doctor using supposed blindness as deception in catching the killer.Summing up: One of the better entries in the crime doctor series.