AaronCapenBanner Lionel Atwill is the whole show here(practically) as he plays an unethical doctor whose experiments in suspended animation fail miserably. Now wanted for murder by the San Francisco police, he flees the city and boards a ship bound for the South Pacific. Unfortunately, there is a fire on board, and the ship sinks, leaving him and other survivors stranded on a remote island populated by primitive natives who come to worship him after he saves the life of the tribal chief's wife, though the worship goes to his head, really making him power "mad"! Can the other survivors expose him as a fraud? Despite Atwill's lively performance, this film is incredibly dull and forgettable.

Roddenhyzer Alright, let's get the story out of the way: "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" tells the tale of "Dr." Ralph Benson, a hobby scientist who likes to do occasionally fatal experiments in the fields of resuscitation and suspended animation. When the law catches up with him, he attempts to flee the country, but alas, his means of transportation sinks into the Atlantic ocean, where he ends up washed ashore an island with a handful of other survivors. There, Doc Benson sees a chance to continue his experiments, as he manages to fool the resident tribals into thinking he could bring the dead back to life. No one's ever pulled off the classic mad scientist with quite as much cold, sociopathic, yet strangely gleeful enthusiasm as Lionel Atwill did. It was for this very reason that I sought out this movie, and as it turned out, it was also its only saving grace. It's not that the movie is lousily produced; quite the contrary. The production values are rather high, as evidenced by the convincing and rather varied sets. What mars this one is simply the lack of a clear thematic focus. The movie shifts between wacky comedy, island romance, morbid medical thriller and (very mild) science fiction pretty much by the minute. I suppose this *could* all work together, but in this one, these elements just don't blend very well. Whenever there's a sense of tension, one of the comic relief characters pulls a stupid face or says something silly. Whenever the mood is lighthearted and even romantic, someone dies or Doc Benson schemes evilly. There's also a tad bit too much going on in terms of threats and dangers. The supposed villain of the movie is the titular doctor, but the real dangers are a fire on and the subsequent sinking of the ship, and a tribe of islanders, who are always on the verge of burning the group of survivors at the stakes for superstitious reasons. In between all of this, Doc Benson is more of an opportunistic, overachieving charlatan than a properly menacing villain, which only adds to the movie's overall vibe of inconsistency.Literally the only thing that manages to be consistent throughout is Atwill's performance. It's just a delight to watch him deliver his admittedly awesomely megalomaniac lines (the character refers to himself as the "God of Life" and aspires to become the "greatest man who has ever set foot on this earth") with this unique inflection of his. Ultimately, this is why I'm giving this a 6 instead of the maybe much more appropriate 4. As mediocre as everything else about it may be, there's no denying that this one really is an absolute treat for Atwill fans.

kevin olzak 1941's "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" was the second time Lionel Atwill starred as a crazed scientist after receiving top billing over Lon Chaney in "Man Made Monster," but settled for second below Una Merkel here, who was coming off one of her best known roles, playing the ditsy daughter of W.C. Fields in "The Bank Dick." Una's likability survives intact, despite her unfunny material (can't say the same for Nat Pendleton). Nearing the end of her screen career was lovely Claire Dodd, busy at Universal that year ("The Black Cat" and Abbott and Costello's "In the Navy"), while cowardly scoundrel John Eldredge is in familiar form ("The Black Cat" and "Horror Island"). Even Noble Johnson ("King Kong") appears as a dignified native chief, not easy under such studio bound conditions. Atwill's Ralph Benson escapes a murder charge in San Francisco, only to wind up a prisoner on a South Sea island, until a demonstration of his technique on suspended animation on a supposedly dead native woman makes him 'God of Life' among the savages, who grant him his every wish. I certainly can't blame him for coveting Miss Dodd, just as he eyed beautiful Anne Nagel in "Man Made Monster" (here reduced to a cameo as his first victim's widow). Writer Al Martin earlier scripted Lugosi's "Invisible Ghost" (also directed by Joseph H. Lewis), and in 1957 turned out "Invasion of the Saucer Men," a rare science fiction comedy. Included in Universal's popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50's, and aired 3 times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, Dec 18 1965 (following 1959's "The Hideous Sun Demon"), Dec 28 1974 (followed by 1970's "Night of the Witches"), and Sept 3 1977 (the first feature), paired with the only screening of 1934's "Secret of the Château" (a Claire Dodd double feature!).

Scarecrow-88 THE MAD DOCTOR OF MARKET STREET sadly marks the end to Lionel Atwill as a major star in Universal horror(and film in general)due to a sex scandal. I won't dwell on those details, instead focusing on his attributes as they pertain to THE MAD DOCTOR OF MARKET STREET. He's the whole show in this rather mediocre island mad scientist thriller as the diabolical antics of Atwill's crazed, narcissistic Dr. Ralph Benson put the lives of stranded passengers in danger as the restless, superstitious natives consider him a "god of life" when he heals one of their own, a woman who had a heart attack. Benson pretends he brought this woman back from the dead and is heralded by the jungle natives who grant him all the amenities he so desires, living it up as a king, his own hut, and the ability to command the other passengers out of the village until he wishes to experiment on them in regards to suspended animation. Benson was a fugitive on the lam(his experiment led to the death of a human guinea pig), having boarded a cruise for another country. Benson causes a fire on the liner, resulting in everyone on board having to leave the ship. He boards a canoe with Aunt Margaret(Una Merkel), who expected to marry a wealthy man in Australia, her niece, Patricia(Claire Dodd), a boxer preparing for a big fight(Nat Pendleton, playing his character as if he had been hit in the head a few too many times in the ring), and two members of the cruise's crew, Jim(Richard Davies)and Dwight(John Eldridge). They must determine how to get off the island as Benson has become power mad, with designs on marriage with Patricia and experimenting on the men of the group. Atwill was always adept at portraying crazy-eyed scientists who besmirched anyone that attempted to defy him, taking advantage of the weak and vulnerable, as was the case in this film as he promised to pay his subject 1000 dollars to the man's family in exchange for his willingness to volunteer for his suspended animation experiment. The title is a bit misleading as I imagine many, like I was, will enter the film expecting a mad scientist performing his experiments on innocents in and around his laboratory on Market Street. Then the movie's plot moves to the luxury liner where we are led to believe that Benson may prey on passengers while on the cruise. And finally the film shifts to the island paradise where Benson uses the backwards customs and beliefs of natives to his advantage, later paying the price when Jim finds a dead primitive, orchestrating a revolt if the mad doctor can not revive him. It's a shame that Atwill's career, like so many other treasures icons of Universal horror, would end so badly, but we can always return to his films time and again, relishing his colorful madmen, scientists, and village policemen. His presence, no matter how small the part, always caught my attentiom, as I imagine it did to many of his other fans as well.