THE RETURN OF DOCTOR
X-1939-Walter Garrett (Wayne Morris), a dumb reporter breaks the news
of the death of an actress Angela Merrova (Lya Lys) but her body
disappears and when she winds up alive, Garrett's fired. He goes
to his friend Dr. Rhodes (Dennis Morgan) for advice. Rhodes does an
operation with the brilliant Dr. Flegg (John Litel). When a body is
found drained of blood the police think Rhodes is the murderer.
Strange bloodstains are found on the scene. Rhodes visits Flegg and
meets his weird assistant Quesne (Humphrey Bogart), a soft spoken pale
guy with a white streak in his hair. When Merrova suddenly dies (for
real), Garrett and Rhodes investigate along with the doc's
nurse/girlfriend Joan (Rosemary Lane) in tow. Later Garrett discovers
that Quesne is actually Dr. Xavier, a whacko who let a baby die as an
experiment and was executed years before. They dig up his coffin and
it's empty. Flegg admits that after bringing a rabbit back to life he
did the same for X/Quesne and knows Quesne is a murderer and he is to
blame. X/Q kills Flegg and kidnaps Joan for her blood (he has a book
with the names of all blood donors who have his type). Before he can
kill her he's shot and killed in NJ. Olin Howland plays an
undertaker. Two interns are played by William Hopper and Glen Langan.
Huntz Hall is Pinky and Ian Wolfe is a caretaker.
This is a typical
Warner Bros type “stand alone” horror/murder mystery with an
untypical horror lead. The casting of Bogart is the only reason it's
probably remembered today! It was directed by former actor Vincent
Sherman who later worked with Bogart on ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT.
Thanks for reading!
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