CRIME DOCTOR’S WARNING (1945)
Article 2832 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-7-2009
Posting Date: 5-15-2009
Directed by William Castle
Featuring Warner Baxter, John Litle, Dusty Anderson
Country: USA

Dr. Ordway is consulted on the murder of a model. He has a patient who suffers blackouts who may be connected to the crime, a possibility that exists when a model he’s been using also ends up murdered.

For the second day in a row, I find myself dealing with artists and models, albeit in a distinctly different genre. And, as it was yesterday, the fantastic content is pretty slight; we have a character with multiple personalities, hypnotism is used at one point, and a wax sculpture turns up. I do like the Crime Doctor series; they’re efficient and solidly told, but ultimately the story here doesn’t quite satisfy, and the ending is a letdown; when you get right down to it, the various story elements don’t really mesh as well as they could. John Abbott shows up as a silhouettist who is one of the suspects, and Eduardo Ciannelli appears as an overly colorful male model who resents the overuse of beautiful women in the trade. Still, for a b-movie, this is quite watchable.