The Return of Doctor X is director Vincent Sherman’s (The Adventures of Don Juan [1948]) first time behind the camera and features Humphrey Bogart in his sole horror outing. Bogie breaks away from the Duke Mantee mold and plays a modern-day vampire of sorts. This nosferatu with an iconic streak of white hair, uses a more scientific approach, so there’s no neck biting in this murder/mystery/horror/comedy/buddy picture.
Buy The Return of Doctor X Blu-rayReporter Walter Barnett’s (Wayne Morris) curiosity is piqued after two strange murders occur where the bodies have been drained of their blood. The first was that of renowned actress Angela Merrova (Lya Lys), who Walt himself discovered. He senses something foul after her body goes missing only to appear the next day with a fresh case of slander against him and the paper he writes for. After losing his job, Walt learns of another body that has been drained of its blood in the same manner. Walt convinces his doctor pal, Mike Rhodes (Dennis Morgan), to help him get to the bottom of these crazy crimes. Their initial hunch leads them to Mike’s mentor, Doctor Francis Flegg (John Litel). It’s during a visit to Doc Flegg’s laboratory that they meet a strange, cold-handed assistant Flegg calls “Quesne” (Bogart).
After some digging around in the newspaper’s file room with help from a copy boy named Pinky (Hunts Hall), Walt discovers the shocking truth. Quesne is really the formerly dead Dr. Maurice Xavier! Dr. X had been executed by electric shock due to his nefarious experiments on infants. Now the boys have teamed up with an attractive nurse named Joan (Rosemary Lane), who rides along with them as they drive around town searching for more clues that will link Dr. X or Flegg to the bizarre deaths. What they find is that Flegg had revived Dr. X to help him further his studies in hematology. But the synthetic blood Flegg has concocted doesn’t work as well as good old-fashioned human blood. So Dr. X needs to drain the blood from living victims like the gothic vampires of old. It all comes to a head after X runs off to his old lab in the country to extract the blood of pretty nurse Joan. Of course, the boys have alerted the cops, and there’s a grand shootout where Dr. X dies again, gangster style. Top of the blood-sucking world, Ma!
As mixed up as it may sound, The Return of Doctor X is actually quite witty and fun. For a horror picture, it’s rather lighthearted. Its decent comedy and well-played gags makes it more of a murder/mystery thriller than straight horror. Its brisk pace and snappy 62-minute runtime make up for any silly plot holes or tired genre tropes, which include the comic-relief reporter, the sci-fi mad doctor with zapping gizmos, and the big gangster shootout. The cast of solid B-movie staples mentioned above help drive the story along. Bogie in a break from the gangster heavies he’d been cast as previously, plays the odd part or Dr. X well but rather stiffly, though that could just be because he’s a revived dead man. Bogie, as always, puts his best foot forward and his efforts will propel him towards breakout roles the following year in They Drive by Night and High Sierra.
Special Features include archival audio commentary by nearly 100-year-old director Vincent Sherman and author/film historian Dr. Steve Haberman. Dr. H. gives us a good history of the making of The Return of Doctor X, its actors, and crew. He also points out how it’s a sequel in name only to 1932’s Doctor X starring Lionel Awell and Fay Wray. Dr. H. discusses how it was originally purchased with Karloff and Lugosi in mind but eventually went to Bogie in the Karloff part as Dr. X and Litel as Flegg instead of Lugosi. Sherman, for his segment, provides many entertaining and fascinating memories about his friendships and life in motion pictures. For someone about to turn 100, he processes a very sharp memory.
Also included are two classic cartoon shorts; Merrie Melodies Dog Gone Modern and Looney Tunes Porky’s Hotel. Dog Gone features two mutts who stumble into a home-of-the-future model and get into all sorts of trouble as they set off the modern contraptions while trying to figure out how to get away with their tails intact. Porky’s Hotel is notable for the fact that it features a chatty sailor-suited young duck named Gabby that bears a striking resemblance to a more famous duck from a rival cartoon studio.
The Return of Doctor X is an entertaining “b unit thriller with macabre overtones” that keeps your full attention on screen as it zips through its plot in 62 minutes. Bogie as a boogie man is quite the novelty and a kick to watch. The special features also make this one a must for fans of the classic B horror movies looking to upgrade their old Hollywood Legends of Horror Collection DVD.
