March 29

TCM showed 7 Crime Doctors films and a drama to celebrate Warren Baxter’s birthday. The Crime doctors series are so short I was able to watch several and still watch Jean Harlow films.

The original film Crime Doctor starts off with a car passing a sign re-elect Herbert Hoover. From a speeding car a door opens and a man comes out and rolls down a hill. The man is taken to a hospital. You can’t see who it is. In the hospital a man has bandages taken off by a doctor who tells the patient he was hit by a car. Once the bandages come off it is Warren Baxter and he has amnesia. While he is recovering a man comes up to him and asks him “where is the valise?” and to drop the act. He tries to choke Warren. Warren gets rescued before any damage can be done. The next day they go to the police station to have Warren fingerprinted to see if he matches any records. Outside as a group of policemen go by Warren backs up to the wall having second thoughts about going in the building. The doctor and Warren work to get his memory back, but no luck. Warren lives a wild life drinking and women. The doctor talks him into trying to find a new life because he can’t get the old one back. There is a montage of Warren studying to be a doctor. He has the name Robert Ordway. 9-10 years pass.

At a nightclub a man cuts his hand on a glass he squeezed when he saw Warren. Warren takes him to another room and takes care of his hand. The man asks “haven’t we met before?” Warren tries to get more information but doesn’t get much. To find out more about himself before his amnesia he does a lot of pro bono work with a prison and becomes a member of the parole board. While making a speech that is transmitted to all the prisons in the area, a woman Pearl recognizes the voice. She applies to the parole board to see him and to test him. At the review she states his is Phil Morgan who robbed a $200,000 payroll. Warren tracks down the others in the gang, who want the money, to reenact the events to see if he can get his memory back. While going over the events at the hideout there is a fight. Warren gets his memory back. He turns in the gang and the money. He confesses to the police and stands trial. At his trial he makes an impassioned speech that there are two men involved, one who committed the crime and an innocent man. The jury finds him guilty with a recommendation of clemency. The judge sentences him to the minimum amount of 10 years, but suspends the sentence based on the juries request of clemency.

I like films that show you the time reference. Instead of showing exactly what year, there is a sign ‘re-elect Herbert Hoover”. Instead of showing one, two, three etc years there is a montage of book, studying and then operations. It is probably supposed to be coming to modern times 1943 when the film was released. The film series was based on the radio program. The stories are very creative.