My take: Good, early mad scientist fodder with a dash of Humphrey Bogart.

The 23rd movie in Studies in Terror is The Return of Doctor X. I thought, “How can I watch “the return” when I haven’t seen the the doctor’s first appearance?” Luckily, the box set I bought had both, so I was able to watch Doctor X too. It turns out that I didn’t need to.

Bogie in Return of Doctor X

Humphrey Bogart in The Return of Doctor X.

The Return of Doctor X has very little to do with the original beyond the fact that they both involve mad scientists. Does this mean that you should skip watching Doctor X? Certainly not. The director of Doctor X is the same Michael Curtiz who made Casablanca eight years later in 1942. It also has a healthy dose of Fay Wray from The Most Dangerous Game and the Mystery of the Wax Museum. Finally, it’s worth watching simply for the mad scientist scenes. They may inspire my next Halloween costume.

While the sequel to Doctor X isn’t really a sequel at all), The Return of Doctor X is a fun film in its own right. The main character is Walter Garrett, a reporter who goes to interview a famous actress and finds her murdered body on the floor. Of course, he calls the paper first and gets the story published. Then, he goes and gets the police.

But when Walter goes back to the scene with the cops in tow, the body is gone. Walter’s editor is further infuriated when the actress shows up at his office ready to sue the paper. But the reporter notices that her skin has a stark white pallor. She seems to have been brought back from the dead, and Walter quickly starts working to figure out how and why.

What makes the movie fun is a view into cutting edge hematology (study of blood) circa 1939. The film does a good job mixing medical science with science fiction, which pulls you into the story.

Additionally, Humphrey Bogart plays a critical role in the film playing a lab assistant with a Bride of Frankenstein inspired hairdo and the bright white skin of the undead. Seeing Bogie with this “graveyard look” alone makes this film worth watching.

I would recommend this movie to people who like zombie films, films with Bogie, and mad scientist movies.

I bought a copy of the movie via Amazon. Below is the original theatrical trailer, which is fun to watch but includes spoilers. Consider yourself warned.