Doctor X (film)
| Doctor X | |
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Doctor X One-Sheet
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| Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
| Produced by |
Hal B. Wallis (uncredited) Darryl F. Zanuck (uncredited) |
| Written by | Robert Tasker & Earl Baldwin |
| Based on | a play by Howard W. Comstock & Allen C. Miller |
| Starring |
Lionel Atwill Fay Wray Lee Tracy Preston Foster |
| Music by |
Vitaphone Orchestra conducted by Leo F. Forbstein |
| Cinematography | Ray Rennahan |
| Edited by | George Amy |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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76 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Doctor X is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror/mystery film, produced jointly by First National and Warner Bros. Based on the play originally titled The Terror (New York, February 9, 1931) by Howard W. Comstock and Allen C. Miller, it was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Lee Tracy.
The film was produced before the Motion Picture Production Code was enforced. Themes such as murder, rape, cannibalism and prostitution are interwoven into the story. The film was one of the last films made, along with Warner Bros' Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), in the two-color Technicolor process. Black and white prints were shipped to small towns and to foreign markets, while color prints were reserved for major cities.
Reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) is investigating a series of pathological murders that have taken place over a series of months in New York City. The murders always take place at night, under the light of a full moon (the newspapers dubbing them the "Moon Killer Murders"). Furthermore, each body has been cannibalized after the murder has taken place. Witnesses to the events describe a horribly disfigured "monster" as the killer.
Doctor Xavier (Lionel Atwill) is called in for his medical opinion, but it is learned through meeting with the police that the ulterior motive behind this is to begin an investigation of Xavier's medical academy, as the scalpel used to cannibalize the bodies of the victims was exclusive to that institution. Aside from Xavier, the other suspects are: Wells (Preston Foster), an amputee who has made a study of cannibalism; Haines (John Wray), who displays a sexual perversion with voyeurism; Duke (Harry Beresford), a grouchy loudmouth cripple; and Rowitz (Arthur Edmund Carewe), who is conducting studies of the psychological effects of the moon (Rowitz also displays a notable scar on one side of his face). It is learned that Haines and Rowitz were stranded in a boat with another man, and that while they claimed he had died and they had thrown him overboard, it was suspected that they had, in fact, cannibalized him.
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