Hello to all of the classic people that are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors. Today on Classic Movie Review, we are taking on The Return of Doctor X (1939). This film is extraordinary. It is the only horror film with actor Humphrey Bogart.

This film has a 5.7 rating on iMDB.com.[1] This rating is way too low. This movie is worth watching just to see creepy white-faced Humphrey Bogart walking around petting a white rabbit.

On Rottentomatoes.com, this film doesn’t have a Tomatometer score and has a scant 18 percent audience approval.[2] Am I wrong about this movie? I don’t think so. Let me know in the comments.

New York Times film critic Frank S. Nugent said in a November 23, 1939, review:

“The resuscitation of the dead is a cinematic commonplace these days; the real problem is to get the boys to do something dramatically constructive after you have got them out of the trenches. Once they return from that bourne from which the traffic grows more congested daily, they usually tend to lead a life of crime, and to look like something which has literally been dug up. Humphrey Bogart—an interesting new face among the posthumous fraternity—is no exception in “The Return of Dr. X,”…and neither, for that matter, is “The Return of Dr. X.” Languid, hollow-cheeked, and pallid, the doc would certainly never take any beauty prizes, a fact which somewhat complicates his need for young, attractive blood donors like Rosemary Lane…All in all, you’re going to find “The Return of Dr. X” a cheerful little picture, of which the humorous high spot, no doubt, is when Wayne and his intern friend, Dennis Morgan, exhume what turns out not to be the doc and then comically leave the hole to be filled up again by the cemetery watchman. A very funny scene, that.”[3]

Actors – The Return of Doctor X (1939)

Returning

Great actor Humphrey Bogart played the mysterious and sinister Marshall Quesne, pronounced Caine. This fantastic actor was first covered in Sahara (1943).

Olin Howland had a small role as the worst undertaker ever. Howland was first covered in the Film Noir The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).

John Ridgely played Rodgers, a guy quickly bumped off for his blood type. Ridgley was first covered in Film Noir The Big Sleep (1946).

William Hopper, AKA Paul Drake, had a bit part as an intern. It is interesting to note that he was credited as DeWolf Hopper. Hopper was first covered in the great western Stagecoach (1939).

Ian Wolfe had a tiny uncredited amusing bit as a cemetery caretaker. Wolf was first covered in Film Noir 99 River Street (1953).

New

Wayne Morris played oversized and egotistic novice newspaperman Walter Garrett. Morris was born in Los Angeles in 1914. Standing six-two, Morris played football for Los Angeles Junior College. He spent time working as a forest ranger, a manly profession. 

Morris returned to Los Angeles Junior College, this time studying acting. He also began studying at the Pasadena Playhouse. Morris was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout and signed a contract in 1936. His first film was China Clipper (1936).

Morris was often cast as a boy next door type or a fledgling boxer with his size and gentle face. Some of his early films include Kid Galahad (1937), The Kid Comes Back (1938), The Kid from Kokomo (1939), and The Smiling Ghost (1941).

While filming Flight Angels (1940), Morris became interested in aviation and earned his pilot’s license. In 1942, Morris joined the Navy Reserve as a pilot. Morris was too tall to fly fighters for the Navy. He used family connections and was eventually assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Essex where he flew F6F Hellcats.

Morris flew 57 missions during World War II. He shot down seven Japanese planes making him an Ace at five. He also contributed to the sinking of several ships and a submarine. Morris was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals.[4]

Following the war and a four-year absence from Hollywood, Morris’s chance to be a movie star was gone. He worked on television and made occasional films until his death. The most notable of his later films is his role in Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war Paths of Glory (1957). Morris played a cowardly commander that later shifted the blame to a brave man.

At age 45, in 1959, Morris visited the aircraft carrier “Bon Homme Richard.” While touring the ship moored in San Francisco, Morris died of a massive heart attack. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, befitting his role in the war. 

German actress Lya Lys played the enigmatic stage actress Angela Merrova. Lys was born in Germany in 1908. Her father was Russian, and her mother was French. Her family moved to France, where Lys received her education partially in France and Switzerland.

Very beautiful, Lys began working as a model before appearing in her first film Maman Colibri (1929). Lys was part of a group of European actors selected to make French-language versions of popular Hollywood films. One film from this time was L’Age d’Or (1930) and Moral um Mitternacht (1930).

Lys tried to make it in Hollywood but was severely hindered by her accent. She became a US citizen in 1933. Lys did well in The Great Gambini (1937). However, any success was negated by money struggles and emotional problems.

Lys returned to Paris to perform in a play in 1937. One article says she was almost captured by the Nazis and escaped on a Norwegian ship. However, the Nazis didn’t take Paris until June 1940. She was also an American citizen, which would have complicated any illegal arrest. Regardless of the Nazis, Lys made a suicide attempt.

Back in pre-war Hollywood, Lys had a resurgence with Scandals (1935), Vagabond Lady (1935), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), The Return of Doctor X (1939), and her final film, Murder in the Air (1940).

Lys never returned to film. She worked as a singer and wrote for a newspaper. Lys died at the age of 78 in 1986 in California.

Before we get to the story, I want to thank a few people. Thanks to George H. for mentioning the similarities between Conflict (1945) and The Two Mrs. Carrols (1947). Also, to Thunderstruck54 for his comments on The Right Stuff (1983) and the new short videos I’m releasing on YouTube.

Story – The Return of Doctor X (1939)

The credits roll over Frankenstein-style laboratory equipment.

It is busy at the New York Morning Dispatch. Relatively new reporter Walter’ Wichita’ Garrett (Wayne Morris) makes a call to actress Angela Merrova (Lya Lys). Merrova is in town to perform in a stage production titled “Summer Escapade.”

While Garrett waits to be connected, clippings room worker Pinky (Huntz Hall) brings him peanuts. Garrett is connected to the aging actress. Over the phone, he flatters her as she lies on a daybed. Merrova has a pet monkey.

After she invites the reporter over, a shadow of a man wearing a hat is seen on the wall. The unseen man covers Merrova’s mouth as she tries to scream.

Garrett smarts off to the older reporters as he heads to the Park Vista Hotel, expecting to meet Merrova.

He buzzes the door and waits in the hall. When a pretty girl walks by, Garrett leans against the door for a better look and falls into the open apartment. He starts snooping around until he finds Merrova lying on the floor, having been murdered. He calls his editor instead of the police. Brilliant.

The editor connects the report with the rewrite department. The newspaper comes out with a banner headline announcing that Merrova had been murdered in her apartment by an unknown assailant.

Garrett is waiting outside the apartment when Detective Roy Kincaid (Charles C. Wilson), the manager, and two other police arrive. Kincaid comments to the manager that this hotel may be a hangout for gorillas. More about that later.

The lawmen go inside, but Garrett stays outside to look at a pretty girl walking down the hallway. Inside the apartment, there is no body or signs of a struggle. Kincaid asks Garrett where the body is located. They all go back inside, and Garrett is flabbergasted by the missing dead woman. He tells the police that she had a large stab wound on the lower side of her heart.

Garrett is left in the room alone, and the doorknob on the closet begins to turn. It is only the monkey.

In the morning, Garrett looks for old newspaper articles in the clippings room. Pinky comes in and gives him some grief about his big mistake. Garrett has checked the morgue, the river, and other places looking for the body. The phone rings and the editor wants Garrett in his office immediately.

When Garrett gets to the office, Merrova is waiting inside. She looks much whiter than on the previous day. The editor says she is suing the paper for $100,000, and the hotel is suing for $50,000 for false reporting of her death. Garrett apologizes and is fired from the paper.

Garrett goes to the Jules Memorial Hospital, where he explains the situation to his friend Doctor Mike Rhodes (Dennis Morgan). Rhodes is a surgeon and blood expert in training.

Doctor Rhodes gets a call from the hospital superintendent. Garrett goes into the office to wait. They have surgery and a blood transfusion scheduled for 10:00 a.m. The head surgeon will be Dr. Francis Flegg (John Litel).

Rhodes is told by the head nurse (Vera Lewis) that Rogers (John Ridgely), the blood group one doner, has not arrived. Rhodes was under the impression that the patient was in group four but is assured by the head nurse that the lab work said group one.

Student nurse Joan Vance (Rosemary Lane) calls Rogers and finds that he has overslept. He says he will be down immediately.

Inside Rhodes’ office, Garrett asks if a person could survive a wound in the location where Merrova was stabbed. Garrett says the cut was clean, like a surgeon made the cut. He also says the body was white, and no blood was present. Rhodes says he will talk to Dr. Flegg, a blood expert, about the death.

The head nurse calls Rogers again. His body is shown lying on the floor.

During the conversation about the missing doner, nurse Joan Vance says she is in that group and would love to help. Dr. Flegg enters wearing a monocle and sporting a Van Dyke beard. He questions the fact that Rogers is not present. He then decided to begin the operation.

Dr. Rhodes uses a hand crank to transfer blood from Joan to the unseen patient. Everything goes fine during the surgery. Flegg tells Rhodes to study blood as it is the source of life.

Rhodes asks about the wound below the heart, and Flagg says it would be impossible to survive. Rhodes goes to check on Joan. Rhodes gets a little flirty and asks her on a dancing date. Garrett shows up outside.

Rhodes gets an urgent call, and the police want him to come to 438 Gore Street. Gore Street. I see what they did. Rhodes identifies the now-dead Rogers as Garrett tags along. Detective Kincaid questions Rhodes about their appointment slip on Rogers’ table.

Garrett pulls the sheet up, and the body has no color. Rhodes says the blood has been drained, but there are a few stains around. Detective Kincaid says the wound was done by a surgeon. Rhodes examines the coroner’s report. The blood stains in the room are from group four, not group one, as was Rogers. Rhodes takes his own blood sample. Kincaid tells Rhodes to not leave town.

Back at the hospital, Rhodes examines the blood he collected at Rogers’ murder. He is perplexed by the sample, saying it doesn’t look like human blood. Garrett says the Gorilla Murder. More about that later. Rhodes says he is calling it a night. He says goodnight to Garrett.

Rhodes heads to Dr. Flegg’s home. Garrett follows his friend and watches what is happening from outside the window. Rhodes goes to Flegg’s lab. While waiting, a strange pale white man enters; he wears round glasses, has a pronounced white steak in his hair, and his hands are ice cold. He also cradles an albino rabbit in his left arm, giving the illusion that he may be Dr. Wells from Doctor X (1932).

The cold man introduces himself as Doctor Marshall Quesne (Humphrey Bogart) and is honored to meet Dr. Rhodes. He asks to discuss blood composition with Rhodes someday. When Flegg enters the room, Quesne clams up. A very stern Flegg orders the man back to his work.

Rhodes approaches Dr. Flegg about the blood sample he collected at Rogers’ murder. Rhodes asks about Quesne and is told by Flegg that he is a very valuable assistant, has been with him for a few years, and suffers from shock.

Flegg turns the blood sample over to Quesne to prepare as a microscope slide. When Flegg examines the slide, he begins questioning Rhodes about how he ended up at a murder. He tells Flegg that it was Rogers that was murdered. He and Quesne exchange looks. Flegg determines that the slide is from group four. Quesne crushes a glass in his hand.

Flegg is adamant that the blood is from group four. However, Rhodes asks for the slide before he leaves out the back door.

In the front, Garrett sees an ash white Merrova enter Flegg’s office. She collapses on the table, saying she is very cold. Quesne tells Flegg that he is a failure and will never find what he is looking for. Flegg throws him out of the room. Garrett continues to watch through the window. Flegg gives Merrova a blood transfusion.

The following day, Garrett drops in on Rhodes. He confesses that he followed his friend. Garrett suspects Flegg. Just then, Flegg enters the office. Flegg asks Rhodes to forget everything and everyone he was at Flegg’s house the previous night. He then collects the information on nurse Joan Vance for his list of blood group one.

After Flegg leaves, Garrett comes back into the office. He tells Rhodes about the visit to Flegg’s home by Merrova and that she was given a blood transfusion. Garrett says Quesne and Merrova have the same dead look. Mike has a date scheduled with Joan for the evening, but Garrett wants to ask Merrova some questions. They decide to take Joan along, and Garrett will drop the couple off at the Club El Ray when they are done.

The trio goes to the Park Vista Hotel at 9:00 p.m. They leave Joan waiting in the car. Garrett falls into the open apartment again. They go to Merrova’s room, and she looks like she is near death. When Merrova hears them come in, she asks if it is Dr. Flegg. Merrova says she wants nothing to do with Garrett before passing out. Rhodes gives the unconscious woman a drink of whiskey. That’s a medical no-no.

Merrova wakes, and they begin questioning her. She believes she is in blood group one. Rhodes explains the murdered people are in group one. Finally, she tells about someone covering her mouth. Merrova says she was stabbed in the chest. The next morning she woke in her room, not knowing what had happened to her. Merrova says she will meet him in the newspaper office at 10:00 a.m. the next day.

Quesne arrives at the door and says Flegg is unavailable and that he came in his place. Quesne is introduced to Garrett. Rhodes and Garrett are asked to leave, but as they go, Quesne says he still wants to have the talk with Rhodes about blood. Merrova has a look of fear on her face as Quesne approaches her.

Garrett convinces Rhodes to go with him to the editor’s house to confirm his story. They leave Joan in the car. The editor calls the tall Garrett a Wichita Frankenstein. After he hears that Morrova is coming into the office, he is delighted. The editor calls the paper and tells them to hold the presses for a morning extra. He gets the news that Morrova is dead. The editor chases the two men out of the house.

They decide to go to Bixby’s Undertaking Parlor to see Morrova’s body for themselves. They leave Joan in the car again. They say they “have an interest” in the dead woman, and the undertaker (Olin Howland) admits them to the backroom, where the body is under a sheet. They have not identified themselves. Garrett asks the undertaker to go into the other room, leaving Rhodes unattended in the back. The undertaker says he was called by Dr. Flegg to pick up the body.

It is one a.m., and Joan complains that she has not had anything to eat. Garrett says they will go to Gus’ and get her a hamburger.

The morning paper says that Angela Merrova died of natural causes.

Garrett sneaks into the newspaper and gets Pinky to let him look through the clippings files. Pinky is really worried that the editor is going to catch Garrett in the building and that Pinky will lose his job. Garrett is sure he has seen Quesne before. Finally, in frustration, Pinky throws the XYZ file to Garrett.

Garrett finally finds what he is looking for. Quesne is Dr. Maurice J. “X” Xavier. This famous New Jersey surgeon who starved a baby to death as a part of an experiment. Doctor X was tried, condemned, and executed in the electric chair. The editor catches Garrett in the clippings room. He asks for a couple of boosters to come up and beat Garrett. Garrett runs out.

Garrett tells Rhodes that he called the prison warden to ensure that the execution occurred as reported. The warden also told him that Dr. Flegg picked up the body and had it buried in Greenlawn Cemetery.

That night, Garrett and Rhodes head to Greenlawn Cemetery. Joan is not with them. With the help of the cemetery caretaker (Ian Wolfe), they dig up Doctor X’s grave. There is not a body in the coffin. Garrett casually says to the caretaker, “thanks, Pop, put it back, will ya.”

The pair confronts Flegg, and he confesses to his role in the mystery. Flegg admits that Quesne and Doctor X are the same person. Flegg said he had the goal of restoring life through his experiments.

Flegg takes Garrett and Rhodes into the laboratory. He brings out a dead albino rabbit. He gives it a super dose of electricity to decoagulate the animal’s blood. Flegg also mentions that the electrocution of Quesne/Doctor X prepared the blood for the procedure.

Next, Flegg mixes rabbit blood with his formula of essential blood salts. He electrifies the blood and transfuses it into the rabbit. Flegg makes a few more adjustments, and the rabbit returns to life.

Flegg claimed the body, hoping to revive Doctor X to help him work on his blood experiments. They return to Flegg’s office to talk. Quesne is watching through the window. Garrett figures out that Flegg brought Merrova back to life. Flegg continues that sustaining the new life is the problem he hasn’t fixed. Each person that is revived will need regular transfusions of new blood. Flegg has been unsuccessfully working on creating synthetic blood for six years. If he created synthetic blood, the vampires could come out of hiding; Sookie Stackhouse.

The samples Rhodes collected at Rogers’ murder were synthetic blood. Since synthetic blood won’t regenerate, people will need fresh blood. Quesne asked Flegg to help him get the blood he needed, but he refused. When Quesne saw Merrova in Flegg’s office, he knew he could kill her for the blood.

Flegg found Merrova dead, having been murdered by Quesne. Flegg brought her back to life using synthetic blood, but he knew it was only for a short time. Flegg kept hoping he could still fix his formal. Quesne hears Flegg say that he will have to be destroyed, adding, “May God forgive me. I’ve created a monster.” I love this subtle Frankenstein reference. Garrett and Rhodes leave the house to alert the police and the paper.

When they go outside, Detective Kincaid begins arresting them for grave robbery. I guess the caretaker didn’t want to fill the hole by himself.

Quesne confronts Flegg and demands the list of group one blood donors.

A gunshot from inside Flegg’s house stops the arrest. Garrett and Rhodes, and the two police run inside. Flegg lives long enough to say that Quesne shot him and has the donor list. Feeling like Joan will be the first target of Quesne, the group jumps in a police car and head toward Joan.

On the street, Quesne tells Joan that Rhodes has asked him to bring Joan to Flegg’s home. She gets into the cab with the marble-colored man. As the police rush to the scene, Joan questions Quesne every time they make a wrong turn.

Rhodes and Garrett talk to a newspaper seller and find that the destination of the cab is New Jersey. Garrett remembers a newspaper clipping of the house outside Newark where Quesne starved the baby. 

When Joan asks too many questions in the cab, Quesne covers her mouth and knocks her out. The cabby drops the pale man and the passed-out woman at an unlit deserted cabin in the wood. He doesn’t have any questions or suspensions. 

Garrett, Rhodes, and Detective Kincaid head for New Jersey.

In the cabin, Quesne has Joan on a table while he prepares to drain her blood. The rescuers get stuck in the mud, but they press forward. Quesne tells Joan not to scream because no one will hear. She screams at the top of her lungs like a smart victim.

Garrett, Rhodes, and Detective Kincaid hear the scream. Kincaid fires with his shotgun, knocking out the light. Quesne uses his revolver and looks like Duke Mantee. Quesne flees out the back as Garrett and Rhodes break into the front, saving Joan.

Garrett, now armed, follows Quesne. Quesne has climbed onto the roof and is shot by Kincaid and another cop that just appeared. As Quesne dies, he sends a message to Rhodes that they will have to delay their talk on blood composition.

The New York Morning Dispatch displays the headline, “Dr. Xavier Dies in Police Trap.” The second line says, “Mad Killer Cornered in New Jersey Swamp.” I wonder how many times that second line has been used.

More newspaper headlines show that Garrett is the toast of the town, even receiving praise from the mayor. The editor offers Garrett anything he wants to stay with the paper. Garrett says he is going back to Wichita to write a novel.

When the editor’s pretty new secretary brings in the contact, Garrett decides to stay with the paper.

Conclusion – The Return of Doctor X (1939)

Humphrey Bogart hated this work and never made another horror film. Before the film, he complained vehemently about the script. Following the film, he asked for a raise from Jack L. Warner, saying that the studio people were drinking his blood by making him act in such a stinking movie.[5]

If you listened to Doctor X (1932), you would know this is not a true sequel. Bogart’s character was eventually revealed as Doctor X. However, he has a different backstory and is not the same as the killer, Dr. Wells. In the earlier film, Doctor X, the owner of the medical school, was not the bad guy.

Of course, they couldn’t resist adding a wise-cracking newspaperman to drive the investigation forward. However, Morris was not as grating as Lee Tracy.

In this film, they used blood group instead of blood type. I had to look this up to see what that meant. There are four blood types in the ABO typing system. It seems group is the type of antibodies they produce. Since this is correlated with type, it essentially means the same thing.[6]

This film made several references to gorillas or gorilla killers. This is a reference to Earle Leonard Nelson (1887-1928). Nelson is considered the “first known serial sex murderer of the twentieth century.” Nelson was known in the press as the Gorilla Man, the Gorilla Killer, and the Dark Strangler.

This sicko began killing mostly middle-aged women that were renting rooms to strangers. He began killing in 1926 and was hanged for his crimes in 1928 in Canada. He is believed to have killed 22 women.

Besides today’s film, this story was used as the basis of director Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943).[7] In that film, Teresa Wright plays a young woman who begins to suspect that her uncle, played by Joseph Cotton, may be a killer. Since Shadow of a Doubt (1943) is listed as a Film Noir, it is on the list to review at some point.

World-Famous Short Summary – Never trust anyone with a Cruella de Vil white hairstreak.

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As a technical note, references and citations are listed for each show on the site at classicmovierev.com.

Beware the moors.

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[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031851/
[2] The Return of Doctor X – Rotten Tomatoes
[3] THE SCREEN; Paramount Finds Comedy in ‘Return of Doctor X’ – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
[4] Wayne Morris – Wikipedia
[5] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031851/trivia/
[6] Blood Types and Compatibility for Donations (verywellhealth.com)
[7] Earle Nelson – Wikipedia