The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)

I wanted to but couldn't!

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A sterling performance by Edward G. Robinson as the erudite Dr. Clitterhouse: physician to the wealthy. But, recently, he has adopted the additional vocation of cat burglar, in order to study the psychological and physiological changes that occur in criminals. Toward this goal, he concluded that he would make the most practical subject of study, concentrating on stealing pricy jewelry. Since he wasn't interested in keeping the items, he was directed to a fence(a person who buys stolen items for a low price, and sells them for a profit.). Said person turned out to be a woman(Claire Trevor, as Jo Keller). She was connected to a gang of thieves, lead by 'Rocky' Valentine(Humphrey Bogart)(Any relation to film criminal Jimmy Valentine: "Alias Jimmy Valentine"?). Dr. Clitterhouse soon makes peace with most of the gang, except for Valentine, who resents his influence. Soon, he's directing their criminal activities, and monitoring their physiological parameters during the heist. During their last heist, Valentine tries to kill him by locking him in a refrigerated room and turning the refrigeration to lowest temperature..... After this heist, Clitterhouse announced he was quitting crime. However, Valentine had the idea of using his office as the gang's hideout, taking his medical notes as a bargaining chip, at gunpoint. Clitterhouse suddenly said he had neglected to study the greatest crime of all: murder. Valentine asked for a drink. Clitterhouse added an undetectable poison to his drink, and began monitoring his reactions until he was dead. He tried to mask his murder by throwing the body in the river. But, it was soon found, and some evidence pointed to him as a suspect. Eventually, he was charged with the crime. He told his whole story to his lawyer, and the question arose whether he should be declared legally sane or insane when he committed the murder. If the latter, he would not get the death penalty. What do you think? The trial proceedings is the most humorous part of the film. ...... So, is this a crime drama or a comedy. I see aspects of both, thus it should not be categorized as exclusively one or the other. Perhaps one of the intended, if subtle, humerous features is the title, as two reviewers already pointed out. The word Clitterhouse bears a passing similarity to the word cliterous. It merely has 3 extra letters, scattered around. I did find ,on the web, a couple of references to this name in the UK. I suspect the writer was trying to tweak the nose of the film censors. .

For any fan of Edward G. Robinson, this one is a must see. A complex script for it's time, there are a number of reasons this film works but the real glue is a great performance by Robinson. What a great supporting cast to go with him including Bogart before he was considered a star. Warner Brothers quality of Assembly line product films is very much in evidence here.Dr. Clitterhouse is a sort of jeckyl/hyde type of character. A man of Medical Science studying criminal behavior, he becomes the leader of a strong gang headed by Bogart. He keeps his true identity from the gang until Bogart finally sorts it out.Meanwhile, his research and crimes pile up to the point where he needs one more study, the mentality of a murderer. So Dr. Clitterhouse, when forced too commits a murder. Then there is a priceless trial sequence at the finale to this one.While this is a bit dated, it is so well done that it is still enjoyable viewing. Some folks even consider this a bit of Criminal Sci-Fi. Still, this movie is ahead of it's time in some ways, but that is because Warner's had some pretty good script writers in the studio in this era.

Directed by Anatole Litvak, with a screenplay co-written by John Huston, this above average comedic crime drama featuring Edward G. Robinson, also stars Claire Trevor and Humphrey Bogart, among several other Warner Bros. stock players.The titled Doctor (Robinson) is a respected Park Avenue physician, a frequent guest at high society parties, who personally engages in thievery as research for a book that he hopes will provide insight into the physiology of the criminal, and "his" mind. During this quest for knowledge, Dr. Clitterhouse associates with the city's highest stakes fence Jo Keller (Trevor) and "her" gang, led by "Rocks" Valentine (Bogart), while trying to avoid capture by his acquaintance, Police Inspector Lewis Lane (Donald Crisp). The performances by its three leads (Robinson, Trevor, & Bogart) are particularly good.Clitterhouse has just beaten a member of Rocks's gang to a safe full of jewels at a Park Avenue party he's attended. After checking on a patient's condition by phone, he even calls the police and attends to the "innocent" criminal who was captured and shot in the confusion. Naturally, he avoided Police Inspector Lane's suspicion, under whose nose he escapes with his bounty on his way to surgery (on Thurston Hall's character, that appears again later). His nurse (Gale Page) discovers the jewels and learns from the Doctor that he is doing research - recording his own physical reactions before, during, and after committing these crimes (four, so far) - in hopes of writing an insightful book about it for the benefit of science and/or law enforcement. Because she's obviously fond of her employer of many years, whom she feels is just overworked, she agrees not to tell anyone.In order to learn more, Clitterhouse and nurse even visit his acquaintance, Inspector Lane, to find out what he should do next. The Inspector freely shares that a jewel thief will try to pawn his take and even gives Clitterhouse the name of the one most likely able to handle the caliber of stuff that's been stolen. So, Clitterhouse goes to the Sequin Hotel, which is owned by the pawn named Keller, whom he is surprised to find out is a woman named Jo.One of the film's best scenes involves Clitterhouse's "introduction" to the gang of thieves with which Jo is associated. His visit just happens to coincide with the appearance of Rocks and a raid on her hotel. Clitterhouse quickly hides the jewels in a bowl of pretzels and then proceeds to "dress down" police Lieutenant Ethelbert Johnson (Robert Homans); his logical approach to the situation helps him avoid giving his name and endears him to Jo and the gang which includes her bodyguard Butch (Maxie Rosenbloom), Okay (Allen Jenkins), and Tug (Ward Bond) among others.Rocks, who'd been hiding in the closet, was not so impressed and/or immediately recognizes the threat to his leadership. Clitterhouse and Jo discuss a partnership, his brain with her people, which then enables him to study a larger population of criminals' reactions before, during and after their crimes. He pretends to go abroad while he sets up shop at a studio where the gang pretends to be musicians when they're not carrying out the crimes that the Doctor has planned. Mild humor and symptoms, such as Okay losing his voice when he gets nervous, are incorporated while Rocks bides his time and waits for the proper moment to regain the power again.That opportunity comes when Clitterhouse plans a large fur heist. Jo, who's fallen in love with the Doctor, suspects that Rocks may be up to something and sends her heavy Butch, for the first time, on the job. Sure enough, Rocks seizes the chance by locking Clitterhouse in the safe, which he'd opened by hand, on his way out. However, because Rocks also turned up the safe's cooling system, the Doctor's respiratory system was lowered long enough for Butch to torch the safe open again, and before he'd run out of oxygen.An anxious Jo and company wait at the studio for Clitterhouse's return, but just as Rocks is being questioned, Butch and the Doctor arrive. Without explicitly exposing Rocks, Clitterhouse decides that his work is done, that Rocks can have his gang back, and gives the boys their final payoffs before leaving. A cheap plot device involving the phone is used that enables Rocks to track the Doctor, heretofore known to the gang only as "the Professor", back to his Park Avenue office.Jo soon follows but is too late to warn Clitterhouse before Rocks has him at the point of his gun. Rocks confiscates the Doctor's research which he protests is full of incriminating information. He then tells Clitterhouse that he likes the Doctor's setup and thinks, with Clitterhouse's social contacts, that it will be the perfect base of operations for future thefts. Trapped, Clitterhouse's warped mind rationalizes the need for yet another chapter for his book, concerning the ultimate act - murder, which he proceeds to commit by putting a specialized poison in Rocks's drink.Even though, out of love, Jo tries to confess to Inspector Lane about Rocks's murder, another couple of cheap plot devices are employed which enable Lane to arrest Clitterhouse, who had just confessed his crime to his friend and attorney Grant (Hall). Grant pleads his case as insanity to the Judge (Henry O'Neill), the jury and its exasperated foreman (Irving Bacon), against the prosecutor (John Litel).A little hackneyed perhaps, but a perfectly logical (and amazing!) verdict is eventually rendered, which somehow got by the censors at the time (who insisted that no criminal should go free and, after all, Clitterhouse was a murderer even if it was a criminal like Rocks!) - not guilty, though the Judge does recommend that the state doctor's examine him.

The IMDb summary for this film lists it as a black comedy. I'm don't see it as a comedy, although there are some humorous moments. Rather, I see it as a film that is difficult to classify because it is rather unique. And what a pleasure it is when one finds a film that is unique.For those who like Edward G. Robinson, and I always have, this is a special treat, because here he doesn't play a gangster...exactly. He plays a doctor (Clitterhouse) who wants to research why some people pursue crime as a living...so he becomes a jewel thief himself. It's cool to see Robinson play someone with some refinement, since he was, in actuality, a rather refined man with an interest is art collecting, for example. But, as the plot develops, he must commit murder. The climax of the film is a courtroom scene where he acquitted based on insanity...but it's a wonderful twist on how that's decided.Since I first viewed this film I've revised my opinion about Humprhery Bogart in this film. Originally, I didn't feel that he fared very well in this film. He plays a rather seedy character involved in an underworld fencing operation. But in watching the film a second time, I think he actually does rather nicely, showing a little heart, despite having little class. Claire Trevor is the love interest, surprisingly for Clitterhouse. There are several character actors you'll recognize here -- Ward Bond, Allen Jenkins, Henry O'Neill, Donald Crisp, and Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom.Definitely well worth a watch!