The Return of Doctor X (1939)

Boring

Absolutely the worst movie.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Okay, I'm a hopeless vulgarian, but I thought the movie wasn't as bad as many others say. Sure, the material is z-grade, done a hundred times over starting with Frankenstein. But, except for Bogie's horrible make-up applied with a trowel, the movie's not all that hokey. The narrative is well constructed, building little-by-little on what's come before. Namely, why are blood donors being killed, and by whom, and what's aristocratic Dr. Flegg's (Litel) role. In my little view, the screenplay's construction is surprisingly good for a programmer. Plus, Morgan makes a dashing pursuer, along with a stumbling Wayne Morris as a comic-relief reporter. Then there's poor Rosemary Lane (Joan) in a tacked on role, no doubt for marquee purposes. And catch a non-goofy Huntz Hall (Pinky) before the Bowery Boys consumed his career. But who is the mysterious Lya Lys (Merrova), whose close-ups are the scariest thing in the movie. Sure, Bogie's make-up is the hokiest element in the 60-minutes and no doubt the low point of his spectacular career. Meanwhile, he has to take what Warner Bros. gives him. Anyway, the programmer does have its compensations.

This film is without a doubt the most frightening vampire movie that Humphrey Bogart ever made. Bogie is much more of a gangster then a vampire mad scientist in this opus. Supposedly given to Bogart because he had complained about the choice of roles he was being given, he plays it as though he were being punished. Intended for Karloff as a follow up to "The Walking Dead" Dr X was put in production with Vincent Sherman directing. It was Sherman's first directorial effort. Wayne Morris leads a cast of dependable Warner's regular's such as John Litel and Dennis Morgan. Beautiful Lya Lys has a memorable role as one of the vampire's victims, and Rosemary Lane is the film's scream queen.It's obvious that Dr X went through some heavy editing and retakes. Several actors credited don't appear in the final cut . Several have character name changes and there are scenes in the trailer that don't appear in the film.1939 was a golden year for Hollywood but certainly not for Bogart. Swing Your Lady ,Men are Such Fools ,The Oklahoma Kid and Return of Doctor X are the four least favorite films of Bogart and they were made in that 1938-39 periodReturn of Doctor X is not a horrible film but it's not a horror film either.It's a curio that Bogart fans should see at least one time.

Reporter Wayne Morris and doctor Dennis Morgan team up to investigate some murders and a possible connection to people with a rare blood type. This leads them to suspect doctor John Litel and his creepy assistant Humphrey Bogart. In-name-only sequel to Doctor X that is best known today as Humphrey Bogart's only horror or science fiction film. As such, it's usually mocked or joked about. It really doesn't deserve to be. It's not a great film but a perfectly entertaining hour-long horror flick. Bogart's performance is fine. His nervous twitches and weird makeup give him a creepy presence that is the film's most memorable asset. For those looking to see him act much worse, I suggest seeking out more mainstream-acceptable fare as Dark Victory.Interestingly, Bogie doesn't even get top billing. Neither does Dennis Morgan. Both are billed below Wayne Morris and Rosemary Lane. This seems odd today when Bogart and Morgan are more well known to classic film fans than either Morris or Lane. But in 1939 neither was a big star yet. Morgan was an up-and-comer and Bogie had been toiling away at WB for years as the villain in gangster pictures. Still, it seems strange WB at that time thought Wayne Morris had more potential than Bogie or Morgan. Morris is actually the weakest link in the film. He was an actor with a big frame and a boy-next-door likability but was ill-suited for a streetwise investigative reporter. The fact that he wore a silly hat with the brim turned up in front and was pretty much comic relief for the first half hour of the movie doesn't help the audience take him seriously. The supporting cast is nice. Rosemary Lane receives second billing and is the female lead but really has nothing to do but be the victim. I haven't added up everybody's screen time but it seems to me she was in the picture very little. Huntz Hall of Bowery Boys fame appears as a copy boy who needles Morris. Lya Lys has a meatier part than Lane as a woman brought back to life in the same manner Bogart was. She even allows herself to be made up to look waxy and dead, which was a big deal back in the day for any actress who wanted to be thought of as a romantic leading lady. John Litel turns in a typically stable performance as the doctor behind bringing Bogie back. He actually seems to be the movie's villain for most of the running time before Bogie's Dr. X takes over.Overall, an enjoyable B horror film that should please fans of the genre. It's unfairly slammed a lot, even more than the usual B movie from the period. My guess is that's because a lot of Bogart fans who don't normally like this type of movie checked it out for him and didn't like it. The movie definitely garners more attention because of his part than it would otherwise. At its heart it's just another in a string of mad scientist movies made from the '30s through the '50s, albeit an enjoyable one. If you're a Bogart completist, I'm sure you'll want to check it out for curiosity's sake. Hopefully you'll like it. Fans of old sci-fi and horror films will definitely enjoy it.

I'll admit it: I've got an affection for this somewhat silly film. O.K., so the title is a cheat -- it's not a sequel to the 1932 "Doctor X" (a genuinely chilling movie with excellent starring performances by Lionel Atwill, Preston Foster and Fay Wray) -- and some of the so-called "comedy" involving Wayne Morris is pretty dispensable. There's also Lya Lys, who looks positively spectral even before the script says she is and who holds a sheer scarf in front of her face as if thinking, "Well, this worked for Dietrich … " On the positive side, though, is Humphrey Bogart. Yes, his face looks like someone plastered it with cottage cheese, his hair looks like he got it done at the Bride of Frankenstein Salon and the role would have been far better suited for Boris Karloff (who'd already played a similar part for Warners in a much better film, "The Walking Dead," three years earlier), but Bogart acquits himself well like the true professional he was and makes us believe in the character's suffering as well as his unscrupulousness. It's not much of a role, but Bogart plays it well enough to prove his readiness for bigger and better things — and director Vincent Sherman, though hamstrung by a script that gives him too few opportunities for Gothic atmosphere (only the cemetery sequence even LOOKS like a horror film), also shows his capability for the more important films he got later. I even like the rather clever concept of the plot (though the blending of the Dracula and Frankenstein myths had been done better in Majestic's "The Vampire Bat" six years earlier) and the good-heartedness of the overall attempt by a Warners "B" team to graft a few sci-fi monster elements onto one of their typical newspaper comedies and call it a horror movie.