Rent Doctor X (1932)

Precode Horror - Doctor X review by Steve

The first of a pair of Warner Brothers precode horrors directed by Michael Curtiz in 2-strip Technicolor, and starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray… It also shares with The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) various themes and situations, including the investigation by a tabloid reporter into the disappearance of bodies from a morgue.

There is a curious combination of grotesque, transgressive shocks and witless comic relief. Lee Tracy plays the lecherous, faint-hearted newshound like a prototype Bob Hope as he pursues both the Full Moon Killer, and Fay Wray. Who is lovely, by the way, and fully justifies her reputation as the first scream-queen

With the police certain that the murderer is one of his team of crackpot medical boffins, Atwill puts them through his ludicrous electronic psychotherapy machine, and comes to an unforeseeable and utterly screwy conclusion. Which all leads to a surprisingly gruesome climax, which is not easily forgotten.

The lowbrow humour is fine, with Leila Bennett far from the worst comedy-maid in horror. And it’s always fun to watch Lionel Atwill. It isn’t always suspenseful, but there’s lots of shadowy atmosphere, eerie art deco set design and the novelty of early Technicolor. And there's that wild eccentricity often encountered in precode cinema.