“I’m through playing cops and robbers, and I’m going back to Boston to the family bond business.”
Jerry Church (Patrick Knowles) is a private investigator. After being away for a year in South America he has decided to hang up his gumshoes. Defense attorney Dudley Crispin (Samuel S. Hinds) and Captain Bill Hurd (Edmund MacDonald) manage to talk Church into taking on one last case and it’s a big one. In the meantime he and his long time girlfriend Kit Logan (Anne Gwynne) manage to tie the knot.
A vigilantly serial killer calling himself Dr. Rx has been killing people who have been acquitted of murder. Five of them so far. All of the victims had been clients of Crispin that he had successfully defended in court. Even if your clients are actually guilty, it doesn’t look good if they are all murdered. It has a tendency to affect your earning potential. As soon as Church agrees to take the case he begins getting threatening notes to drop it.
One detective has gone insane investigating the murders and Kit would like to enjoy her new husband for awhile before becoming his mother. Needless to say, Kit is not happy. Especially when another murder happens. She convinces Church to stop investigating.
As soon as he backs off he is kidnapped by a gangster named Ernie Paul (John Gallaudet) who is under suspicion of being the murderer. Paul threatens Church into continuing the investigation. He insists that he is innocent and wants his name cleared. He wants Church to find the real Dr. Rx. Church has no choice but to continue the investigation.
Once he is back on the case he is again abducted, this time by the real Dr. Rx. The doctor has Church strapped down on a gurney. Near by in a cage is a gorilla. Dr. Rx tells Church that he plans on transplanting his brain into the gorilla and the gorilla’s brain into him. Church’s gurney is chained to the gorilla’s cage. The gorilla begins to pull the gurney closer.
“The Strange Case of Doctor Rx” was released in 1942 and was directed by William Nigh. Labeled a horror movie it’s actually more a comedy with aspects of thriller, mystery and horror tossed in. It is a 40’s style combo platter replete with a newly-wed gumshoe, murders, mad scientist, gorilla, and brain transplant. Lionel Atwill has what amounts to a bit part in the movie.
Most of all it is heavy on the comedy with Hurd’s partner Sergeant Sweeney (Shemp Howard) and Church’s valet Horatio B. Fitz Washington (Mantan Moreland) as comedy relief. Add to that the comedic banter between Church and his wife Kit and most of what is on screen is humor. The only real intense moment is when Church is in the clutches of Dr. Rx. That strange little horror slice stuck in there really has nothing to do with the movie. It comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere.
If you are looking for a classic mystery or thriller you may be disappointed in this movie. It’s so heavy on the light comedy aspects that the ‘who-done-it’ part is secondary. “The Strange Case of Doctor Rx” is indeed strange.