The Crime Doctor Solves the Millerson Case

One of the more offbeat "B" detective series of the 1940s was the Crime Doctor. Based on a Max Marcin's successful radio series, the premise has an amnesia victim study to become a renowned psychiatrist--only to learn ten years later that he was once a criminal. Armed with “insider knowledge” of how the criminal mind works, Dr. Robert Orday repays society by bringing villains to justice. Warner Baxter, an Oscar winner as the Cisco Kid in 1929’s In Old Arizona, was the only actor ever to play Ordway on screen. He made ten films for Columbia, starting with 1943's The Crime Doctor.

My favorite may be The Millerson Case (1947), which finds Dr. Ordway taking a well-deserved vacation to do a little hunting and fishing. However, he barely arrives in the rural town of Brook Falls when a local outbreak of "summer complaint" turns out to be typhoid fever. Ordway agrees to assist with vaccinations and documenting those few townsfolk who have died from the disease. Yet, while doing the latter, Ordway discovers that one victim died from poisoning rather typhoid--and it's not long before a murder investigation is launched.

Warner Baxter as Dr. Ordway.

The killer's idea of using the typhoid outbreak to mask the murder is a clever one. For his part, Ordway employs a shooting competition and a handwriting analysis to help solve the case. Unfortunately, much of his investigation consists of asking suspects a few brief questions that yield little relevant information. Of course, it doesn't help that that the first victim turns out to be the local lothario--resulting in a bevy of individuals with motives. 

The cast consists of veteran "B" movie actors such as James Bell. Despite a face full of whiskers, I recognized him instantly from his key roles in two Val Lewton classics from 1943: The Leopard Man and I Walked With a Zombie. The worst performance in The Millerson Case belongs to Mark Dennis, who plays a teen with an intellectual disability; granted, it's a poorly-written part, too. Dennis only appeared in ten movies during his career, but two of those were Peter Bogdoanich's Targets (1968) and Nickelodean (1976).

The Millerson Case lacks the charismatic heroes and snappy writing of "B" detective classics such as The Scarlet Claw and The Falcon and the Co-eds. Still, it's a cut above most of its ilk and there's a welcome lack of comedy relief. Warner Baxter made his last Crime Doctor film in 1949 and died two years later from pneumonia at age 62. He lived with chronic pain for much of his later life due to arthritis.