Doctor X

This review is for the WarnerArchive 2021 blu ray release of Doctor XIn 2020 WarnerArchive released a beautifully restored blu ray of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In my review I expressed my hope that they would follow up with a similar restoration of Doctor X (1932).Dreams do come true! The same folks who worked on Mystery of the Wax Museum have teamed up again - and they do not disappoint!Doctor X is from the first wave of early sound horror films. Like Mystery of the Wax Museum it was filmed in early two strip technicolor. Only variations of green and red are seen. The later addition of a blue strip created the more vibrant three strip technicolor. Because of this, Doctor X became a neglected film and seemingly disappeared. However, a print turned up in the 1970s. No serious restoration was done but it did become available on VHS, laserdisc, TCM, and DVD.Scott MacQueen, head of preservation, UCLA Film and Television Archive has been enlisted again for this project. All scratches, abrasions and emulsion digs have been eliminated. The film has been properly color corrected and the sound has also been cleaned up.Warners filmed a black and white version as well. It too has been restored and it’s included here. It makes for a most fascinating comparison.It should be noted that the plot of the film is a bit convoluted. Warners didn’t sell it as a horror picture but as a mystery with comedy and romance. It does, in fact, qualify as a horror film with an emphasis on science fiction. It’s clearly influenced by Universal’s Frankenstein (by virtue of electrical equipment from Kenneth Strickfaden) and Paramount’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the previous year. Director Michael Curtiz, as always, makes effective use of shadows which work equally well in both the color print and the black and white version. Because much of the film takes place at night, the color green predominates. It most definitely qualifies as a ‘pre code’ film.The bonus features are fantastic. Preservationist MacQueen again gives an excellent before and after restoration comparison, as well as a terrific audio commentary. Michael Curtiz biographer Alan K. Rode has also been brought back for an outstanding commentary, which places the film in the context of Curtiz’s career. Both gentleman team up for an informative documentary on Curtiz’s horror films. The original trailer is included.This blu ray edition comes highly recommended.

Warner Archive releases this popular though once lost 1932 horror film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill as Doctor Xavier, head of a medical academy whose occupants are all suspects in a series of bizarre murders committed on the night of a full moon, and indeed one of them is a crazed killer. Fay Wray plays his daughter, and Lee Tracy plays the heroic lead as a reporter (in a role I could have seen James Cagney playing!)Restored in HD and presented in both a black & white and original 2-strip technicolor prints, looking stunning both ways, a huge upgrade from the 2006 "Hollywood Legends of Horror" 6-film DVD set, where it was paired with 1939's "The Return of Doctor X" (not included here) porting over those extras but now including a second audio commentary by Alan K. Rode, a restoration comparison with the DVD narrated by Scott MacQueen, and a 27-minute featurette on Curtiz's Warner horror films, which also included "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933) and "The Walking Dead" (1936) , which is still overdue for a Blu-ray release; perhaps it will be paired with "The Return of Doctor X" in the future?

If you've ever seen this movie on tv or on the old dvd set, odds are you liked it. If not, what the heck are you reading this for? This blu ray is stunning and Doctor X looks fantastic. It is packed with extras, but sadly it doesn't come with synthetic flesh. A must have for horror fans.

This classic film delivers a classic story in a gorgeous color palette. By the way, it is NOT a Frankenstein knockoff as the song from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” might suggest. Doctor X does NOT “build a creature.” Instead, this film delivers a unique phycological thriller in the form of a horror-laden whodunnit (with more than a bit of comedy along the way in the form of a sleuthing reporter who is a clear prototype for Carl Kolchak, the Night Stalker). To avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it at that and simply recommend that you view this largely unsung historic masterpiece.This was anything but a “B-movie.” This was a lavish, big budget release from Warner Bros. featuring expensive, beautiful and massive art deco sets, masterful cinematography, major Hollywood stars (Fay Wray, Lionel Atwill), and is among one of the earliest Technicolor spectaculars—filmed in 1931 in two colors, various shades of green and pink. The effect is both gorgeous and appropriately moody. To be clear, this is not a movie that has been colorized in modern day. It was FILMED in color at a time when “talkies” were still rather new.It’s interesting to note that the film’s painstaking restoration was largely funded by one of science fiction’s greatest film nerds, himself, George Lucas. And it is an impressive accomplishment, although it’s unfortunate that the filtering process has some obvious drawbacks. An included behind-the-scenes look at the film’s restoration shows how they were able to piece together 4K scans of the film from various original sources, which required various digital processes to repair nearly a century of damage. The unfortunate side effect in some of the examples given is that the original 4K scan, while showing considerable visual noise and color fading, actually shows a much sharper image than than the repaired version. The repaired image, while gorgeous, is noticeably softer. I suspect it’s related to what I have noticed in my own film editing: various color correction and anti-noise filters will often degrade the sharpness of the original HD or 4K image. Sometimes it’s simply a compromise I have to live with, but then I don’t have access to the kinds of technologies and equipment that a major studio like Warner Bros. does.So that’s too bad (although only noticeable if you happen to watch the behind-the-scenes documentary—which you should, by the way, if you are a film nerd like me.) That and the unfortunately cheap plastic casing that seems to warp once opened (at least mine did), causing the blu-ray disc to be open to the elements, if you’re not able to close it properly. For these two reasons, I am (very reluctantly) giving this blu-ray release from Warner Archives four stars instead of five. However, it is very close to being a five-star release in my opinion. And thus far, this Warner Archives release is currently the only “proper” way to view this film. Previous syndicated releases are typically in black and white (which is NOT how the movie was originally released; it was released in color) and is incomplete. Other bootleg versions on the internet (some in color) look terrible and are unwatchable. Imperfections aside, this blu-ray release from Warner Archives is nonetheless beautiful to behold on my giant 1080p plasma television. (And, by the way, it’s also a great film!). It’s a must-see.Another historical note: Years later, Humphrey Bogart starred in a much cheaper, lose-sequel in black and white, “The Return of Doctor X,” which features a different set of characters in a similar but altered situation. Not bad, but not nearly the masterpiece of the original. (But also worth a look, nonetheless.)

Excellent early color thriller with some famous faces. If you're a fan of early "talkies" or the pre code films and enjoy thrillers, you will enjoy this movie. Available in color or b&w. If you think all older films are like the 1940s or 1950 s you might be surprised by some of these early 1930 s films.