Dr Socrates **½ (1935, Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Barton MacLane, Robert Barrat, John Eldredge) – Classic Movie Review 5073

‘ARMED WITH A DOCTOR’S KIT, HE FACED 1000 KILLERS!’ Director William Dieterle’s 1935 romantic crime drama stars Paul Muni as Dr Lee Cardwell, an American small-town doctor-surgeon who operates to remove bullets from Red Bastian (Barton MacLane), the leader of a gang of mobsters, wounded in a bank heist.

Cardwell then puts the mob out of business by injecting them with morphine, pretending that there is a scarlet fever scare.

As a Thirties crime thriller, it is interesting but not really much of a yarn. However, Muni and MacLane give sure, sprightly performances, there is a splendid roster of the old Warner Bros character actors, and Tony Gaudio’s black and white cinematography is eye-catching.

Also, co-star Ann Dvorak is appealing as Josephine Gray, the gangster’s moll, whom Muni’s Cardwell has an eye for. But, though there are many good things here, it is still not one of Muni’s best movies.

Producer Robert Lord and Mary C McCall Jr’s screenplay is based on the story by W R Burnett.

Also in the cast are Robert Barrat, John Eldredge, Hobart Cavanaugh, Raymond Brown, Mayo Methot (as Muggsy), Hal K Dawson, Grace Stafford, Ralph Remley, Henry O’Neill, Marc Lawrence, Helen Lowell, Samuel S Hinds, Olin Howland, Joseph Downing, Bill Elliott, June Travis and Otis Harlan.

Remakes: King of the Underworld (1939) with Humphrey Bogart, and Bullet Scars (1942).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5073

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