This page contains brief reviews three films. The primary things they have in common are crazy doctors performing impossible stunts with medical science, and the name "Doctor X" in the title. Beyond that, there's little that ties them together, story-wise.

Nonetheless, "Return of Doctor X" was originally marketed as a sequel to "Doctor X" and there are critics and reviewers who describe it as such to this day. Following the logic of these learned film experts, I add a third film that features a "Doctor X" to the line-up, making it a trilogy.

(I assume that I may well be one of the few commentators who have bothered to sit through all three movies, so I'm actually one of the few people who know how related these pictures truly are.)
 
 

Doctor X (1932) Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, and Lee Taylor Director: Michael Cortiz Steve's Rating: Eight of Ten Stars A killer is stalking Gotham, butchering women-young and old-with a scalpel and surgeon-like precision. When the police turn their investigation toward the medical research institute operated by Dr. Xavier (Atwill), he hopes to prevent the entire institute from being tarred by scandal by conducting a scientific experiment that will identify the killer on his staff. With the moral support of his beautiful daughter (Wray) and a wisecracking crime-beat reporter (Taylor) standing by for the scoop of the decade, Xavier brings his colleagues to his isolated country house... where the murderer soon proves himself quite unwilling to submit to Xavier's experiments, but not so shy about stabbing the house guests. "Doctor X" is a fun little film that mixes the mystery, comedy, romance, and horror genres into a bubbling cauldron of craziness. From the collection of four surgeons at Xavier's institute, each more suspicious and apparently crazy than the one before; to Xavier's creepy butler; to Xavier himself, the cast of characters here provide a rich pool of suspects. Wray and Taylor offer something attractive to look at amidst the strange collection of doctors and the bizarre, shadow-haunted scenery of the picture, with Wray presenting both radiant beauty and a very charming, very smart character. (In fact, Wray's beauty surrounded by the calculated ugliness of the rest of the film is a contrast that heightens just about every aspect of this work.) Viewers coming to this film without foreknowledge--as I did--will be struck by the fact that instead of the expected greys and blacks, the film appears to be in sepia tones... until Wray makes her first appearance on screen, wearing a dress that's a startling, vibrant green in among reddish-brown tones of the majority of the scenery. Later, there are other splashes of red and green, such as blood and bubbling chemicals; "Doctor X" was shot in an early version of Techicolor, and, while I found the reddish and/or greenish tint that was cast over everything generally tiresome, the bright splashes of concentrated color wow'ed me every time they appeared. As a historical artifact in the development of film techniques, or just as a fun little comedy/thriller that's crammed to the brim with mad scientists, "Doctor X" is a movie that I think any lover of classic movies will enjoy immensely.
The Return of Doctor X (1939) Starring: Wayne Morris, Dennis Morgan, John Litel, and Humphrey Bogart Director: Vincent Sherman Steve's Rating: Six of Ten Stars After being fired from his job for making up a false newsstory about finding a famous actress murdered-who shows up quite alive and intent on suing the paper-journalist Walter Garnett (Morris) turns to a close friend and surgeon (Morgan) in an attempt to figure out how he could have mistaken a live woman for a dead body. The answer he finds is stranger than anything he could imagine, and he soon finds himself up to his neck in creepy MDs, including the strange Dr. Quense (Bogart). "The Return of Doctor X" has nothing in common with the original "Doctor X" film (review here ), except that they were produced by the same company. There is no character or story similarity, despite the presence of murderous medical professionals and a character with the last name of "Xavier", as well as a wise-cracking reporter character. However, where "Doctor X' was a comedy with heavy doses of suspense and a touch of horror, "The Return"' is a fairly straight-forward horror movie with a heavy dose of comedy. The first movie was also far more impressive in its camerawork and set design, and this film, while competently filmed, suffers greatly by comparison. This is a decent enough flick, if completely forgettable. Big-time Humphrey Bogart fans may get a kick out of seeing him in a role quite different from anything else he did during his career, but otherwise, this is the kind of movie to load in a multi-disk DVD player for use as background noise during a Halloween party.
The Revenge of Doctor X (1970) (aka "The Venus Flytrap" and "The Double Garden") Starring: James Craig Director: Kenneth Crane Steve's Rating: Two of Ten Stars A rocket scientist--no really!-- (Craig) on the verge of a nervous breakdown travels to Japan for rest, relaxation, and the pursuit of his true love: botany. While there, he turns into the ultimate ugly American--treating the cute Japanese girls like dirt (even the topless ones) and making a monster by applying Frakenstein's research methods to a hybrid plant he's created. "The Revenge of Doctor X" is one of those movies that is so bizarre that at points you will think it's a spoof of the "mad doctor/monster maker" genre that flourished during the 30s, 40s, and 50s. However, other parts are so dismally made that you realize the comedy is unintentional. (Highlights include the homo-erotic exchange between Craig's character and his assistant as he heads out for vacation; the whole beach sequence; the monster creation scene; Craig's presentation of the doctor's theory of the origin of man; the film's climax; and the lesson learned that when in Japan, always look up... things will fall from the sky whenever there's a dull moment.) In the "good" column, we have Craig's utterly over-the-top, unintentionally hilarious performance; it's too bad it's wasted in such a weak movie. The monster ALMOST makes it to the good column... but then we see that it has venus flytrap feet to match its venus flytrap hands. "The Revenge of Doctor X" is a possible candidate for a Bad Movie Nite, but it almost has too much flabby padding and too many dead spots to be truly entertaining. Perhaps with 20 minutes edited out this could be great fun, but as the film stands, great patience and tolerance for bad movie making is needed to get from funny bit to funny bit.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the films that make up the "Doctor X Trilogy" are available seperately on DVD; they are all included in DVD multipacks. However, the sets they are featured in are fantastic values for the asking price.

"Doctor X" and "The Return of Doctor X" are featured in the six-movie collection "Hollywood's Legends of Horror", while "The Revenge of Doctor X" is included in the 50-movie megapack "Chilling Classics". (Click on the titles to be taken to reviews of each multi-DVD set [and the films included] at "Reviews and Stuff by Steve Miller.")