The Mad Doctor of Market Street
A fugitive doctor (Lionel Atwill) tries to raise the dead for South Sea Islanders.
-
- Cast：
- Lionel Atwill , Una Merkel , Nat Pendleton , Claire Dodd , Anne Nagel , Hardie Albright , Richard Davies
Similar titles
Reviews
Perfect cast and a good story
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Director: JOSEPH H. LEWIS. Original screenplay: Al Martin. Photographed in black-and-white by Jerry Ash. Film editor: Ralph Dixon. Art directors: Jack Otterson and Ralph M. DeLacy. Set decorations: Russell A. Gausman. Costumes: Vera West. Music director: Hans J. Salter. Sound recording: Bernard B. Brown and Jess Moulin. Producer: Paul Malvern.Copyright 8 December 1941 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 3 January 1942. U.S. release: 27 February 1942. Australian release: 7 May 1942. 6 reels. 5,449 feet. 60 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Shipwrecked on a tropical island, a mad doctor uses his suspended animation techniques to impress the natives.COMMENT: Early "B" film directed by Joseph H. Lewis starts off promisingly but ends up unexpectedly with stock natives on a Pacific Island. Still, director Lewis shows an occasional flair with imaginative compositions, though the plot is one of the silliest we have ever come across. The star of the film, Una Merkel, plays a totally superfluous character and the support cast proves not much better, but Lionel Atwill goes through his role as if believing that his every word was of the greatest importance!
Lionel Atwill lifted a few average horror films to the status of being tolerable. Luckily, he was able to achieve this by being a theatre- trained actor who was a genuine talent. "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" is a typical example. He plays another mad scientist who is forced to leave the United States after causing the death of a patient whilst conducting some bizarre experiments. Lionel Atwill finishes up by being shipwrecked on a desert island along with other people and then attempts to conquer the island's inhabitants. Strictly speaking, this is routine stuff but worth seeing...just.
Mad scientist Lionel Atwill is at it again. This time he's run out of San Francisco for performing experiments that involve killing people so he can bring them back to life. He eventually makes his way to a tropical island where he uses his scientific abilities to fool the natives into thinking he has the power of resurrection. Minor Universal horror film is still enjoyable. Lionel Atwill is great as always. He's got some nice support from the likes of Noble Johnson, Claire Dodd, and John Eldredge. Nat Pendleton and cutie Una Merkel provide the comic relief. It's not a classic but any movie where Atwill plays a villain, especially a mad scientist, is worth checking out.
Lionel Atwill is the whole show here(practically) as he plays an unethical doctor whose experiments in suspended animation fail miserably. Now wanted for murder by the San Francisco police, he flees the city and boards a ship bound for the South Pacific. Unfortunately, there is a fire on board, and the ship sinks, leaving him and other survivors stranded on a remote island populated by primitive natives who come to worship him after he saves the life of the tribal chief's wife, though the worship goes to his head, really making him power "mad"! Can the other survivors expose him as a fraud? Despite Atwill's lively performance, this film is incredibly dull and forgettable.