The Return of Doctor X (1939)

 This was a notorious sci-fi horror film featuring a less-than-pleased Bogart as the titular scientist with a cat he pets and a white streak in his hair. This wasn't exactly "The Big Sleep" (1946), but The Return of Doctor X (1939) does have that Warner Bros studio polish. Bogie wears a scowl like nobody's business and his makeup is quite pale, so they made sure he was vampire-like. When you hear John Litel's Dr. Francis Flegg order Bogie's Quesne (pronounced "Caine") around and dress him down, I couldn't help but wonder if this was Warner Bros way of burying him, or, at the very least, putting him in his place for whatever reason. When you come off such great films as "Dark Victory", "Angels with Dirty Faces", and "The Roaring Twenties", "The Return of Doctor X" is a puzzling demand by the studio bosses. Granted Victor Sherman was the director (who would also make some A class pictures also), but this obvious B-movie quickie meant to make a quick buck for Warner Bros, actors/actresses understood that the hierarchy determined reputation, respect, availability to the very best Hollywood could probably offer, and success. Curtiz had to earn his stripes in the studio system, but as he progressed, Bogie seemed to have a roller coaster in the 30's before the 40's finally seemed to reward him after the ups and downs. Unfortunately, Bogie throwing Karloff and Lugosi at the bosses at Warner Bros for their regular appearances in "stinkers" was a low blow, as if a film like "The Return of Doctor X" was as good as they deserved. I am always bothered when I read that because I think Karloff was indeed capable of more but when you are typecast, too often you are seen specifically as a bogeyman. Bogie's Quesne as a resurrected scientist executed for a child murder and brought back to life by Klegg to help master "synthetic blood" eventually develops him as a cold blooded murderer just out for donor blood that will keep him alive. This isn't exactly a flattering role for an actor considering his status and worth far more valuable than just another horror villain. You wouldn' t envision Bette Davis or Ingrid Bergman being caught dead in a film where he is undead. To make sure Warner Bros stamp is on this film, director Sherman run the gamut of newspaper articles spinning big headlines as plot developments. 2.5/5

I watched this for the first time in 2015, and this is indeed too sore thumb for Bogart to be avoided...even if Bogart would hope nobody noticed it:

Before the High Sierras and Casablancas sealed Bogart as a bonafide star, he was still struggling to attain his status as an actor deserved of parts equal to James Cagney (The Roaring Twenties, Angels with Dirty Faces, King of the Underworld, and Dark Victory established that Bogie was someone on the rise, just needing that one part to ignite him as a Hollywood dynamo). The titular character in this minor science fiction mad scientist film is not the kind of part Bogart was built for. However, this is a cult curiosity if there ever was one if just because Bogart's name is attached to it (no matter how disgusted Bogart was with Jack Warner for allowing him to be cast in something like this movie).

Quite frankly, the plot is ludicrous, but with Boris Karloff (who was to be in it and would have made it work) as Dr. Xavier, at least The Return of Dr. X could have fit nicely in with some of the other mad scientist films he was adding to his resume at Warners. However, Bogart stars as a reanimated corpse who needs blood in order to continue living. Yes, you read that right, Bogart of so many masterpieces that would come afterward is a pasty-faced walking revived corpse, with a white streak part in his hair (!) who was fried in the electric chair for starving a baby in an experiment! Now do you see why Bogart was a little ticked off?

Anyway, a newspaper reporter (Wayne Morris, with his "aww shucks, golly gee" charm) from Wichita, Kansas, goes to interview a retired theater actress (Lya Lys), finding her dead, but when he gets her demise on the front page of the paper (before even calling the cops!), with the police later not finding a body, he's in hot water...and unemployment when she turns up in the office of the editor-in-chief of the paper planning to sue! Luckily, Morris is friends with a staff physician (Dennis Morgan, Christmas in Connecticut) who works with a renowned surgeon and "blood specialist, Dr. Flegg (John Litel). Litel has perfected a method to revive humans, doing so to Lys, after Dr. X (under the alias of Quesne) kills her for her rare blood type. Soon X eyes a nurse (Rosemary Lane, getting second billing surprisingly, although her part is quite small) Morgan fancies as her blood is also a rare type quite desired.

Complete with a rabbit's revival thanks to Litel, Morris given access to view the body of a male blood donor when Morgan is called by police to a crime scene, Morgan and Morris digging up (with a graveyard caretaker's permission) the casket of Xavier to see him not there, Morris getting chance after chance to resurrect his career when most would be on a bus back home to the small town a failure, Bogart looking like a zombie walking around with a scowl (probably intentionally ill with being stuck in this), Morgan quite patient with his persistent buddy reporter always looking for help, and the idea that Morris is always hanging around in the right places to get the goods with Morgan, quite the intellectual and agreeable doctor always level-headed despite the crazy he finds himself involved in, how could this film *not* be of interest to B-movie lovers? It is just surreal seeing Bogart listening in from behind a window as the scientist who gave him a rebirth talks to the two men investigating his violent handiwork, his makeup giving him a cadaverous look, suspicious from the moment he emerges on screen for the first time (although, the cast seems oblivious to it!), maintaining a ghoulish appearance. The ending is typical "police and heroes chase after the villainous psycho who has kidnapped the damsel in distress certain to be killed if they don't reach her in time" action resulting predictably.

Bogart, rightfully so, wouldn't talk about this film, considering it a stain on his resume, while someone like Karloff seemed perfectly fit (if sadly stuck with the stigma of being an actor typically associated with just "boogeymen") for the part. It is surprising Warners wouldn't "protect" an actor like Bogie from these kinds of parts, but this is, all the same, a unique film for those interested in seeing actors--right before superstardom--reduced to camp, having to grind their way to the top.