WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Doctor X 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.959 Hey, welcome to Weird How Cinema. My name is Rob 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.879 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And this is a bit 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.640 of a rewind here because we are off for this week. Uh. 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:21.160 This episode originally aired on January and it's about the 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.759 movie dr X. Yeah, this one was. It was a 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:26.840 lot of fun. This one was. It was a film 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:28.760 that I had never seen before. Was it was all 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:32.080 new to me and it is especially for what is this? 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:35.200 This is a very weird film. This is. This one's 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:37.040 a lot of fun. So it's a great one to 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.760 feature once more as a rare Weird House Cinema rerun. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:47.640 It's time to rub the synthetic flesh. Welcome to Stuff 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:57.160 to Blow your Mind production of My Heart Radio. Hey, 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.520 welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name is Bob Lamb 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.600 and I'm Joe McCormick. And today I think we're going 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.679 to be doing the chronologically earliest film that we've done 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.919 so far. Isn't that right? I believe so, So today 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:15.040 we're gonna be talking about Dr X, a nineteen thirty 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:20.560 two American pre code horror film that that that shocked 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.320 my soul and conscience and I thought it was just 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:27.560 a fabulous ride. Yeah, yeah, this this one was a 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:31.360 pleasant surprise for me as well. I was only vaguely 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.760 aware of it. I'll get into into some of that 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:35.480 in a bit, but I was vaguely aware that it 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.000 existed new basically nothing about it. You suggested it. I 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:40.960 saw a couple of the people that were involved in it, 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.720 and I just signed on side unseen and went in 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:47.200 without any spoilers or anything. Watched it this morning, and 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.160 it was fabulous. So while it it might seem to 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.960 start out as a rather traditional film, and it ends 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.280 fairly to traditionally as well, it gets just heavily weird 0:01:57.560 --> 0:01:59.920 in the middle in a way that that really has 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.760 to be experienced. Yeah. Well, there's one scene in particular. 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:05.840 I mean, I would say that there is a like 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.520 five minute sequence in this movie that you should watch 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:11.920 the movie for, even if for nothing else. But there's 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.359 some other fun stuff in there as well. Uh and 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.040 and and we'll get into what that is later on. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.519 But I thought at first we should talk for a 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:25.320 little bit about the historical context of this era of movies. 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:27.480 So this is a pre code movie. You might have 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.200 heard that term in used by film historians. Before pre code, 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:35.040 and that that code there refer refers to something called 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:39.320 the Haze Code. So basically from about nineteen thirty four 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.880 until roughly the end of the nineteen fifties, I think 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.440 sometimes the movie Some Like It Hot in nineteen fifty 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.400 nine is is held out as sort of like the 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.680 demise of the Hayes Code era. But for this period, 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.880 from the mid thirties through the fifties, American film studios 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.240 sort of agreed to be o earned by censorship guidelines 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:04.880 that were known as the Hayes Code. So this prohibited 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.640 a lot of stuff that you might, you know, automatically 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.040 think of, of course obvious R rated content like nudity 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.240 and profanity, but it also banned content that was considered 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:19.400 objectionable to conservative social values. So that might be all 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.240 kinds of um, you know, references to cannibalism and things. 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.920 You weren't supposed to have movies in which the audience 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:31.240 would be asked to sympathize with criminals or crime, which 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.480 is just a great guideline for complex moral cinema. Um 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.200 you you weren't supposed to have movies that ridiculed the 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:43.640 church or religion, or movies with interracial or same sex romance. 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.880 But there was a time before this code was implemented, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:49.880 before it was started, before it started to be strictly 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.560 enforced in around nineteen thirty four, and that brief period 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:57.120 between the spread of talkies so movies was synchronized sound, 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.680 which was mainly in nineteen twenty nine, and then the 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.560 stricter enforcement of the code in nineteen thirty four, that 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.680 like five year period is known as the pre code 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.520 period in American film, and it's characterized by movies that 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.880 experimented with more controversial content of multiple kinds. So you 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.920 had salacious content in terms of sex and violence and crime, 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.760 the normal R rated kind of stuff that that shocks 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.800 the morals. But it was also I think it's worth 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:29.360 pointing out a period of uh, increased experimentation with progressive 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.080 social themes that would mostly fade from American movies in 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.400 the following decades, only to re emerge in the sixties. 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:38.719 So I think that's an interesting parallel that in the 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:42.279 same time you see this brief early flowering of kind 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.920 of kind of like RACYR rated content, uh, you also 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.640 see things that we would we would later think are 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.880 like good social values that were prohibited at the time 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.240 and uh, and there they were sort of struck down 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.479 with the same stick in thirty four. Yeah. It's interesting 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.800 too when you think about film, the film output, the 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:06.400 cinematic output as an indicator of what the underlying culture 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.919 you knows there was, you know, because once you have 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.400 the code in place, Yeah, to a certain extent, the 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.240 code is a product of the culture. Uh. And therefore 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.040 you can see those films that come out of it 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.120 as a reflection of what the culture wanted to see 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.960 itself as. But it also means you have this inauthentic 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.640 view of what was actually going on in the zeitgeist 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:26.480 of the time. You know, let's go back when we 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.720 watch films from the nineteen fifties, American mainstream films from 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.120 the fifties, and you get this kind of vision that's like, 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:36.000 oh wow, it looks um looks pretty dry and um, 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.520 you know it's you know, it's it's it's pretty Uh, 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.960 it's pretty square. Um, I don't know, it's it's very 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.320 sanitized in many respects. Well, people often harken back to 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.000 they say there was a time where movies were more innocent. 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.000 Have you ever heard that there was a more innocent 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.880 age in cinema, which I think is a horrible way 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:55.560 of putting it. I mean that that's not really what 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:57.200 it was. What you're saying is there was a time 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.960 when American movies were more censored, right, yeah, because I 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:04.400 mean and certainly when you look at films from the fifties, Uh, 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.240 there's plenty of horrible stuff going on, like socially that's 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.599 reflected in those films. Uh. But but yeah, you have 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.600 this this code in place is preventing, uh, this racier 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.880 content from taking place, and it it kind of limits 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:22.200 the palette that artists of that time had to to use, 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:24.760 you know that that we're at their disposal to bring 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.360 their message across, be it a like a really highly 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.039 thought out artistic message or the B cinema message, which 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:33.320 I think, as we've discussed before a lot of times, 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:39.200 the cinema that is where the genre cinema, cinema, horror cinema, 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.599 science fiction cinema. That's sometimes the first place where some 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.640 of these cultural ideas are explored. Yeah, totally before they 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.320 reach the mainstream. Now, I don't wanna so we're gonna 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.560 be talking about this movie Doctor X, which is a 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:56.080 horror movie in the pre code era, and for that reason, 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.920 for it's it's time and place, it does feel very 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:03.039 weird and edgy and unlike movies, you know, horror movies 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.800 that would be put out by American studios a decade later. 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.440 It feels much more dangerous than that. But at the 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:13.160 same time, I don't want to imply that this movie 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.520 particularly embodies any uh, any like at the time controversial 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:19.760 progressive social themes that I can think of. I don't 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:21.560 think it really does. I mean, it's it's just like 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.000 a horror, murder mystery movie. But it does have this 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.080 this harder edge from being in that early thirties period 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.240 that I think serves it quite well. Yeah. Absolutely, It's 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.720 just got a darker, weirder, more dangerous sensibility than stuff 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.080 you would normally expect to see, uh from movies of 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:39.960 the thirties. So then again, I would say, you know, 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.640 there are some that are in the postcode era that 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:44.760 that rival it in certain ways, like I don't know, 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:46.640 a Mad Love I think is sort of on the 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.880 on the same level. Yeah, but maybe we should give 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.280 the elevator pitch for this movie. Okay, So what's Doctor 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:57.160 X about? Okay, So imagine yourself at a medical academy 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:01.080 where absolutely every member of the faculty is a prime 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:06.520 suspect in the cannibalistic moon killer slangs like serial murders 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.040 that are taking a place at night during a full moon. 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:14.480 So we meet up with this character, doctor Xavier, Doctor Xavier, 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.400 we'll get into the various pronunciations, um, and he's heading 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.560 up the academy. The police have come to him and 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:22.960 they say, hey, we think the killer is one of 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.360 you guys, and the doctor, doctor x here says, give 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.760 me forty eight hours. I'll find the killer myself, so 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:32.439 the police don't have to get involved and we don't 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:35.280 have to get a lot of bad pr for the academy. Yeah, 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:37.400 it's a pretty great set up. Maybe we should hit 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:41.760 that trailer audio. We are all under suspicion of murder. 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:46.600 What absurd, ridiculous, what inbecial thought that I'm Lee Taylor 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:49.280 of the Daily World. Then you did it me if 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.240 you included that heart of the story father in this 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:55.520 morning's paper. Don't be afraid tonight. Be sure you keep 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:59.880 your eyes closed and relax. I'm land ten bucks to 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:04.640 a dime, which another moon one of us, maybe a murderer, 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:06.880 A murderer who killed but the light of a full 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:16.360 moon leading his victim's body mutilated. Sounds good? Sounds good. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.760 Now we may have buried one of the leads here, 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:24.680 which is that this seed nineteen thirty two horror movie 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:31.040 about cannibalistic murders and synthetic flesh, was directed by Michael Curtiz, 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:38.640 the director of Casablanca. That's a pretty odd fact. So um. 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.880 Michael Curtiz was a Hungarian American film director who made 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.040 a lot of the most well regarded movies of Hollywood's 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.959 Golden Age. He made The Adventures of Robin Hood in 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.720 ninety eight with Errol Flynn, of course, Casablanca, and forty 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:57.080 two Mildred Pierce in nineteen five. He did at least 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:01.120 one James Cagney crime movie. So we are not dealing 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.640 with a with a Roger Corman type here. This is 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:08.079 not a scrappy schlock production, you know, for for kids 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.439 at the drive in. This is one of the era's 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.840 most high profile and successful directors. But there are ways 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:19.240 in which Curtis I think was much like Corman. And 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:24.560 one of those ways is that Curtiz was prolific, ferociously productive, 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.440 and he put out a staggering volume of film work 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.040 of sort of mixed staying power. Some of it, you know, 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:37.120 is considered classics movies like Casablanca. Other stuff is largely forgotten. 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:42.760 And he bounced all over genres. He directed musicals, western swashbucklers, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.280 horror movies, biblical epics. Uh. And and another thing that's 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.400 interesting about him is that basically everybody who chronicles his 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.760 life points out that his personal habits took the idea 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:59.200 of staying busy to an almost fanatical extreme. Uh. There's 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.719 one example of this. Uh. It's a paragraph that I 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:03.840 came across when I was reading an article in The 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.160 l A Times by Kenneth Turin. That was a review 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.000 of a book called Michael Curtiz, A Life in Films 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.320 by Alan kay Road. And so turn writes the following. 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.760 Both on camera and off, Curtiz wanted things always to 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:21.839 be moving, hurdling cars and trains, and propulsive people figured 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.360 prominently in his films. Even the dark factory smoke in 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:29.600 the movie Female moves purposefully across the screen rather than 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.360 just evaporating lazily into thin air. Someone who is likely 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:38.079 easily bored and reportedly needed only four hours sleep. Curtiz 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.280 only wanted to be doing, doing, doing, which led to 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.760 difficult situations with his cast and crew. It's not just 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.400 that the director believed lunch breaks were for whimps. Road 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:53.440 notes that Curtiz is quote demonic work ethic, approached savagery, 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:55.960 and working conditions on his sets are said to have 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.520 been set are said to be one of the reasons 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.960 that the screen actors give old was formed. Oh wow, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:07.360 So yeah, just say, just a hyperactive filmmaker who just 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.080 wanted to be working all the time and perhaps just 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.920 did not understand that other human beings either could not 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.280 do that or did not want that as the defining 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.120 energy of their life. Yeah. There, there was a whole 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.199 other thing. I was reading about his war against lunch. Like, 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.040 he hated lunch. He thought lunch was a stupid waste 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:29.960 of time and that actors were lazy after lunch, and 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.520 so he encouraged people to skip lunch because then there 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.200 would be more productive in the afternoon. Uh. I don't know, 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.920 it sounds borderline pathological, you know. I have to say 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.320 that I'm I'm ultimately not super familiar with with his work. 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.520 I saw Casablanca once for a film class in college 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.720 and and and enjoyed it. You know, it's an important film. 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.720 But I've seen Overdrawn in the memory Bank so many 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.240 times and so many more times than Casablanca, that the 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.400 simulated Casablanca scenes, you know, or drawn are the ones 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.320 my mind goes to when I think of Casta Blanca, 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:09.400 I think of Rale Julia right as as um as Rick. 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.320 It's not Rick, it's Finger, Yes, yes, Fingle, I get Rick, 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.760 Rick and Finger are one in my mind. Wait, who's 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:19.560 Peter Laurie and Overdrawn in the memory bank? They have 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.959 some guy doing like a really really you know, a 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.600 stereotypical Peter louri impersonation. I don't remember miss anybody connected 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.360 to the plot roll. Julia was actually a good actor, 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.120 and I bet he could have done a good Peter 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.680 Lourie impression. Oh I bet, yeah, he could have played 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.360 every role in that film. But I mean, I mean, 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.120 ral Julia is great in that film. He's great in everything. 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.599 But I would say curtis Is talent comes through and 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.520 doctor X. This is a This is a movie that 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.319 is busy. It moves, I mean, it's got a lot 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:53.240 of action. It is it does not lag. Yeah, there's 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.280 not a lot of space to be bored in this 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.320 in this film. Um. Another thing about Curtis, I don't 0:13:58.320 --> 0:13:59.760 know if you ran across this. This is an I 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:02.640 am dB facts, so I don't know to what extent 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:04.959 we can take this as absolute truth or do he's 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:08.040 a story about him. But supposedly he fell out of 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.960 a moving vehicle once because he had to he had 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.080 some idea that he had to jot down. He had 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.320 to write down on some notepad paper he was driving 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:23.680 the vehicle at the time. That sounds about right. So 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.160 another interesting thing about this This film is not interesting 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.760 because of the names attached to it, but for what 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.920 it it tells you about about the various storytelling mediums 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.560 of the time. Uh. This was based on a play 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.320 by Howard Warren Comstock and Alan C. Miller. So back 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.320 in the day when I guess you just had more 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.560 genre plays you could you could have a cannibalistic serial 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:50.320 killer play that one might view. Yeah, that's interesting. Today, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.880 if one goes out to see a play, it's almost 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:55.640 certainly going to be of you know, either either a 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:58.600 classical plays like you know, Greek or Shakespeare or something, 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.040 or if it's a modern play a it's like a 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.400 character driven drama or it's a comedy. But yeah, we've 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.680 forgotten the early twentieth century like genre plays in terms 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:14.120 of like bloody gory horror productions for the stage were 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:18.840 extremely common, like the the Grand gen y'all in in Paris. Um. 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:21.920 I don't know, in a way I missed this tradition, 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.120 like why don't high school theater groups do viciously bloody 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.320 Grand Gaen y'all. I'm sure you can still get those 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.760 scripts somewhere. They're probably even in the public domain. Yeah, 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.840 and they'd probably be pretty fun to put on. You 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.680 get some kids to do the special effects, all the 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:41.040 eyeballs squirting out and stuff. I mean, that could be good. Yeah. Well, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.960 let's get into some of the players in this uh 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.400 this this picture. Okay, Well, you had an actor named 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.040 Lee Tracy in one of the main roles in the movie. Now, 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.520 Lee Tracy is not one of He doesn't play any 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:55.400 of the scientists. Instead, he plays Lee Taylor, who is 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.400 sort of the the everyman anchor for the story. He 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.280 is a reporter for a newspaper are called The Daily World. 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:06.240 He is a streetwise, fast talking newspaper hack the kind 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:10.240 of sardonic crime reporter character who appeared in a lot 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.840 of movies of this era and then would later be 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:18.000 sort of imitated or parodied for nostalgic recreations, like the 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.760 character of Alexander Knox and the Tim Burton Batman. Remember 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:26.640 that guy, Oh yes, yeah, yeah, played by an airless guy. Yeah, 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.960 Robert wool Yeah. He that that guy. I think is 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.080 supposed to be a throwback to this stock character from 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.760 thirties and forties movies. Yeah, Like you know what, the instant, 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:39.680 the instant a character like this walks on the screen 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:41.160 because they're like, Hey, what you got there, partner? Okay, 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:42.720 I'm gonna talk to you about this murder that's happening 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:44.280 all of it own. I am afraid to go out 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.320 of night because you know, it's it has this whole rhythm, 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:51.760 this cadence. It's an obvious trope. Um. I will say 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.440 that that Lee Tracy is is quite good in this role, though, 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.920 And and while it does contain all these elements of 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.400 the trope, it's SEMs to have some other fun quirks 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.760 added to it as well. So not only is he 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.320 this snappy newspaper man, but there's this whole thing where 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.840 he's a He seems to be a practical joke enthusiast 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.680 who often forgets that he's wearing one of these handshake buzzers, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:14.919 you know, where he's like his wedding ring. He just 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.800 forgets it's on there. He just forgets his on and 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.199 and this gag actually works quite well in the picture 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.440 and plays into the plot a bit. So I applaud 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.240 that for making for making a trope that I'm instantly 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.080 not interested in actually entertaining. Yeah, yeah, I gotta hand 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.840 it to him for that as well. Um and Tracy, 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.280 I mean he he is this role. I mean he's 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.040 it's just in his bones, you can tell. Yeah. I 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.560 I read that he apparently played a lot of snappy 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.000 newspaper men. There's an attributed quote I found on IMDb quote, 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.399 I should have quit playing newspaper men after three or 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.840 four parts in the movies, but the money kept coming 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.320 in and I liked it. He liked it. It almost 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:57.080 sounds like a line his character would say in dr CT. Yeah, 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:58.720 I should have done it in his voice, but I 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.280 even I can't do that voice too up. Okay, So 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.600 then the next major player, you've got his Lionel at Will, 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.120 who plays a doctor. Oh my god, so they pronounced 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.399 his name like five different ways in this movie. It 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:16.320 is like professor Charles Xavier. It's Xavier Xavier or Xavier 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.879 is how I think most Americans would say it today. 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.400 But in the movie they call him doctor Xavier. They 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.879 call him doctors Xavier. I don't know how many different 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.840 ways they say it. And then of course he is 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.199 the titular doctor x But then in a way, the 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.520 title also has another meaning which we'll get to, and 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:37.160 that is doctor x is in Doctor Unknown. Right. Yes, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.840 So Atwell is one of these actors who played a 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.720 ton of characters who are either inspectors or doctors. Uh. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.000 In this he gets to play both. He's a doctor 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:50.080 who acts as an inspector, and sometimes he played villains 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.960 as well, such as the role of Moriarty and Sherlock 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.199 Holmes and The Secret Weapon from ninety three. And he 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:57.720 was also in a string of horror films in the 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:01.840 nineteen thirties. He he played the one inspector Krog in 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:06.080 Son of Frankenstein in nine, which I believe was It 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.840 was later parodied in um What is It? The mel 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.920 Brooks film Um Oh What? In Young Franken stuff. Yeah, 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.840 I believe they parody that roll little bit in there. Yeah, 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:18.040 but in this yes, he is. He is a doctor 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.760 who acts as an inspector, so he has a lot 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.040 of screen time. He's just constantly talking. Yeah, and he's 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.879 got a little bit slightly off brand Christopher Plumber vibes. 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.560 You know, he's a little bit Christopher Plumber but slightly 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.639 less dashing. Yes. And then there's also he does have 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:38.080 this quality to where, um, you're not sure if you 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:39.919 can trust him or not either. Like a lot of 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.560 the films, it centers around it who done it scenario, 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.680 And indeed you don't know what dr Xes deal is 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.080 as well. DR's a Views deal is. Yeah, it's great. 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.240 There's a cast of like seven different creeps who are 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.439 all testifying to each other's integrity. But they're all just 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:58.600 like the most ominous, menacing people you've ever seen. Yeah, 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.440 it's a real rogues gallery, this medical academy. We'll get 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.600 in like even without getting into the details of which 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.920 we'll get to, they all just look wonderful and grow 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.760 grotesque in their own ways. It's a wonderful We're not 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:12.600 going to list their name in the name of the actors, 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:14.639 because most of those names are probably not going to 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.600 really resonate with with listeners. They're worth looking up though, 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:19.960 if you're if you're curious, But yeah, they're like there's 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.600 so many scenes where you'll have like our leading Lady, 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.280 who are about to get to and she's talking like 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.400 a foot away or less with one of these characters, 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.000 and they're like, the lighting between the two characters is 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.160 so distinct because of course she is illuminated and beautiful 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.479 like an angel. And then these various character actors are 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.880 illuminated in ways to like really bring out the rugged 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.120 definition of their face and all the lines and make 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:48.440 them look like hollow, gaunt, haunted skeletons. It's wonderful that 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:50.600 that's very well put. Well, we should get to the 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.280 leading Lady because she, I think, is without a doubt, 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.040 the most well known member of the cast here. It's 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:01.479 Fay Ray. Fay Ray plays Joan Xavier, the daughter I 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:05.600 think the daughter, Yeah, the daughter of doctor I wasn't 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.960 clear on that for about half the picture. The daughter yeah, um, 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.800 and and I mean got this Faye from King Kong, 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.240 that's right, one of the original scream queens. Um. Yeah, 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:19.920 she played and Darrow in the nineteen thirty three film 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.080 King Kong, so she hadn't like fully exploded like King 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.560 Kong was the film that really launched her into the 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:30.000 spotlight in a major way. But she had a very 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.320 long career, so she she was born in Canada but 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:35.399 raised in Hollywood, so she interacting in an early age, 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:39.359 at sixteen, I believe in the nineteen short Gasolene Love. 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:42.760 She acted in a hundred and twenty three titles up 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:46.399 through nineteen eighty and as first standout roles she was 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:51.000 in the Most Dangerous Game and um a standout role 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:53.399 for us anyway would also be Mystery of the Wax 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.720 Museum from nineteen thirty three, which which we've mentioned on 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.000 Stuff to Blow your Mind before. She was in The 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:03.720 Vampire Bat nineteen thirty three, and uh, yeah, she she 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.359 she's a legend there. You can't deny her. In fact, 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.240 she is mentioned twice in the lyrics to the Rocky 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:14.120 Horror Picture Show. Um, so there's the the whole Uh, 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:15.720 there's a whole bit at the start of one of 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:18.879 the songs. Whatever happened to Fay Ray that delicate satin 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:21.600 draped frame as it clung to her thigh how I 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:23.919 started to cry because I wanted to be dressed just 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:28.359 the same. Does Dr Frankenfurter sing that, Yes, yeah, that's 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:32.520