"The Crime Doctor" was the first of a series of WW-II-era "B-Picture" mysteries based upon a popular radio series. During WW-II many well-known leading actors left Hollywood to enlist in the military, including such famous stars as James Stewart, Leslie Howard, David Niven, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Robert Taylor and Henry Fonda. As a result, the movie industry had to fall back upon well-known actors who had once been popular stars, but who were now becoming older, and would otherwise probably not be have been engaged for leading roles. One such actor was Warner Baxter, formerly a well-known and popular leading man who, though now in his 50s, was clearly still capable of getting the job done.
In this case Baxter portrays a character of indeterminate age, but one who is clearly not necessarily a young man. He has had been suffering from amnesia for the past ten years after being found beside the road suffering from a head injury. Although he has no knowledge of his previous life, the implication is that he had formerly been some sort of criminal. In an effort to recover his memory (and despite his age and the fact that he has no identity or credentials), he enrolls in medical school and becomes a psychiatrist.
At that time psychiatry was still fairly new and revolutionary, and books and movies concerning the work of psychiatrists were very popular. It was during that period that Hollywood produced films well-known such as "Kings Row" and "Now, Voyager", both of which were heavily involved with psychiatry. Clearly, "The Crime Doctor" series was intended to cash in on that popularity.
"The Crime Doctor" is typical of the sort of low-budget "B-Picture" movies series that Hollywood produced during the war years. While they were not bad, their production values were clearly constrained both by budget and time. However, they provided employment to a lot of talented people who would otherwise have been unemployed, and they provided a brief escape for audiences during a period when the entire world was plunged into a conflict, of which the outcome was still not yet certain.
In this case Baxter portrays a character of indeterminate age, but one who is clearly not necessarily a young man. He has had been suffering from amnesia for the past ten years after being found beside the road suffering from a head injury. Although he has no knowledge of his previous life, the implication is that he had formerly been some sort of criminal. In an effort to recover his memory (and despite his age and the fact that he has no identity or credentials), he enrolls in medical school and becomes a psychiatrist.
At that time psychiatry was still fairly new and revolutionary, and books and movies concerning the work of psychiatrists were very popular. It was during that period that Hollywood produced films well-known such as "Kings Row" and "Now, Voyager", both of which were heavily involved with psychiatry. Clearly, "The Crime Doctor" series was intended to cash in on that popularity.
"The Crime Doctor" is typical of the sort of low-budget "B-Picture" movies series that Hollywood produced during the war years. While they were not bad, their production values were clearly constrained both by budget and time. However, they provided employment to a lot of talented people who would otherwise have been unemployed, and they provided a brief escape for audiences during a period when the entire world was plunged into a conflict, of which the outcome was still not yet certain.