... even if the much better known film "The Crime Doctor", starring Warner Baxter in the title role, is somewhat a remake of this one. I say "somewhat" because even though the overall premise is the same - a criminal loses all memory of his former self and becomes a prominent physician, philanthropist, and overall good guy until his former life begins to intrude upon his present one- many of the plot mechanisms are different.
First off, we never got to see Warner Baxter as the gangster, the first time we see him he's dumped for dead by his gang at the side of a road. In this film we actually get to see gangster 'Slick' Rawley (Ralph Bellamy) before his transition. In a burglary gone wrong he kills a cop and has to take it on the lam. His gang consists of Gloves (Ward Bond) and his girl Peggy (Isabel Jewell). While on the run he hides out in a lecture hall where prominent surgeon Dr. Clifford L. Schuyler (Thurston Hall) is giving a lecture. The lecture is on how, with a brain operation, he can turn psychotic killers into gentle beings, but so far he's only operated on animals. After the lecture Rawley offers to be a guinea pig for Schuyler who is reluctant for two reasons - the risk involved and the fact that Slick admits to being a fugitive. Slick also wants plastic surgery because he needs to hide from the cops, which leads you to believe it just may have been the plastic surgery he wanted in the first place and that he thinks that Schuyler's theories about reform via surgery were just so much hooey.
However, Rawley awakens from the surgery a completely transformed human being with no memory of who he is, so Schuyler lies to him and tells him he's James Blake, an amnesia victim that required brain surgery, and that he has no relatives that he could find. Like the crime doctor, Blake takes an interest in medicine while recuperating and then starts on a ten year journey to become a doctor himself, all the while befriended by Schuyler, the only person who knows the whole story.
Unlike the Crime Doctor, this film doesn't have much overt conflict. There is no gang out to hunt down the good doctor in search of some loot that he has hidden somewhere. In fact, Slick's old partner Gloves seems quite the reluctant criminal. The only really hardened character here is Peggy, who recognizes Slick in spite of the new face and doesn't seem resentful he has thrown her over for a new girl as much as she is angry that he is rolling in dough and she isn't. If you don't think a woman scorned can be as dangerous as an entire gang of criminals in search of a stash of cash, you haven't seen Peggy in action.
This film seems to take an even more sympathetic view of crime and the possibility of rehabilitation than the Crime Doctor did just seven years later, probably because the Depression was still in full swing and there were still plenty of hungry desperate people often driven to desperate acts. The one thing that is never sufficiently explained are Dr. Schuyler's actions. After all, all he really knows about Slick is what Slick told him - when he was still a hardened criminal. Wasn't he the least bit worried that Slick might have a wife - or two - stashed away somewhere when he became engaged to be married as Dr. Blake? That possibility was raised in "The Crime Doctor" but never here.
Even if you have already seen "The Crime Doctor", I highly recommended this fast moving little action film with good performances by all involved.
First off, we never got to see Warner Baxter as the gangster, the first time we see him he's dumped for dead by his gang at the side of a road. In this film we actually get to see gangster 'Slick' Rawley (Ralph Bellamy) before his transition. In a burglary gone wrong he kills a cop and has to take it on the lam. His gang consists of Gloves (Ward Bond) and his girl Peggy (Isabel Jewell). While on the run he hides out in a lecture hall where prominent surgeon Dr. Clifford L. Schuyler (Thurston Hall) is giving a lecture. The lecture is on how, with a brain operation, he can turn psychotic killers into gentle beings, but so far he's only operated on animals. After the lecture Rawley offers to be a guinea pig for Schuyler who is reluctant for two reasons - the risk involved and the fact that Slick admits to being a fugitive. Slick also wants plastic surgery because he needs to hide from the cops, which leads you to believe it just may have been the plastic surgery he wanted in the first place and that he thinks that Schuyler's theories about reform via surgery were just so much hooey.
However, Rawley awakens from the surgery a completely transformed human being with no memory of who he is, so Schuyler lies to him and tells him he's James Blake, an amnesia victim that required brain surgery, and that he has no relatives that he could find. Like the crime doctor, Blake takes an interest in medicine while recuperating and then starts on a ten year journey to become a doctor himself, all the while befriended by Schuyler, the only person who knows the whole story.
Unlike the Crime Doctor, this film doesn't have much overt conflict. There is no gang out to hunt down the good doctor in search of some loot that he has hidden somewhere. In fact, Slick's old partner Gloves seems quite the reluctant criminal. The only really hardened character here is Peggy, who recognizes Slick in spite of the new face and doesn't seem resentful he has thrown her over for a new girl as much as she is angry that he is rolling in dough and she isn't. If you don't think a woman scorned can be as dangerous as an entire gang of criminals in search of a stash of cash, you haven't seen Peggy in action.
This film seems to take an even more sympathetic view of crime and the possibility of rehabilitation than the Crime Doctor did just seven years later, probably because the Depression was still in full swing and there were still plenty of hungry desperate people often driven to desperate acts. The one thing that is never sufficiently explained are Dr. Schuyler's actions. After all, all he really knows about Slick is what Slick told him - when he was still a hardened criminal. Wasn't he the least bit worried that Slick might have a wife - or two - stashed away somewhere when he became engaged to be married as Dr. Blake? That possibility was raised in "The Crime Doctor" but never here.
Even if you have already seen "The Crime Doctor", I highly recommended this fast moving little action film with good performances by all involved.