Not a private eye. Not a G.I. in the war. Not a hoodlum. Nope, Humphrey Bogart as a zombie like being, brought back from the grave, and seeking human blood. Yep, it is Humphrey Bogart as you have never seen him before. White, pasty, and creepy looking. He is so creepy that he will never get a Lauren Becall, Katherine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman or Mary Astor. Let us take a peek at a really creepy film from 1939, "The Return of Doctor X," directed by Vincent Sherman.
Yep, after experimenting on babies, he starved them to death (probably a protege of Margaret Sanger), Doctor Xavier, aka Doctor X (Bogart), is executed in the chair. Okay, an aggressive society reporter, Walter (Wayne Morris), lines up an interview with the international stage star, the beautiful Angela Merrova (Lya Lys). When he arrives at her hotel suite, she has been murdered, stabbed in the heart. Eek, by the time the police arrive, her corpse vanishes. Even worse, Walter insists he saw her dead, even though she shows up at his newspaper the next day wondering where the story came from. Uh oh, the sultry Merrova is looking pale. Walter is fired and he goes to see a buddy of his, the handsome blood specialist, Dr. Rhodes (Dennis Morgan).
Rhodes and Walter investigate and through their toil, Rhodes finds a blood sample. The sample is of a weird type and the duo soon figure out it is a synthetic blood invented by Dr. Flegg (John Litel). Flegg, just by chance, has a new assistant...yep, the pale Doctor X. Flegg brought him back from the dead after the execution and now the evil X controls Flegg. Even worse, X cannot survive long on the synthetic blood and needs human blood. Now a pretty nurse (Rosemary Lane) is in peril as she has the same rare blood that X needs.
Will the pretty nurse be X's latest blood donor? Just what are Doctor X's plans after his resurrection? Will the internationally renown Angela Merrova make a comeback and perform at Carnegie Hall? This is a creepy one and even though Bogie received awful reviews from the critics for his role as Doctor X, he did a fine job and maximized the creepy factor for this film. For a weird way to see Humphrey Bogart, and for a unsettling horror flick, see 'The Return of Doctor X."
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