She finished her career as an uncredited dancer in "The Jolson Story" and only had a few credited parts in her entire career (which only lasted a couple of years anyway) but she was pretty and competent and makes you wonder whatever happened to her and a lot of actresses like her who just could not break out of the extra ranks. She didn't last long in this movie either - it being one of the rare ones where the heroine disappears half way through. Actually there were a few plot inconsistencies but with William Castle directing, a lot of good quirky moments also.
Dr. Ordway (Warner Baxter) is suddenly called, one night, to a neighbour's housewarming because one of the guests, a diabetic, collapses and a doctor is needed to administer insulin. The insulin has been switched however and Ordway finds he has injected poison. The neighbours seem a bit odd as well - the Travers (Mona Barrie and Robert Barrett) suddenly announce they are being divorced and as soon as the murder is committed, the house goes on the market. As Ordway cynically says "was the house bought to commit the murder in"??
Just before his death the man utters a cryptic quotation "I've given you one face" - which leads the determined doctor to a macabre funeral parlour. As Ordway investigates he comes to realise that the victim, Walter Foster (George Meeker, who had a much larger part in the last Crime Doctor movie) had few friends - he was keeping his sister, Claire (Roberts) from marriage by emotional manipulation and ,because he had spent all his inheritance, he was hoping to convince Claire to hand over her share, which had been sensibly invested. Mrs. Travers is also under suspicion - she had transferred a lot of bonds over to Foster to set him up in business but then found out he was in love with another woman, Connie Day (Peggy Converse) who also disappears.
The "Crime Doctor" series was always solid in the story lines, although as the series progressed less was made of Ordway's personal life and he became just another brainy sleuth but, because of the dependable Warner Baxter, always believable. The creepy morgue is were everything happens with two of the more sinister "film noir" players, Martin Kosleck and Marvin Miller casting an evil shadow over things. Miller, who was effective as the blind pianist in "Deadline at Dawn" here plays henchman Casper Castello and in one of the more bizarre scenes takes oddball Louie to the doctors, ostensibly to have him diagnosed but really to kill Ordway, which he triggers by telling Louie that the kindly doctor does indeed want to lock him up!! He then grabs the hapless Louie and throws him out the window!! Fortunately Ordway has not been killed, only temporarily blinded, an affliction he uses to find the real killer!!
Fingerprints being erased, plastic surgery going horribly wrong and disguises that are uncanny make this entry one of the weirdest but best!!
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