I think the chief interest in this movie is that it comes across as a light-hearted crime drama.\u00a0 In a real sense I think it could be considered a comedy.<\/p>\n
(Spoiler Alert \u2013 Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)<\/strong><\/p>\n Edward G. Robinson is the eponymous Clitterhouse, a surgeon with a keen and inquiring scientific mind.\u00a0 When we first meet him in the opening scene, he is in a darkened bedroom rifling through a wall safe.\u00a0 Just then a burglar enters through the second story window.\u00a0 Clitterhouse trains a strong flashlight on the burglar and convinces him that he\u2019s being covered by a gun.\u00a0 He gets the burglar to stand facing the wall with his hands up.\u00a0 Just then a second burglar who\u2019s on the ladder looks in.\u00a0 It\u2019s Bogart playing Rocks Valentine (some name, huh).\u00a0 He sees the situation and heads back down the ladder to escape.<\/p>\n Clitterhouse leaves the burglar in the bedroom and reenters a society party that\u2019s going on downstairs.\u00a0 A coloratura soprano is singing an aria.\u00a0 Clitterhouse accepts a brandy from a butler, calls one of his associates about a patient he is treating and then calls the police and an ambulance just as a woman screams from upstairs and someone in the house shoots the burglar as he attempts to exit the house.\u00a0 Clitterhouse treats the wounded burglar but he is recognized by his voice.\u00a0 But Police Inspector Lane played by Donald Crisp laughingly allows Clitterhouse to be on his way to a surgical appointment without even inspecting Clitterhouse\u2019s medical bag filled with the pilfered jewels.<\/p>\n Thus, the scene is set.\u00a0 Clitterhouse is engaged in research on the physiological aspects of crime.\u00a0 For this experiment he has committed four burglaries.\u00a0 Now to expand his research he is reaching out to a jewelry fence, Jo Keller (played by Claire Trevor) and a gang of burglars headed by Rocks that includes such familiar character actors as Ward Bond, Vladimir Sokoloff and Burt Hanlon.\u00a0 Clitterhouse identifies the victims and meticulously plans the heist.\u00a0 The gang and Keller provide the manpower and the connections to perform the thefts and sell the loot.<\/p>\n In the final crime, a theft of furs from a warehouse, Rocks tries to double-cross Clitterhouse by locking him in the refrigerated vault.\u00a0 But one of Keller\u2019s men saves him.\u00a0 At this point Clitterhouse has completed his research.\u00a0 He has taken blood samples, blood pressure and other diagnostic tests on the gang members and now he wants to end his association with the underworld.\u00a0 But Rocks figures out Clitterhouse\u2019s true identity and tells the doctor that he will be forced to continue his criminal activities indefinitely.<\/p>\n Clitterhouse seems outwardly to agree to Rocks\u2019 ultimatum but actually he doctors Rocks\u2019 drink with a deadly dose of a drug.\u00a0 Rocks falls asleep and then Clitterhouse and Keller dump the body in the river.\u00a0 Eventually the police discover Clitterhouse\u2019s guilt in Rocks\u2019 murder and he goes on trial for murder.\u00a0 His lawyer uses an insanity defense.\u00a0 The prosecution gets Clitterhouse to testify against himself by stating that his scientific study is completely accurate and therefore the work of a sane man.\u00a0 But the jury finds him insane based on the idea that only a madman would knowingly admit his sanity when he knows it would cause his own death.<\/p>\n Despite the fact that Clitterhouse murders Rocks in cold blood I see this movie as a comedy.\u00a0 Throughout the story the atmosphere of the whole thing is light-hearted and I find it impossible to take any of it seriously.\u00a0 There are a number of silly moments when the various gang members come off more as clowns than criminals.\u00a0 The only menacing character is Bogart\u2019s Rocks.\u00a0 And as we see he is no match for Robinson\u2019s genteel madman.\u00a0 So, what can I make of a whimsical film noir?\u00a0 Well, not too much.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a great movie but it is amusing in its own way.\u00a0 I\u2019ll recommend it to fans of the 1930s.\u00a0 If we need a serious movie with Bogart and Robinson we\u2019ll have to wait for their rematch in Key Largo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I think the chief interest in this movie is that it comes across as a light-hearted crime drama.\u00a0 In a real sense I think it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237],"tags":[3760,1464,1910,1238,1562,43,191,38,1355],"class_list":["post-20713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-donald-crisp","tag-edward-g-robinson","tag-film-noir","tag-hollywood-golden-era","tag-humphrey-bogart","tag-movie-review","tag-ocf-classic-movie-review","tag-review","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n