The Crime Doctor's Diary

CinemaSerf

Three years into a sentence for arson, "Carter" (Stephen Dunne) is out on parole thanks to the intervention of "Dr. Ordway" (Warner Baxter) whose testimony on his sanity was instrumental in incarcerating him in the first place. Now free, he wants to work again at the music play-out business he was accused of setting ablaze in the hope that he can find out just who was responsible. Girlfriend "Jane" (Lois Maxwell) puts some pressure on the psycho-sleuth and so with the help of a rather annoying ballad called the "Little Brass French Horn" and a well placed recording stylus we gradually piece together the mystery. It's all fairly procedural stuff with the usual style of red herrings and people shooting guns that couldn't hit a cow with a tin cup, but Baxter is on quite decent form and the story holds up well enough for an hour.