... and that is understandable because by this time - 1949 - Warner Baxter was pretty much in constant pain due to his arthritis.
Warner Baxter ended his stint at Columbia Pictures Crime Doctor series with one of the best of the series in Crime Doctor's Diary. This concerns Baxter okaying the parole of Stephen Dunne who was released after serving three years of a ten year term for arson.
An inexpensive and unpretentious murder mystery. Steven Dunn has just done three years on an arson charge for which he claims he was not responsible.
Think of the highly energetic Warner Baxter in "42nd Street" and then watch the lethargic Baxter here in "Crime Doctor," and you'll swear it's two different people. After the actor suffered a breakdown, he came back in these kinder, gentler roles such as Crime Doctor where he projects a naturalness before the camera and also warmth.
A good whodunit should have a bit of originality in the plot, and the solution should not be too easy to guess. And it shouldn't be too long.
Crime Doctor's Diary, The (1949) ** (out of 4) Tenth and final film in Columbia's Crime Doctor series is the least interesting of the nine I've watched. In this outing, the Crime Doctor (Warner Baxter) gets a man out of prison on arson charges even though everyone thinks he's guilty.
In his final case Dr. Ordway (Warner Baxter) attempts to solve a murder in a highly interesting place: a sort of call-in jukebox where bar customers may request a particular record to be played.
As has earlier been commented, Whit Bissell's performance here as an aspiring and mentally challenged composer is a scene-stealer. He intuitively takes the film to another plane with a blissful unawareness that is inadvertent and yet elevating.
I was a bit surprised with this film, as in the Leonard Maltin Guide this film got a pretty poor rating and sounded like the worst film of this series. However, it was a pretty decent film and definitely NOT the worst of the series (this was CRIME DOCTOR'S GAMBLE, 1947) and was a nice final film of the series.
