The Return of Doctor X

Plot synopsis:
Nervy "New York Morning-Dispatch" reporter Walter 'Wichita' Garrett [Wayne Morris]
has just scored an interview with prominent stage star Angela Merrova [Lya Lys], who
has invited him to her apartment in the Park Vista Hotel. When Walt gets
there, he finds to his horror that Miss Merrova has been murdered. Someone
has stabbed her right under the heart and left her body lying on her
bedroom floor. With a scoop like this, Walt calls in the story to his
newspaper even before he calls the police. Before Detective Lieutenant Roy
Kincaid [Charles Wilson] arrives on the scene, the Morning-Dispatch has headlined the
murder in their extra edition. But, when Kincaid arrives at Miss Merrova's
apartment, the body has disappeared. The next day Merrova shows up at the
newspaper with the announcement that she's suing them for $100,000 for the
damage to her reputation due to false reports of her death. Not to mention
that the Park Vista Hotel also intends to sue for defamation to their
reputation. To top it all off, Walt is called on the carpet by his angry
boss and finds himself out of a job.Trying to find answers to how a person can be stabbed to death and
then show up alive, Walt pays a visit to his friend, Doctor Mike Rhodes [Dennis Morgan], a
surgeon at Jules Memorial Hospital. When Walt explains how he found
Merrova with a stab wound just under her heart, Mike admits that it's
unlikely she could survive. If the wound itself didn't kill her, she would
quickly bleed to death. "That's it!" Walt exclaims, suddenly realizing
that Merrova's corpse was dead white, as if all the blood had been drained
from her body, but where was the blood? Extreme pallor couldn't set in
that quickly, says Mike. Walt remembers that when he saw Merrova that
morning in the boss's office, she was as pale then as when he saw her as a
corpse.Mike offers to speak to Doctor Flegg [John Litel], the hospital's reknown
hematologist, In the meantime, however, Mike has problems of his own.
Stanley Rodgers [John Ridgely], the professional blood donor for Doctor Flegg's 10 AM
surgery has not shown up. Nurse Joan Vance [Rosemary Lane] has telephoned him and found
that he overslept but would be right over. Time passes, however, and
Rodgers still doesn't show. Mike doesn't know it, but Rodgers is never
going to show...he's dead. Dr Flegg has arrived, and the surgery is ready
to go. With no Rodgers, however, there is no blood donor. Furthermore,
Rodgers has Type I blood; only one in 700 people have that blood type.
Fortunately, nurse Joan is Type I and offers to step in for Rodgers.The surgery goes well. When Mike checks on Joan's condition, she is
still feeling a bit weak, so Mike asks her for a date tomorrow night. Mike
is suddenly called by the police and asked to come immediately to 438 Gore
Street. Since Walt is standing next to him and overhears everything, he
tags along. When they get there, they find Stanley Rodgers has been
stabbed near the heart and all the blood drained from his body...same as
Angela Merrova. Furthermore, the wound is so clean and precise that it
doesn't look like a stab wound at all; in fact, it looks like it was made
with a surgical instrument. Oddly enough, the coroner has identified blood
stains on the carpet as being from Group IV, which is impossible, as
Rodgers was definitely Group I. Thinking the coroner might have made a
mistake, Mike takes a sample of the blood to re-analyze.Back in the laboratory, Mike learns that the blood sample is
definitely NOT from Rodgers...nor from any human. In fact, Mike's opinion
is that it isn't even from an animal. Tired out from the day's activities,
Mike says goodnight to Walt and heads home to sleep. First, however, he
decides to take the blood sample over to Dr. Flegg's house, not knowing
that Walt is tailing him. As Walt peeks in through an open window, Mike
waits for Flegg in his laboratory. where he is joined by a strange looking
man with a pasty complexion and a skunklike stripe of white hair down the
center of his head. The man introduces himself as Flegg's assistant,
Doctor Marshall Quesne [Humphrey Bogart]. As Quesne is just about to talk with Mike about
the study of blood composition, Flegg returns. Obeying Mike's request to
take a look at the blood sample, Flegg pronounces it Type IV human blood
showing "the usual chemical changes accompanying post-mortem coagulation."
Mike wonders whether the blood has an artificial quality. Quesne, who has
been listening to the conversation, suddenly breaks a glass beaker that
he's been holding. Reiterating once again that the blood sample is Type
IV, Flegg shows Mike the door.Just as Walt is about to leave his perch at the window, a taxi drives
up and Angela Merrova gets out. Wondering why Merrova would be visiting
Flegg, Walt continues to peek in the window. He watches as Merrova enters
Flegg's examination room and promptly faints. When she comes to, she
complains of feeling cold, faint, and being unable to catch her breath.
"You're a failure," Quesne challenges Flegg. Flegg orders him out, then
procedures to hook up Merrova for a blood transfusion.The next day, Walt drops in on Mike and tells him what he saw through
the window. Walt is certain that he's seen Quesne somewhere, but he can't
remember where. At that moment, Flegg walks into Mike's office and asks to
speak to him alone. After Walt has left, Flegg asks Mike to forget
everyone he met and everything he saw last night at Flegg's house. He also
asks for the name and address of the nurse that provided the Type I blood
for yesterday's transfusion. When Flegg has exited, Walt returns. He tells
Mike about seeing Angela Merrova last night at Flegg's house and watching
him give her a blood transfusion. Mike suggests that they have a talk with
Merrova and plan to meet at her apartment that night at 9 PM. Remembering
his date with Joan, Mike agrees to bring her along; they can go to Club El
Ray afterwards.When they arrive that evening at Merrova's suite, they find her
languished on her settee, awaiting Dr Flegg. When she orders them out but
collapses in her chaise, Mike assumes his role as doctor, finding her
hands as cold as ice. He instructs Walt to pour her a shot of whiskey. The
whiskey seems to revive her, and she responds to Mike and Walt's
questions. She admits to being of Type I blood. She also tells them what
happened the morning she was murdered. After speaking on the telephone
with Walt, she became aware of someone in her room. Then a hand went over
her mouth, and she felt a sharp pain in her chest. After that, she lost
consciousness and has no recollection of what happened to her until the
next morning when she awoke in her own bedroom. She agrees to meet Walt
tomorrow morning at 10 AM and talk more about it then. Just then, Dr
Quesne, acting in Flegg's stead, enters the room.While on the way to drop Mike and Joan at the El Ray, Walt makes a
quick stop at his boss's house to tell him about Merrova's admission that
she was stabbed and to let him know that she plans to visit the paper in
the morning and tell them all about it. Excited at having his newspaper
exhonerated, the boss telephones the paper and orders them to hold the
presses for a news bulletin. He is surprised to find that a news flash has
just been issued...Merrova is dead, this time for sure. In fact, she's on
her way to Bixby's Undertaking Parlor, screams the boss as he tosses Walt
out the front door.Not willing to believe that Merrova is truly dead without seeing her
body, Walt and Mike head over to the undertaker. While Walt keeps the
undertaker busy, Mike examines Merrova. She's dead all right, he tells
Walt after they've left the parlor. Apparently, she died of natural
causes, and it was Flegg who called the undertaker to pick up the body.
Being as how it's after 1 AM by now and Joan is still sitting in the car,
they all head over to Gus's for hamburgers.The next morning Angela Merrova's death is in all the papers. Walt
goes over to the newspaper office and gets his buddy Pinky [Hunz Hall] to give him
access to the clippings files. After searching everything from A-W, Walt
starts in on X, and there it is! Marshall Quesne is Dr. Maurice J. "X"
Xavier, a prominent surgeon who was given the death penalty for his
experiments in which he allowed a baby to starve to death. According to
the newspaper clippings, Dr X was electrocuted two years earlier. Just to
be sure that the execution actually took place, Walt contacts the warden
who assures him that Dr X was indeed electrocuted, Dr Flegg claimed the
body, and Dr X now lies buried in Greenlawn Cemetery. Walt and Mike head
over to the Cemetery where, with the help of the cemetery caretaker, they
find Xavier's grave and dig it up. The coffin is empty.Walt is convinced that Flegg is guilty, but Mike isn't; they agree to
give Flegg a chance to explain. Flegg obliges, admitting that Quesne and
Xavier are the same person and that he has found a way to bring a dead man
back to life. He demonstrates the procedure on a dead rabbit. First, it is
necessary to prepare the rabbit by electrocuting him and decoagulating the
blood, something that the electric chair had already done for Dr X when he
came dead to Flegg. Next, he moves the rabbit over to another table where
he begins to transfuse ordinary rabbit blood into the rabbit. Then he adds
his special formula--"a compound ester in which essential blood salts have
been precipitated." After charging it electrically, he injects it into the
transfusion tubing. Within a few moments, the rabbit has been revived.
Mike and Walt are understandably astounded.This is essentially the same thing that was done to Dr X following
his death, explains Flegg. Although Dr X was a convicted murderer, he was
also a medical genius, and Flegg admits that he needed Dr X's help for
further research. However, after returning a person to life, there is the
further problem of sustaining it. A second project Flegg has been working
on is to create synthetic blood. That's the blood I found in Merrova's
body and in Rodger's apartment, exclaims Mike. The problem, Flegg
explains, is that the synthetic blood fails to recreate itself, which
means that Quesne stays alive by killing for human blood. And the blood he
needs is Type I. "May God forgive me," Flegg hangs his head. "I've created
a monster."No one has noticed that Dr. X has been listening at the window. When
Mike and Walt leave Flegg's house but are stopped outside by Lt Kincaid,
Quesne shoots Flegg and steals his list of Type I blood donors. Just
before he dies, Flegg tells Mike and Walt that Quesne has taken the list.
Knowing that Joan's name is on that list, Mike, Walt, and Kincaid go
looking for her, leaving Kincaid's assistant to care for Flegg.Unfortunately for Joan, Dr X is faster. Quesne tracks her down and
convinces her that he's been sent by Mike to take her to Flegg's home.
Joan goes willingly into a cab with him, until she realizes that they
aren't headed towards Flegg's house. Meanwhile, Mike and Walt have
discovered that Quesne went off in a cab with Joan and was overheard
telling the cabby to take them to Jersey. Walt remembers one of the
newspaper clippings that mentioned an abandoned duck club just outside of
Newark, the place where Dr X starved that baby. Walt, Mike, and Kincaid
head for Jersey.As Dr X prepares to exsanguinate Joan, Mike, Walt, and the cops
arrive. As Dr X comes at Joan with a scalpel, she screams, and the police
open fire. Dr X tries to escape via the roof, but he is shot down by the
police. As he lay dying, Dr X tells Walt to tell Dr Rhodes that they'll
have to postpone their talk on blood composition.Epilogue: Walt has been reinstated at the Morning-Dispatch, and his
heroic efforts have been rewarded by the mayor and district attorney. The
boss [Joseph Crehan] is now begging Walt to stay with the newspaper, but Walt has decided
to return to Wichita and refuses to sign a contract...until the pretty new
secretary brings it into the office. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]

Tags: murder

Review:
In "The Return of Doctor X," with his chalky makeup and streaked hair, Bogart resembles a punk rocker before his time.The film is not bad entertainment.
After digging up Quesne's body and in a hurry to leave, morris tells the caretaker to "put it back," then rushes off.The acting is top notch with the best performance coming from John Litel, closely matched by Bogart's left-field mad dead doctor.
Others in the cast (Wayne Morris, Rosemary Lane and Dennis Morgan) were fine, but Bogie is the only reason to see this movie.
The Mysterious Bogie Man. THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X (Warner Brothers, 1939) directed by Vincent Sherman, is in retrospect, not a sequel to the 1932 early two-strip Technicolor mystery, DOCTOR X (First National) that featured Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, but actually a Grade Z programmer surprisingly headed by a very interesting cast of non-horror actors.
The scientist in question is not Doctor X, but on a Doctor Francis Flegg (John Litel) whose profession is on blood experiments.Plot: Walter Barnett (Wayne Morris), a hapless reporter from Wichita, Kansas, working for the Morning Dispatch in New York City, arranges for an interview with European actress, Angela Merrova (Lya Lys), currently staying at the Park Vista Hotel.
He discovers through old newspaper clippings that Flegg's assistant bears some connection to the recently executed Doctor X.Featured in the supporting cast are: Rosemary Lane (Joan Vance, the student nurse); Huntz Hall (Pinky, the newspaper copy boy); Charles C.
Olin Howland playing the morgue attendant is very amusing with his "dead-on" sense of humor.Zombie-like creatures, including Bogart (billed as Marshall Quesne, but who refers himself to the name that sounds more like "Kane," sporting glasses and a streak of white hair down his head) and Lya Lys, in desperate need for specific rare blood types in order to stay alive and roaming the city, makes THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X quite interesting in plot though sometimes unbearable with its over abundance of "comedy relief" by Wayne Morris.
Finally Wayne Morris, who is the real star of the film, plays the wise guy reporter investigating the strange happenings.
Reporter Wayne Morris and doctor Dennis Morgan team up to investigate some murders and a possible connection to people with a rare blood type.
In-name-only sequel to Doctor X that is best known today as Humphrey Bogart's only horror or science fiction film.
He actually seems to be the movie's villain for most of the running time before Bogie's Dr. X takes over.Overall, an enjoyable B horror film that should please fans of the genre.
Supposedly, Boris Karloff was slated to play the title role, but was not available.I have to admit I was very impressed with the films art direction (credited to Esdras Hartley.) The laboratory of Dr. Flegg consists of a maze of glass tubes dripping a dark fluid in beakers, and has the look of a giant circulatory system, reflecting the films emphasis on blood.Hollywood legend has it that Bogart was having trouble with WB brass at the time with the type roles they were giving him.
Rosemary Lane and Dennis Morgan (and Morris) give good performances, but other actors (Fay Wray and Joel McCrae and Lee Tracy come to mind) would have vitalized the roles.
With a plastic-looking face and some weird hair coloring, you want to laugh out loud when you first see him.Wayne Morris and Dennis Morgan are the real stars of the film.
They are in almost every scene, with Morris as reporter "Walter 'Wichita' Garrett" and Morgan as "Dr. Mike Rhodes." John Litel plays a Dr. Frankenstein-type character in "Dr. Flegg," a key member of this cast.This movie is almost all talk until the 59-minute mark when "Dr. X" makes a run for it and gets involved in gunfire.
There was other films called "The Strange Case of Dr. RX (Universal 1942) They knew that Humphrey Bogart was a great star in "Dead End" 1937, so they hired Bogart, who was willing to play any character he was offered at the time, when money was very hard to come by as an actor just starting out in films.
Not that Hard considering it is not really a Return or Sequel, the Dated Comedy elements Threaten to Sink the Thing from the start, and this Short LIttle B-Picture was not really Warner Brothers Forte.It's a genuine Horror Film nonetheless with enough Lurid and Scary elements to Sustain the Shortcomings.
John Litel as the Serious Scientist trying to Find a Cure for Diseased Blood and Lya Lys as an Actress falling Victim to the Madness shines in few Brief Scenes.Can be Appreciated Out of Context for Humphrey Bogart's Iconic Career and the Comedy inclusions Ignored, This is a Pretty Good Entry in Thirties Horror..
i am a huge fan of b movies,especially when they have good actors in them.i am also a fan of the old warner brothers gangster movies with James Cagney,Humphrey Bogart,and George Raft.well return of Dr x is the only horror film that Humphrey Bogart ever made.there's a rumor that he was being punished by warner brothers to do this movie.that might be.but i think it was one of his better movies,Bogart plays a zombie like creature named Dr Kane who must kill to get blood,now it sounds like a vampire.well Kane was brought back to life by another Dr after he was executed in the electric chair for being a child murderer.sort of like an early version of Freddy Krueger.the title is very misleading,it is not a sequel to 1932s Dr x.the early two tone color horror starring;Lionel Atwill,and Fay Wray.it is a very interesting rare gem of a b movie that could've starred Boris Karloff who I'm sure was intended for the role.but to see Humphrey Bogart as a zombie vampire walking dead guy its unusual to say the least.i was impressed with return of Dr x..
Of course, the real reason to watch this film is that the ashen-faced assistant is played by Humphrey Bogart in one of the many roles he was ordered into by Jack Warner while he watched James Cagney get meatier showcases.
There is also the fact that the Spirit's big secret is that he has fought a villain who looks a lot like Humphrey Bogart's creepy scientist in this film and been granted a kind of immortality or invulnerability (I'll have to double-check my facts eventually) in the process.
Humphrey Bogart, in his days as a minor star at Warner Brothers, hadn't yet found his niche and the studio put him in either gangster films (which he grew to hate after having done so many) or experimented in some of the strangest casting decisions in history such as SWING YOUR LADY (where he was a wrestling promoter in the Ozarks), The Oklahoma Kid (now playing an old west bandit) and this film (where he plays a DEAD maniacal doctor doing experiments to keep himself alive).
However, I found Bogart's interpretation genuinely menacing and certainly a convincing exercise in the macabre.An essential ingredient of the classic Hollywood horror movie, a pseudo medical discussion of science versus morality, complete with biblical references and quotations (the evil Cain commits murder; "the life is in the blood") receives a standard workout here.
A hotshot reporter (Wayne Morris) and a young doctor (Dennis Morgan) team up to investigate a series of grisly murders and a mysterious sample of synthetic blood.This film has become somewhat notorious for being one of Humphrey Bogart's earliest roles, and one that he spent his life trying to ignore.
Yes, his face looks like someone plastered it with cottage cheese, his hair looks like he got it done at the Bride of Frankenstein Salon and the role would have been far better suited for Boris Karloff (who'd already played a similar part for Warners in a much better film, "The Walking Dead," three years earlier), but Bogart acquits himself well like the true professional he was and makes us believe in the character's suffering as well as his unscrupulousness.
It's not much of a role, but Bogart plays it well enough to prove his readiness for bigger and better things  and director Vincent Sherman, though hamstrung by a script that gives him too few opportunities for Gothic atmosphere (only the cemetery sequence even LOOKS like a horror film), also shows his capability for the more important films he got later.
I even like the rather clever concept of the plot (though the blending of the Dracula and Frankenstein myths had been done better in Majestic's "The Vampire Bat" six years earlier) and the good-heartedness of the overall attempt by a Warners "B" team to graft a few sci-fi monster elements onto one of their typical newspaper comedies and call it a horror movie..
It is not a sequel of "Doctor X" (1932), with Lionel Atwill as the mad scientist, but a complete different story about resurrection of the dead using artificial blood, and Bogie, as a thinking zombie-like killer looks creepy and macabre.
However, at least he is making an effort in being a bit different in his performance and he is the best known actor by far in "The Return of Doctor X." Wayne Morris and Dennis Morgan join forces in order to determine what the mysterious Doctor Xavier has been up to, regarding some of his patients at the local hospital.
Legendary actor Humphrey Bogart is probably one of the most important figures in the history of American cinema, thanks to his unforgettable performances during the 1940s and 1950s in classics like "Casablanca" (1942), "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and "The African Queen" (1951), movies that took him to the level of superstar as well as transforming him into an icon of the Film Noir genre of those years.
As another of Warner Brothers' stock actors, Bogart had to play whatever the studio wanted him to play, and it was in this way when one of the most interesting oddities in Bogart career happened: he was hired to play a villain in a horror movie, "The Return of Doctor X", a b-movie slated as a sequel to 1932 hit "Doctor X".In this movie, Wayne Morris plays Walter "Wichita" Garrett, a young reporter recently arrived to New York, who is of course looking for the big note that will make him a regular in the newspaper where he works.
Together, Rhodes and Garrett will discover the terrible secret behind Merrova's apparent resurrection and the identity of the man behind it.While it was presented as a sequel, "The Return of Doctor X" is a completely different story that has absolutely nothing to do with the firs movie, as it is in fact, based on William J.
Of course, this is not a masterpiece and Sherman basically makes his movie a tale of murder and mystery by the book; however, it is notable how entertaining the final result is, specially considering the really flawed script he had to work with.As written above, the acting is very good for a b-movie of its time, with Wayne Morris delivering a very effective performance as "Wichita" Garrett.
This quirky, wicked and bizarre character manage to become very real thanks to Bogart's professional acting.Sadly, this is not one of the best examples of this style of horror movies, and not because the mystery is easy to figure out (a common trait in films like this), but because the plot's beginning is so poorly constructed that it requires a bit more than the usual amount of suspension of disbelief to accept the event that starts the film (the disappearance of the corpse being unnoticed is a major plot hole).
Of course, the main attraction of "The Return of Doctor X" is still to see Humphrey Bogart in a rare role as a horror movie villain, however, and despite the many problems with the script, I think that the film has more to its favor than just an against type performance by Bogie.
He's brought back to life another doctor played by Humphrey Bogart who was also doing some experiments along the same lines.Litel's created some synthetic blood, but it just ain't as good as the real item and Bogey's on a never ending quest for folks with compatible blood like Lys and nurse Rosemary Lane who Morgan's been seeing.
The film certainly did need a classic horror actor like Lugosi or Karloff to give it some life, them not their blood.
The lead went to Warners ever present wise cracking reporter.A prominent actress, Angela Merrova (Lya Lys) is found murdered in her apartment by reporter Walter "Wichita" Barnett (Wayne Morris) with her body drained of blood.
The first, played by John Litel, is researching a synthetic blood that could potentially save lives, the other is his assistant, played by Humphry Bogart(who notoriously hated this film!) who is creepy, with white-streaked hair and pale face.
Newspaper reporter Walter Burnett(played by Wayne Morris) is investigating a series of murders where the victims were drained of blood...Could either of the doctors be responsible, or could it be someone/something else?
Walt, trying desperately to vindicate himself and save his career, does a lot of sleuthing with a friend of his, a young doctor named Michael Rhodes (Dennis Morgan).Co-star Humphrey Bogart was none too happy to be doing this feature, believing his role was more for the likes of Karloff and Lugosi.
Trying to perfect a permanent and lasting synthetic blood is something that the brilliant Dr. Flegg can't seem to come up with.This has a blood-thirsty Dr. X to go out hunting for people with his blood-type to keep himself from drying up and dying.The film "The Return of Dr.X" has wisecracking reporter Walter Garrett, Wayne Morris, come across this amazing secret when an actress, with the same blood-type of Dr.X, that he's supposed to interview Angela Merrova, Lay Lys, is found murdered in her hotel room.
Later with the help of his doctor friend Mike Rhodes, Dennis Morgan, they find another person with the same blood-type, called group #1 in the movie, professional blood donor Stanley Rodgers, John Ridgely, not only murdered but completely drained of his blood.
Kidnapping nurse Joan Vance, Rosemary Lane, who has blood group #1 Dr. X takes off in a taxi to his old hideout, a duck pub, in Jersey.Then he's then tracked down by Garrett, Joan's boyfriend, and the police and then gunned down in a wild shoot-out.Humphrey Bogart in the most unusual role of his career as the zombie-like Dr.X who's as white as a sheet with a punk, or skunk, like hair-style is undoubtedly the star of the movie and really the only reason to watch it.
If you're a Humphrey Bogart fan, you must see this quirky film in which Bogey portrays a vampire like, pasty faced doctor brought back from the dead, who now maintains his quest to stay alive by murdering victims whose rare blood type matches his own.
Adding to Bogey's ghastly appearance is a strange skunk like white stripe down the middle of his hair."The Return of Dr. X" is a blend of horror, sci-fi and campy humor, as investigative reporter Walt "Wichita" Garrett (Wayne Morris) teams up with Dr. Mike Rhodes (Dennis Morgan), to try to unravel the mysterious deaths of two victims who have been stabbed with surgical precision, and whose blood has been drained from their bodies.
Soon X eyes a nurse (Rosemary Lane, getting second billing surprisingly, although her part is quite small) Morgan fancies as her blood is also a rare type quite desired.Complete with a rabbit's revival thanks to Litel, Morris given access to view the body of a male blood donor when Morgan is called by police to a crime scene, Morgan and Morris digging up (with a graveyard caretaker's permission) the casket of Xavier to see him not there, Morris getting chance after chance to resurrect his career when most would be on a bus back home to the small town a failure, Bogart looking like a zombie walking around with a scowl (probably intentionally ill with being stuck in this), Morgan quite patient with his persistent buddy reporter always looking for help, and the idea that Morris is always hanging around in the right places to get the goods with Morgan, quite the intellectual and agreeable doctor always level-headed despite the crazy he finds himself involved in, how could this film *not* be of interest to B-movie lovers?
It's a great curiosity because there is definitely something very interesting about seeing the ironically cast Bogart as a vampirish doctor.In the film there is a scene where our newspaper hero pieces together the macabre happenings using articles with Bogie's picture next to them.
The exotic European actress Angela Merrova is played by Lya Lys, who previously had been known for her role in Bunuel's L'Age D'Or. This is no classic, but is still worth seeing for the unexpected appearance of Humphrey Bogart in his only horror movie..
Understandably confused, and out of a job as a result of this mix-up, Garrett consults his doctor buddy Michael Rhodes (fresh-faced Dennis Morgan), and the two go on to confer with Rhodes' hospital mentor, Dr. Francis Flegg (John Litel, who had previously appeared with Bogart in "Marked Woman," "Black Legion," "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" AND "You Can't Get Away With Murder").
And before long, Quesne/Xavier has lured pretty nurse Joan Vance (Rosemary Lane, who had appeared with Bogart in "The Oklahoma Kid" some nine months earlier) into his clutches, to be his next life-sustaining "blood donor"...."The Return of Doctor X," as has been noted elsewhere, has absolutely no relation to "Doctor X," which film had been released seven years previous.
As for Bogart, he is truly creepy and effective here, in his one and only sci-fi/horror film; not exactly a vampire, but rather the resuscitated dead, slaying those who might provide him with his very rare blood type.
THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X has it all: humor, Horror, and Humphrey- Bogart, that is, as a pale, bloodless Vampire in search of you-know-what.
As colorless as Humphrey Bogart's skin in this D grade Warner Brothers' horror film.