Shemp Howard Month: The Strange Case of Dr. Rx (1942) Review
In today’s installment of Shemp Howard month, we are discussing a mystery film, The Strange Case of Dr. Rx. Much like in The Invisible Woman, Shemp’s part here is not that big, though unlike The Invisible Woman, the rest of the cast, with the exception of one person, are playing their parts more seriously, so Shemp stands out more as a result.
Jerry Church (Patric Knowles) is asked to take the case of the mysterious Dr. Rx, who has a reputation for killing criminals who have been acquitted in court. Church is reluctant, but eventually takes on the case, while also having run-ins with an ex-girlfriend (Anne Gwynne), the police captain (Edmund MacDonald) and even Dr. Rx himself.
The mystery is pretty generic. Though they try to throw a red herring in there, it doesn’t work because we see very early on that this was an inside job and the red herring, though mentioned, does not show up until about halfway through the film. I was at one point thinking this movie was a sequel, because it keeps on randomly introducing characters that they seem to expect you to be accepting of despite their sudden appearances. Such is the case with the character of Kit Logan. Not once is she ever mentioned before she shows up, yet the film treats it as this grand reunion that suddenly results in their marriage despite almost no reason to see the two end up together prior to this. Church is constantly switching situations; one minute he’s on the case, the next minute he’s married, the next minute he’s missing; it’s just way too much for a film that could have focused more on developing the characters, and overall I just find his acting to be pretty bland. Oh yeah, and the climax suddenly goes full-on Frankenstein out of nowhere and is a real letdown.
The comic relief is provided by Shemp and African American comedian Mantan Moreland, probably most known for playing Charlie Chan’s chauffeur, Birmingham Brown. Moreland plays the servant to Church, as this was during a time when African Americans were normally limited to subservient roles. Moreland is funny, though. I can see someone trying to make the argument that Moreland is slow and dimwitted like the common African American stereotype in movies back then. However, there are two important points I would use to argue against this. For one thing, Moreland does a lot of fast-talking in his act. Also, remember that Shemp is in this and is equally as incompetent (perhaps even more, considering he doesn’t even know what the letter “R” looks like). They are without a doubt the highlights of this film, both in their own scenes and when they’re together. Moreland gets to do a bit of physical comedy and Shemp’s idiocy is hard not to laugh at, like when he tries to use a sponge as a piece of evidence or he makes up the story about what happened to the missing Church. The two of them actually showed some comedic potential together, particularly in the gambling scene, with both using their ability to talk fast to their advantage. There’s a rumor that Moreland was considered to be one of the Three Stooges following Shemp’s death. I think Three Stooges historians tend to doubt that he was ever truly considered, but this shows that he definitely had the talent to pull it off if he was.
The film on its own can be pretty dull and the dialogue sometimes laughably bad (who could forget the classic exchange, “You do like beans, don’t you?” “I love ‘em!”). Unfortunately, Shemp and Moreland are not on screen for particularly long and are not able to save the film entirely, though their scenes definitely mark it up a few points. This case really isn’t really all that strange like the title makes it out to be and as a result is a somewhat disappointing effort.
6 out of 10
Jerry Church (Patric Knowles) is asked to take the case of the mysterious Dr. Rx, who has a reputation for killing criminals who have been acquitted in court. Church is reluctant, but eventually takes on the case, while also having run-ins with an ex-girlfriend (Anne Gwynne), the police captain (Edmund MacDonald) and even Dr. Rx himself.
The mystery is pretty generic. Though they try to throw a red herring in there, it doesn’t work because we see very early on that this was an inside job and the red herring, though mentioned, does not show up until about halfway through the film. I was at one point thinking this movie was a sequel, because it keeps on randomly introducing characters that they seem to expect you to be accepting of despite their sudden appearances. Such is the case with the character of Kit Logan. Not once is she ever mentioned before she shows up, yet the film treats it as this grand reunion that suddenly results in their marriage despite almost no reason to see the two end up together prior to this. Church is constantly switching situations; one minute he’s on the case, the next minute he’s married, the next minute he’s missing; it’s just way too much for a film that could have focused more on developing the characters, and overall I just find his acting to be pretty bland. Oh yeah, and the climax suddenly goes full-on Frankenstein out of nowhere and is a real letdown.
The comic relief is provided by Shemp and African American comedian Mantan Moreland, probably most known for playing Charlie Chan’s chauffeur, Birmingham Brown. Moreland plays the servant to Church, as this was during a time when African Americans were normally limited to subservient roles. Moreland is funny, though. I can see someone trying to make the argument that Moreland is slow and dimwitted like the common African American stereotype in movies back then. However, there are two important points I would use to argue against this. For one thing, Moreland does a lot of fast-talking in his act. Also, remember that Shemp is in this and is equally as incompetent (perhaps even more, considering he doesn’t even know what the letter “R” looks like). They are without a doubt the highlights of this film, both in their own scenes and when they’re together. Moreland gets to do a bit of physical comedy and Shemp’s idiocy is hard not to laugh at, like when he tries to use a sponge as a piece of evidence or he makes up the story about what happened to the missing Church. The two of them actually showed some comedic potential together, particularly in the gambling scene, with both using their ability to talk fast to their advantage. There’s a rumor that Moreland was considered to be one of the Three Stooges following Shemp’s death. I think Three Stooges historians tend to doubt that he was ever truly considered, but this shows that he definitely had the talent to pull it off if he was.
The film on its own can be pretty dull and the dialogue sometimes laughably bad (who could forget the classic exchange, “You do like beans, don’t you?” “I love ‘em!”). Unfortunately, Shemp and Moreland are not on screen for particularly long and are not able to save the film entirely, though their scenes definitely mark it up a few points. This case really isn’t really all that strange like the title makes it out to be and as a result is a somewhat disappointing effort.
6 out of 10
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