The Crime of Doctor Crespi (1935)

It seems rather ironic that Erich von Stroheim stars in this film considering it was shot in only 8 days. Why is this so ironic? Well, when von Stroheim was a director, he made "Greed"...a film that originally clocked in at 10.5 hours!!! The studio was irate to say the least and pared the film down to 2 hours....and Von Stroheim received very few assignments to direct after this and his next debacle, "Queen Kelly"...which he never actually finished!Doctor Crespi (von Stroheim) is a well respected doctor. However, he's hiding his rage...rage at the man who he credits with stealing Crespi's girlfriend. So, when this same man needs an operation, Crespi agrees to do it...and now he finally can get his revenge. Using a formula he's created himself, he injects the patient...who appears to die and remains in a dead-like state for 24 hours. But Crespi knows that the man IS still alive...and he taunts the man and describes the agony he'll go through when he's buried alive! Is there any hope for the victim? Well, Crespi's assistant (Dwight Frye) doesn't trust him...and he begins to suspect that perhaps Crespi poisoned the man. What's next?This is a well made and very effective B-horror film. Nothing to dislike about this one....very enjoyable and worth your time...particularly if you like the genre.

The middle of this Republic programmer has among it some of the most sinister and horrifying dialog in the history of horror films. Erich von Stroheim gets to recite a speech that will have you gripped to the edge of your seat. He is a well respected doctor and scientist who only takes the patients recommended to him by other doctors, but I'd turn that offer down even if it was my only alternative. Today, there are many names for the type of mental illness he has, but really, it all comes down to pure, undeniable madness. He's a total perfectionist and a genius, and in this case, he doesn't just have a touch of madness; he has an entire brain filled with it. In love with Harriett Russell who chose to marry a close medical colleague of his (John Bohn), he goes completely bonkers when Russell begs him to operate on her husband. To say that the operation fails is an understatement; it doesn't go awry, it goes eerie. Von Stroheim's assistant (Dwight Frye) realizes something is wrong and makes the mistake of confronting him. The story is gripping but full of plot holes. But I just dare you to take your eyes off of von Stroheim. He goes between being calm, cool and collected to totally hammy, and in his big speech reminds me slightly of that British star of mayhem and murder, Tod Slaughter. How it concludes really might have you getting the willies, although certain aspects are quite funny too.

I only just realized this was an update of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Premature Burial" and, in fact, had been filed in my movie collection under the Thriller label! Indeed, I had acquired it on account of the star presence of the great Erich von Stroheim (tellingly, his baptism of fire within the fantasy genre came soon after his distinguished but infuriating directorial career ground to a definite halt!) but, watching the opening credits, was pleased to find Dwight Frye was in it, too. For the record, Stroheim's three other horror roles were in the superior THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944) and the upcoming THE MASK OF DIIJON (1946) and the German-made ALRAUNE (1952). Now, back to the film proper, which is undeniably interesting in its borrowings: not merely Poe (incidentally, his middle name is lazily spelled Allen in the titles, just as the star's own loses the 'h'!) but, in Frye's incompetent (and grave-robbing) assistant, FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and, while the morgue scenes and modern setting are redolent of MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933), the all-important funeral scene – in which the occupant of the coffin is aware of what goes on but is unable to do anything about it – obviously owes a lot to Carl Theodor Dreyer's VAMPYR (1931). However, I must say that I was disappointed by the slackness of the script: Stroheim (whose aristocratic mannerisms – especially his propensity for smoking and, in imitable fashion, drinking – are in full sway here) not only puts to a death-resembling sleep his amorous rival and former protégé in full view of the contended party but writes down the all-important time of 'demise' in advance on the certificate so that, when he signs it, Frye proves an unwitting witness. But, then, he also inexplicably fails to get rid of him (after amusingly spending much of their scenes together lambasting the junior doctor for something or other)…thus effectively precipitating his own come-uppance – though not before being visited by the ghastly (and which he initially takes to be ghostly!) victim of his wiles. Being mostly set inside a hospital, with medical staff in white walking about in appropriately antiseptic surroundings, the detail sometimes gets lost in the fuzzy copy I watched! As for comic relief, an obligatory balancing ingredient in most films of its ilk (certainly at this point in time), we get an excited Italian (one Joe Verdi!?) speaking in broken English – another cliché – whose inordinately-delayed expectancy of parenthood eventually rewards(?) him with quintuplets.

Wow! What a great performance by Erich Von Stroheim as a doctor who tries to get revenge on the man that took his girl away. Von Stroheim once again plays an overly obsessed man in a range of quiet meekness in one moment and tyrannical rage in another. His character of a lonely, frustrated man filled with nothing but hate at the loss of losing the girl he loved to another man is frightening and sympathetic at the same time. This film is very creaky, has little action, and almost no musical background, yet Von Stroheim's performance carries the film on his shoulders and delivers the goods. Some great scenes in the film show Von Stroheim's range as an actor from his thumping of a pencil for an half hour and finally snapping it to his corpse beside manner where he tells his captured prey his wicked, diabolical intentions. Dr. Crespi somehow makes his hated enemy appear dead but in reality leaves him alive only to be buried alive. The glee in Dr. Crespi's face glows and really turns what could have been a horrible film into a quite enjoyable one. Add to the fun the presence of Dwight Frye(who has a scene digging up a grave) and you have a wonderful horror picture from the heyday of horror. Above all, this film shows us just how good this man was at acting, and it shows us the loss we have that he was not utilized more.