Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

kidboots This was just a super end to a series that never slipped (much) from the high standard from which it started.Set in the crazy world of turntable booths, it starts out with Steve Carter (Stephen Dunne) being given an early release from prison on the recommendation of Dr. Ordway (Baxter). Even though it was through his testimony that Carter was imprisoned, Ordway has come to the conclusion that he was innocent of arson and thinks that with Carter being free the real fire bug will out themselves. Before his imprisonment he was employed at Bellem's Wired Music Co., a firm that has "request" juke boxes at diners and cafes. This was a real talking point at our house. Were they popular in the States during the 1940s? I seem to remember something like this in the Doris Day movie "My Dream is Yours" - patrons request a song through a telephone connected to the juke box, the message is then relayed to one of the girls in the turntable booth who then finds the song.One of Bellem's workers is simple minded (or is he?) Pete (an impossibly young Whit Bissell) who just happens to be the boss's brother. He has recorded a very annoying song and he frequents the cafes, always ringing up a request for that particular song - no one is amused, least of all Anson (an unbilled George Meeker who has a pretty sizable role) who has had a few altercations with him. Another person of interest is good old Robert Armstrong as "Goldie" Harrigan, owner of Harrigan's, Bellem's music opposition. His secretary is slinky Inez (Adele Jurgens, who was dubbed "The Eyeful" by a Columbia publicist) who went out with Carter before his imprisonment but whose disloyalty to him at the trial now makes her look very shifty. Then there is sweet Jane (Lois Maxwell, who became famous later on as Miss Moneypenny of James Bond fame), who has never stopped loving and believing in Carter even though he now wants to resume his relationship with Inez.When Anson is found dead, Carter's conversation with Ordway in which he details a dream, that has him shooting Anson with a smoking gun, comes back to haunt him - but as usual everyone is a suspect. Could it be poor Pete who had one last fight with him that fatal night, Carter who was seen going into the studio - even Bellem who had overheard Anson accusing him of lighting the original fire!!!Just love the last lines - "Do you think Pete will sing?" to which Ordway replies with a sigh "I'm afraid nothing will stop him"!!!

Robert J. Maxwell 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. He's sullen and resentful. But at least he appears to have the support of pert Lois Maxwell, who fawns over him. He may or may not have gotten over his pre-slam fling with sultry Adele Jurgens. He has another friend too, Warner Baxter as The Crime Doctor. As far as I could tell, the Crime Doctor keeps no diary in this movie. If he is, he's keeping it a secret. I thought over the conundrum in this title for a while and concluded that there was in fact a diary, only it wasn't a diary BY the Crime Doctor but rather ABOUT the Crime Doctor. It was being kept by one of the other characters, although it's impossible to tell which one because the word "diary" never appears in the movie. A dead body turns up, one of the men responsible for Dunn's sentence. Dunn is naturally Suspect Number One but there are a number of other likely suspects. Among the juicier is Whit Bissel, whom you will recognize. He's a loopy employee who thinks he's a composer. Want to see some of his lyrics?In the little town where I was born There's a little brass French horn I used to toot when I was just a boy, Toot toot. Toot toot. Toot toot.Well, I told you he was a little unbalanced. Whit Bissel never played such a colorful character again. He was continually cast as a timid clerk or something. But if Bissel's character is unusual, the Big Reveal is nothing less than astonishing. You'll never guess who the heavy is. Not even the Crime Doctor has a hint. He's confined to standing around and commenting on what he observes, with everyone's best interests at heart. You'd never know he was a doctor because he never practices any medicine, nor is his profession in any way underlined. They could as easily have called the movie "The Crime Reporter's Diary."The movie stands as a mild divertimento with some amusing moments. Toot toot.

bkoganbing 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.As all convicts he claims his innocence and even the Crime Doctor is not first willing to believe him. Allegedly Dunne set a fire at the business of Robert Armstrong who is a gangster who has a hold on the jukebox concession.There's a new business however which seemed to anticipate IPODs by a few generations. You call a number from a place where a machine connected to the central location and request a song. A record will then play over a loudspeaker. The company stores an infinitely more amount of 78 RPMs than any jukebox will. Armstrong is not happy that this is cutting in on his business. He even more resents Dunne cutting in on his time with Adele Jergens.Another murder happens and Dunne escapes the cops, but takes a cop's bullet. Will Dr. Ordway clear Dunne of this murder and maybe the original charge? You know the Crime Doctor will.Stealing the film in every scene he's in is Whit Bissell who plays a slightly demented brother of Don Beddoe. Bissell has the idea he's a song writer and is forever plugging this incredibly bad song he wrote about his little French horn as a kid that he toodely tooted all day. But Bissell demented though he is actually has the key to the whole mystery. The future Ms. Moneypenny Lois Maxwell is also here carrying a big old torch for Stephen Dunne. For a B film from a movie series The Crime Doctor's Diary is one of the best of the series and could stand up to more sophisticated detective stories. It moves without a second of wasted film frames and the editing of the story is much better than you get in most films of this type.Warner Baxter did only three more films after The Crime Doctor's Diary. This one is a really good introduction to him as a player in his later years.

Neil Doyle WARNER BAXTER was approaching the end of his life by the time he did THE CRIME DOCTOR'S DIARY, the last film in the Crime Doctor series.This above average programmer is slickly produced, written and acted in true "Crime Doctor" style with some nice performing by LOIS MAXWELL and a good role at the center for STEPHEN DUNNE as an innocent man released from prison and, as it turns out, wrongly framed for arson.The plot has to do with a record music company delivering call-in juke-box service where patrons could request certain records to be played by request, a forerunner of disc jockeys. Haven't been aware of the existence of this sort of thing until I saw MY DREAM IS YOURS (same year) wherein Doris Day worked in such a record establishment where she could be heard by bar patrons.WHIT BISSELL, who turns up in so many films from the '40s and '50s, does a neat job as a mentally deficient but good-humored man trying to get the music industry interested in his foolish folk song. ADELE JERGENS is the girlfriend of Dunne who has the courage to help him when he's on the lam after being hurt by a police bullet, and ROBERT ARMSTRONG is her jealous boss.It's noticeable that there's no strenuous action staged for Baxter, as there usually is in a "Crime Doctor" movie, since the actor was obviously not well during filming. He gets to comment briefly on things and hasn't much of a role at all while others get to hold center stage.But it makes a good crime doctor story and unfolds in a crisply efficient sort of way to make pleasing entertainment. STEPHEN DUNNE and LOIS MAXWELL are both seen to advantage here.Summing up: Not bad at all. One of the more interesting in the series.