Wow! Such a good movie.

Strictly average movie

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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"!!!

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. Under those criteria, this last episode in the "Crime Doctor" series holds up very well.The plot is about a convicted arsonist who gets an early release from prison. The agent of his good fortune is the Crime Doctor himself, who believes the man is guilty but considers him redeemable. Ignoring the advice of the doctor and others, the man rashly sets out to prove his innocence. Soon he's in bigger trouble than ever, and it all looks just a bit too convenient.Warner Baxter, whose career was drawing toward an end, is considerably grayer than in his previous "Crime Doctor" films, and he doesn't get involved in much action. But he doesn't seem frail. He has a stylish presence that compensates for the movie's fairly spartan production values.The two women in the ex-con's life, who turn out to be important to the mystery, are played by Lois Maxwell and Adele Jergens. Maxwell is better remembered today, because of her later role as "Moneypenny" in the James Bond films. But in 1949, Jergens, a former burlesque queen, was a much bigger name in movies. She certainly gets the more glamorous treatment here.

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."Crime Doctor's Diary" is the last of the series, as Baxter approached the end of his life. It's actually quite an interesting film. The premise is around a sort of early Itunes, where people call into a place and a requested song is played. Really fascinating! Here, Dr. Ordway attempts to help a parolee (Stephen Carter) who is suspected of murder.As others have mentioned, Whit Bissell gives an excellent performance as a disturbed songwriter. Broadway performer Adele Jergens is on hand as Inez, and she's quite beautiful as the femme fatale, and Lois Maxwell plays the ingénue. Both of them are interested in Stephen, but he's in love with Inez.Imagine calling a business today, requesting a song, and a person puts a record on a turntable. Sort of a human jukebox. Times have changed.

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.