The Strange Case Of Doctor Rx (1942)

A private detective (Patric Knowles) has plans to retire but he is lured into taking one last case. A series of strangulation murders by an anonymous Doctor Rx, a self professed avenger who murders guilty people who are acquitted by juries. Directed by William Nigh, this mystery/horror film is near incomprehensible to follow and makes no logical sense. No surprise since apparently there was no finished script when filming started and the actors had to ad lib their way through the shooting. When the motive for the killings is revealed, it's preposterous. There's a generous amount of comic relief in the film, most of it provided by Shemp Howard and Mantan Moreland in yet another stereotyped black character but to his credit Moreland makes the most of it unlike Howard who is just tedious. I like most of Universal's B horrors of the 1940s but this one had me scratching my head. With Lionel Atwill, Anne Gwynne, Samuel S. Hinds, Mona Barrie, John Cavanagh, Mary Gordon and Jan Wiley.