The Crime of Dr. Crespi

1935 film by John H. Auer

September 24, 1935 (1935-09-24)

Running time

63 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Crime of Dr. Crespi is a 1935 American horror film starring Erich von Stroheim, Paul Guilfoyle, Jeanne Kelly, Dwight Frye, Harriet Russell, and John Bohn. It was released by Republic Pictures.^[1]

The movie was filmed at Biograph Studios in The Bronx, New York and is loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story, "The Premature Burial".

Plot

Dr. Andre Crespi (von Stroheim) hates Dr. Stephen Ross (Bohn), who married Crespi's girlfriend, Estelle (Harriet Russell). During surgery, Ross appears to die. Crespi has given Ross a drug that induces a state of apparent death, while Ross retains all of his senses. Dr. John Arnold (Guilfoyle) is then asked to exhume Ross by the suspicious Dr. Thomas (Frye). They exhume the body and return to the hospital to prove he was poisoned. Ross awakens from the drug while on the autopsy table.

Cast

Erich von Stroheim — Dr. Andre Crespi
Harriet Russell — Estelle Gorham Ross
Dwight Frye — Dr. Thomas
Paul Guilfoyle — Dr. John Arnold
John Bohn (stage name of Charles Frederick Herendeen) as Dr. Stephen Ross
Geraldine Kay as Miss Rexford
Jean Brooks as Miss Gordon
Patsy Berlin as Jeanne Ross
Joe Verdi as Di Angelo
Dean Raymond as Minister

Reception

In their 1936 review of the film, The New York Times gave the film a negative review, calling it "an almost humorously overstrained attempt at grimness". The reviewer criticized Stroheim as being "unconvincing", and uninspired cinematography; stating that Frye's performance was the film's only redeeming presence.^[2]

References

^ The Crime of Dr. Crespi, imdb.com; accessed August 6, 2015.
^ "At the Rialto. - The New York Times". The New York Times. January 13, 1936. Retrieved June 6, 2019.