Review of The Crime of Doctor Crespi

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.