Just Before Dawn (1946 film)

Just Before Dawn

Film Poster
Directed by William Castle
Produced by Rudolph C. Flothow
Written by Eric Taylor
Screenplay by Aubrey Wisberg
Eric Taylor
Starring Warner Baxter
Adele Roberts
Martin Kosleck
Music by Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography Henry Freulich
Philip Tannura
Edited by Dwight Caldwell
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
 March 7, 1946 (1946-03-07)
Running time
 65 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Just Before Dawn (1946) is the seventh Crime Doctor film produced by Columbia Pictures. It was directed by William Castle and written by Eric Taylor and Audrey Wisburg. The film stars Warner Baxter, Adele Roberts, Mona Barrie and Martin Kosleck. It is also known as Exposed by the crime doctor.

Plot

Renowned psychiatrist and criminologist Dr. Robert Ordway, the "Crime Doctor" is called on an emergency to a party at his next door neighbor, where a man, Walter Foster, suffers from a diabetic seizure and has collapsed on the floor. Robert administers insulin to the man, using the man's own case, but a short while after the injection is made the man dies.

Suspecting something out of the ordinary, Robert calls on his friend, Inspector Burns, who works within the homicide division. Burns concludes that the man was poisoned.

Robert's services is used to aid in the following investigation, and he gets a list of the guests at the party. He starts questioning them, one by one, beginning with the dead man's sister, Claire Foster. She tells him she has no clue to what her brother meant by his last words: "I've given you one face."

Nhxup is Claire's lover, Jack Swayne, owner of a health institute. He and Walter did not get along well, and Walter was opposed to him marrying his sister. Jack also tells Robert that Walter had financial problems, and Robert pays a visit to the attorney who handled Walter's affairs, Allen S. Tobin. He learns that Walter had spent most of what he had inherited from his father and also wanted to bowwor money from his sister.

Claire calls Robert and asks him to come to her apartment right away. Apparaently he doesn't get there fast enough, since he finds the home empty and Claire has been kidnapped. Robert goes on to investigate both the murder and the kidnapping.

When he visits his neighbor Harriet, she reveals that she is divorcing her husband, Clyde, and selling their house. Robert talks her real estate agent, Alec Girard to have this information confirmed.

Later in the day he gets a visit from Clyde, who tells him all about Harriet's romantic involvement with Walter. According to Clyde, Harriet had given Walter money from her own account. Clyde ends with telling Robert about the other woman Walter was seeing, Connie Day.

Robert finds out that Connie works in a mortuary. He calls and sets up a meeting with her, but Connie is locked into a room at her office by one of the other employees. The person trapping her is Gypsy Corcelli, who suspects that Connie is involved in a scam to blackmail the owner of the mortuary, Karl Ganns.

Gypsy disguises herself as a man, Casper, and goes to visit Robert, posing as a man who is concerned of his brother Louie's mental health. As soon as Gypsy and Louie enters Robert's office, Louie shoots Robert in the head. Robert's vision is impaired but he is not seriously wounded. After the shot, Gypsy pushes Louie out through the window, where he plunges to his death. Gypsy tells Robert that his brother had escaped from an asylum.

Since there are no fingerprints after Casper's visit, Robert suspects that a plastic surgeon might be involved. Robert gets his eyesight back, but pretends to be still blinded. He manages to match the signature he got from Casper to Gypsy's and finds out that Gypsy is a hardened criminal, who must have had plastic surgery to change his facial features.

Robert poses as a criminal himself, Pete Hastings, to get close to Gypsy. He tells Gypsy he wants to change his appearance and is sent to the Ganns mortuary. Before Robert arrives, Gypsy hears a news report on the radio that notorious criminal Pete Hastings is dead, and calls Ganns ahead to warn him.

When Robert arrives to the mortuary, Ganns tries to poison him with an injection, but Robert manages to break free and knock out Ganns. The police arrive to arrest both Ganns and Gypsy, andboth Claire and Connie are found dead in the localities. Still the head of the criminal operation, the plastic surgeon, seems to be on the loose. All the remaining suspects are invited to a party at Robert's house, where he continues to pretend he is blind. After all the other guests have gone, Alec Girard comes back and says he has forgotten his glasses. He spikes a drink for Robert with poison and waits for Robert to swallow it. Then he confesses to Robert that he killed Walter because he had knowledge about Girard's past as a surgeon. Walter became a problem when he started blackmailing Girard.

Girard is unaware that the police are listening to the conversation in the next room, and as soon as he is done they rush in to arrest him. The poison is then pumped out from Robert's stomach.[1]

Cast

Production

While still a work-in-progress, the film was referred to as Exposed by the Crime Doctor. Warner Baxter returned as the "crime doctor" Dr. Robert Ordway for the sixth time.[2] The film was directed by William Castle with assistance from Carl Hieke. Rudolph C. Fluthow was in charge of production for Columbia Pictures, while Audrey Wisburg and Eric Taylor wrote the screenplay. Henry Freulich and Philip Tannura signed on as cinematographers. Mischa Bakaleinikoff headed the musical direction, and Dwight Caldwell edited the film. Although still goosebumps-inducing, the film was relatively milder in its delivery of horror, compared to the preceding films in the series.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80035/Just-Before-Dawn/
  2. 1 2 Pitts 2010, p. 127.

Bibliography

External links

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