I was hesitant to watch this film because I feared it was just another of the boringly similar gangster films that Warner Brothers churned out in the 1930s. And while this film does have a gangster connection, it avoids becoming cliché."Dr. Socrates" (as he is called; Muni's character) is a young physician rather out of place in the small town in which he resides. He has few paying patients. As a result, a gangster (Barton MacLane) targets Muni as the right doctor to take care of any injuries that befall him or his gang. Meanwhile, MacLane picks up a female hitchhiker on the way to a bank robbery; she gets shot and is suspected of being a moll since she was in the getaway car. Muni takes her in, and they fall in love (naturally). Meanwhile, MacLane wants her back, and in a rather clever turn, Muni subdues the gang through drugs and saves the girl...just as the G-Men sweep in. Dr. Scorates is soon a hero instead of an outcast, and it appears that he and his lady will live happily ever after.Although there are some issues with the plot (for example, would a gangster really pick up a hitchhiker on the way to a bank robbery?), overall it works pretty well, and is a relatively unique story.Paul Muni is brilliant here. It's only in the past few days -- as TCM had a mini-film festival -- that I began to watch Muni flicks. I'm impressed. In each one he looks so different that one might not recognize them as the same actor.Ann Dvorak is very good as the hitchhiker.But, a mistake was made with Barton MacLane here as the head gangster. You'd almost think he was acting while on meth! I'm no fan of MacLane's anyway, but even less than normal in this picture.Helen Lowell is pleasant as the cleaning lady. And note Mayo Methot as a moll; she had a knock-down/drag-out marriage with Humphrey Bogart beginning 3 years after this film was made. You'll recognize several other character actors in the cast; they all do nicely.This is an entertaining film!

Paul Muni is called "Dr. Socrates" in this 1935 film, mainly because of his love of books. Here Muni is a struggling young doctor, Dr. Lee Cardwell, who becomes involved with gangsters after helping a hitchhiker (Ann Dvorak) who was in their getaway car when the thugs committed a robbery. However, many people think she's part of the gang, and Cardwell works to protect and defend her.This was Muni's first film with William Dieterle, who directed Muni is his great films to follow, including The Story of Louis Pasteur, Juarez, and The Life of Emile Zola. Muni is good as Dr. S, but he has formidable competition in Barton MacLane, who plays Red Bastian, the main criminal who is a sort of John Dillinger type. In the film, he's wounded and forces Dr. Cardwell to treat him.This film was rewritten and redone in 1939 as "King of the Underworld" with Kay Francis and Humphrey Bogart, before his big stardom.Good cast, nice ending.

Muni was just biding his time between "important" roles when Warners made a deal with him to do this little crime melodrama, after which they would let him do one of his pet projects. So here he is as the man whose constant reading of books causes the townspeople to label him "Dr. Socrates," a name that seems to fit the soft-spoken, easy going doctor that Muni plays in a minor key.Instead of overwhelming the screen in his usual manner, he lets BARTON MacLANE give a vivid, scene-stealing performance as Big Red, a criminal wounded in a bank holdup who needs the doc's care and promises to send him more customers if he'll put a lid on treating him, instead of reporting him to the police. Fortunately, MacLane has some of the best lines in the script and ends up being the most interesting character in the whole story.ANN DVORAK is young and pretty as the hitch-hiking woman who accepts a ride from MacLane's gang and ends up being suspected of being a gang member when the gang pulls a bank robbery and she's seen fleeing from the scene. When she's hurt, she ends up in Muni's care and the rest of the story is rather predictable but entertaining.As the N.Y. Times said: "A pleasant enough melodrama" about a doctor who unwittingly gets mixed up with the mob. It's a trifle with a better than average script and some nice performances from the Warner contract players.

This is the kind of "crime" doctor movie Hollywood churned out by the truckload in the mid-30's. Muni is badly miscast in the lead, but rest of cast more than makes up for it. MacLane steals film as Red, the main gangster. Ann Dvorak and Mayo Methot are excellent as are the redoubtable Henry O'Neill and Owin Howlin. Some good pithy dialogue makes this well-meaning time capsule worth a look.