Director: JOSEPH H. LEWIS. Original screenplay: Al Martin. Photographed in black-and-white by Jerry Ash. Film editor: Ralph Dixon. Art directors: Jack Otterson and Ralph M. DeLacy. Set decorations: Russell A. Gausman. Costumes: Vera West. Music director: Hans J. Salter. Sound recording: Bernard B. Brown and Jess Moulin. Producer: Paul Malvern.Copyright 8 December 1941 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 3 January 1942. U.S. release: 27 February 1942. Australian release: 7 May 1942. 6 reels. 5,449 feet. 60 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Shipwrecked on a tropical island, a mad doctor uses his suspended animation techniques to impress the natives.COMMENT: Early "B" film directed by Joseph H. Lewis starts off promisingly but ends up unexpectedly with stock natives on a Pacific Island. Still, director Lewis shows an occasional flair with imaginative compositions, though the plot is one of the silliest we have ever come across. The star of the film, Una Merkel, plays a totally superfluous character and the support cast proves not much better, but Lionel Atwill goes through his role as if believing that his every word was of the greatest importance!

I've been on a Lionel Atwill kick lately, watching some of his less famous films. Luckily I can find some of them on youtube to view for free. Last night I watched 'The Mad Doctor of Market Street. Youtube had a pretty decent copy. I'd never seen this one before. The title was intriguing. Turns out it really wasn't much of a horror movie or worthwhile except for Lionel Atwill fans. He does always play a good villain. The story starts out in the the city, San Francisco I think, where a "Mad Doctor' is conducting illegal experiments in suspended animation. He believes he can eventually conquer death. Unfortunately he kills a test subject who submits to the experiment in order to get money to feed his hungry family. The police know of his experiments and are after him. The story quickly moves from the city to an ocean liner where he is hiding out and then to a south seas tropical island, castaway style. I really wasn't expecting that. The plot as I said, is nothing to write home about...oh wait I am writing about it. To me the best part was the use of well known sound track music to effectively make a scene much scarier than it has a right to be. I believe it's the music from 'Son of Frankenstein' or one of the other Frankenstein Films. Also, Mr. Atwill is fun to watch as always. The down side besides the predictable story was the annoying characters in the film for comic relief. The IMDb gave the film an average rating of 5.2 out of 10. In my opinion it's barely a 3.

Lionel Atwill plays Br Benson a scientist experimenting with suspended animation. Atwill has found a way of putting animals in to suspended animation, then curing their disease and then bringing them back to life. Unfortunately when he tries to move to people the good doctor finds that he can not revive his subjects thus provoking the police to look for the murderer. Fleeing he boards a ship and heads for the south seas. When the ship catches fire, Atwill and several other survivors end up on an island where Atwill uses his medical tricks to enslave the natives.B movie or not this is a mess of a movie. The film starts okay, with Atwill trying his experiment on a man trying to get money for his family. The police burst in and he's forced to flee. After that comedy sets in and the film doesn't know what it wants to be. Once the ship sinks and the survivors end up on the island things become a mixed bag.Its it suppose to be serious or a comedy? First billed Una Merkel makes me think it was a comedy. Merkel as a crazy woman going to New Zealand for the fifth time to find love would usually be in the background to Atwill's craziness, but here she's often front and center. The problem is that the comedy is very heavy handed and not very funny. As a drama it isn't much better. Its natives in sarongs bowing before the mad Atwill, who looks bored and distracted. It reminded me of some of the dreadful jungle monster pictures from the 1950's where the mad scientist goes to the jungle and sets some creature loose like in From Hell it Came, except those movies were fun.I don't think that it helps that this film has something resembling a budget. Certainly the use of stock footage helped, but the fact that Universal spent probably twice what something like Republic, Monogram or a Poverty Row studio made me think that this would be something more than a really cheesy film. I know the reasonable look of the film made it hard to forgive the dopey script.To be honest this is a hard film to really discuss. Its a light weight B movie that is not bad enough to make one want to spend time commenting on it. Its a bad movie that makes you want to forget it after you've seen it, with a "well that was a waste of an hour" before moving on to something else. Its a misfire and not worth saying anything bad about simply because the movie inflicts enough damage on itself.Not worth bothering with except as a footnote in Lionel Atwill's career, his last starring role, and possibly his worst performance.

This very minor Universal horror film from 1942 is significant for it was the last time Lionel Atwill received a starring role in a film. He was on the outs after this due to the sex scandal that ruined his career and health. He played only minor roles after this and died 4 years later of cancer.The film is very easy to be hard on and Universal has obviously regarded it so low, that it has never made it to video, despite the millions they still make off their classic horror films. What kills the film is a lack of mood or suspense. It is super-pedestrianly directed by Joseph H. Lewis.What makes the film are the change-of-pace settings including a doomed cruise ship and an exotic island. The actors are all excellent too, even if Nat Pendelton and Una Merkel get a little tired with their comic relief act.Ultimately, Atwill rules and is as menacing and sinister as ever. He revives a dead native and is revered as a god by the island tribe. He very selfishly dictates how the other ship survivors will live as only Atwill so slimily could (Sounds like a reality show plot). The other standout is Noble Johnson as the village leader. He is given more dialogue than he ever had in his many previous horror films and he ultimately gives Atwill a run for his money. It was nice to see him in a larger role.Don't expect too much - this is a B film. Atwill fans will delight in seeing his last great lead performance. Atwill may have never had a definitive mad doctor film, but I've always regarded him as the maddest doctor of them all.