It's always been my opinion that in the matter of wartime B pictures with a propaganda bent the British were far better than the Americans. Especially with a lot of British players from our British colony in Hollywood participating in this potboiler that has not aged well.With all that mysterious fog it's only natural that the the people of a Cornwall village react suspiciously to Lester Matthews who says he's on a walking tour. Folks just didn't do that in wartime Great Britain.What Matthews finds is that there's an abandoned tin mine that the locals won't work because of a mysterious ghost who chops people's heads off because he doesn't have one himself and that ain't fair. Some real decapitations occur.At the same time British RAF officer on leave Bruce Lester and the local squire John Loder are saying we got to beat Hitler and the King needs that tin.What happens is that one of the villagers is a traitor and he's been doing the killings and spreading the rumors. Like Sherlock Holmes and the Voice Of Terror these Germans plan for the long haul even before there was a Nazi party. Shame on those from the British colony who spread this paranoia about. It's about as sensible as some of the worst anti-Communist films. In fact the Royal Family in the last World War had to change it's House name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more British sounding Windsor. The British players knew that even if we didn't.Eleanor Parker was one of the few Americans in the movie and I'm sure she shuddered at the mention of it. Well, a girl has to start somewhere.

I cannot say I was aware of this one before our own Michael Elliott gave it a thumbs up not that long ago; actually emerging as only borderline horror, it effectively mingles a traditional plot – an English village, complete with hulking idiot and disfigured bartender hiding his features behind a hood(!), lives in fear of an ancient curse involving a headless ghost – with topical (i.e. WWII) concerns. The village mine was being utilized to produce tin for the Allied cause so the Axis powers apparently felt the need to send out one of their own to intermingle in the community and recreate by night the legend of The Headless Ghost, thus curtailing the mining operations which are subsequently abandoned. The prerequisite foggy atmosphere is thickly laid on, the plot is fairly engaging and the modest but pleasing cast – squire John Loder, the lovely Eleanor Parker, title character Lester Matthews, dim-witted Matt Willis, etc. – is sympathetic to the material at hand. Besides, being a compact 57-minute 'B' flick, it is essentially comparable in quality and effect to the likes of Fox's DR. RENAULT'S SECRET and THE UNDYING MONSTER (both 1942).

"The Mysterious Doctor" (1943) is a fun, fairly predictable WWII propaganda film. Lots of fog and fear in and around the English village of Morgan's Head. A stranger comes out of nowhere, steps out of the fog and flags down a horse and cart for a free ride into town. The driver is willing as long as it's a pick-up and delivery. He won't be staying.The stranger is Dr. Frederick Holmes. (Sherlock's little brother?) He arrives at the Inn and learns the story of the closed tin mine, the village of "Morgan's Head" and the headless ghost who came into being when 2 miners fight to the death. When it's finished Black Morgan loses his head. Since then several miners have died the same way. Next the village squire enters and meets their visitor. He learns that Dr. Holmes' has decided to stay longer and explore the closed mine. (On the spur of the moment? Oh sure. Uh-uh. Whatever!) The next day the good doctor heads out and disappears and a headless corpse is found in the mine. Hmmm, could it be that the story has lost one of it's heroes already? Considering it's 1943 WWII movie at least he died for his country. (Or somebody's anyway.)***The Spoiler***About the participants suspicious or otherwise: We know right away that Letty is OK. She takes care of and protects 'Slow Bart'. Kit, the loyal soldier, must be OK because he loves Letty. Is 'Slow Bart' who he seems to be? Is Dr. Holmes on the right side or just dead? How about Sir Henry where does he spend his time when away from "HIS" village? Who is left? How about the list of other usual suspects in the crowd? Could they be involved? Hmmm.Cast: John Loder as Sir Henry Leland, Eleanor Parker as Letty Carstairs (born in Cedarville, Ohio, Eleanor does a great job with the British accent), Bruce Lester as Lt. Christopher 'Kit' Hilton, Lester Matthews as Dr. Frederick Holmes, Matt Willis as Bart Redmond (the mentally challenged villager) does very well.

This not perhaps one of the great films but is yet the umpteenth example of how a well-made and nicely acted picture can work wonders even without a particularly outstanding script. A doctor on a walking tour in foggy Cornwall finds himself at a village inn. He has to knock hard to get someone to open the door, and when it does open he is greeted by a man with a black hood over his head. Once inside the stranger meets the customers at the bar, who are the usual dour, sullen, somewhat eccentric British types moviegoers are familiar with thanks to such lively and observant directors as James Whale. Whether such characters have ever existed in the real world is of course irrelevant. The actors are British enough, and the setting sufficiently evocative to satisfy even the most finicky moviegoer. We are in Hollywood's England of the forties, when Brittania ruled with an authority and prestige not seen since, and when dry ice fog and mists suggested a quaint and cozy never-never Albion out of Dickens and Doyle almost as well as the authors themselves had done. One of locals tells the doctor the tale of the headless ghost of Black Morgan, which many believe to still be haunting the village and local mine. For a while, due to the exceptionally suspenseful build-up and clever art direction, one might have expected a werewolf or two to show up before the picture ended. This alas does not happen, and the film, though satisfying in its way, never fulfills the promise of its early, expository scenes.What follows is a mystery, reasonably well done, highly unoriginal, and unworthy of the actors and set designers, who deserved better for their sterling efforts. This film is highly recommended for its atmosphere, though as a story it contains few surprises. Director Ben Stoloff does a commendable job in the dramatic scenes, and has a feel for the nuances of mood in terms of psychology and setting, as the two interact well and properly, as they always should. Leading lady Eleanor Parker handles her generic role quite well and comes close to being convincingly British without any excessive mannerisms. John Loder is decent as the local 'Sir', and the various supporting players are credible if predictable in their routines. Lester Matthews makes a fine Dr. Holmes, and plays his part with an authority and empathy one does not expect in an English actor at this time and in this sort of film. Matt Willis is excellent as the chief suspect. He was always a fine actor, and was never given the parts he deserved in his brief film career. In what one might call the Laird Cregar (or Vincent Price) role he is in his very different way as good as they were, and far more natural. The film's final scenes are badly dated, but overall this is as finely polished a B gem as one can find, and might have been a masterpiece of its kind with a better screenplay.Technically it is a virtuoso piece, suggesting at times Hitchcock, at other times Lang; there's a touch of Val Lewton in the sensitive use of second-hand sets; in its locale, concluding scene and one of its leading actors it is strangely reminiscent of Ford's How Green Was My Valley; and early on it feels like a horror film. Not a bad showing for a little under sixty minutes running time.