Doctor X (Blu-ray Review)

Reviewed By Jason Lockard

Movie fans love to go to the theaters to be shocked and frightened by the terrifying images on the silver screen. It seems it's been that way since the beginning of the motion picture industry. It's a simple fact of life people like to be scared.

In 1932 First National and Warner Brothers joined forces to produce the film entitled Doctor X based on a play entitled The Terror. Now Warner Archive is releasing this film on Blu-ray featuring a UCLA Film and TV Archive and The Film Foundation restoration of this classic horror film.

The film follows a New York City reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) who is doing a piece on a series of grisly, cannibalistic murders that have all been committed under a full moon. Police soon begin to suspect that the murderer works at the lab of Dr. Jerry Xavier, a mysterious researcher who is doing an investigation of his own.

The film was produced in color and in black and white and released in both formats. Watching the film almost 90 years later, it is still an amazing thrilling piece of cinema! The set design was epic! The cast is stellar featuring Lionel Atwill, Preston Foster, Lee Tracy and Fay Wray prior to her iconic role in King Kong. It runs just over and hour and fifteen minutes. So it is a fast paced film, you'll want to watch again and again!

Now for the Blu-ray release. The film is transferred in 1080p in it's original aspect ratio 1.37:1 with English audio 2.0 Mono DTS-HD MA and there is optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. The brand new 4K restoration is from the last-known surviving nitrate technicolor print. The colors are vibrant and the picture is sharp. As for the audio is crisp and clear. There is little to no hiss and pops that are so evident in copies of films from the 30s.




The restoration is remarkable! You can tell that so much work went into this. It had to be a labor of love. Warner Archive went above and beyond with this release. Not only do you get the stunning color version of this classic horror film, but they loaded this disc up with tons of bonus features. Take a look at the extras offered in this release.

* Alternate B&W version.
* “Doctor X” theatrical trailer
* “Doctor X: Before and After Restoration Reel” with comments by Scott MacQueen.
* 2 commentary tracks. One by author/film historian Alan K. Rode and the other by UCLA Film and Television Archive preservationist Scott MacQueen.
* “Madness And Mystery: The Horror Films Of Michael Curtiz”- An almost 30 minute featurette.

To have a restored version of this color horror classic on Bu-ray is amazing! But to get the black and white version as well! Two amazing commentary tracks, a horror featurette and an great before and after restoration really showing you all the love that was put into this restoration. This may be the best Blu-ray with bonus features Warner Archive have released to date. 

So if you love classic horror as much as I do! I would highly suggest adding a copy of this stunning Blu-ray to your collection. You can pick up your copy today at Amazon.com.


Check Out this epic Restoration Video:

Out of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) Warner Archive's Blu-ray of Doctor X receives...