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starring: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Trevor, Allen Jenkins, Donald Crispdirected by: Anatole Litvak
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780790749440
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 0790749440
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: March 07, 2000
Running Time: 87 minutes
Sales Rank: 6782
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: July 30, 1938
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
A stylish, often amusing crime drama, this 1938 feature revolves around a central, improbable plot twist that consciously serves its casting against type: as the eponymous doctor, Edward G. Robinson, who had helped define the Warner Bros. style for gritty gangster sagas, jettisons his signature snarl in favor of a plummy, vaguely English accent that underlines his urbane sophistication. Dr. Clitterhouse is a creature of privilege who embarks on a criminal life not out of desperation, but rather through intellectual curiosity; instead of slouch hats and suits, he has marcelled hair and first appears in white tie and tails. He begins pulling off 'perfect' jewel thefts as research into the criminal mind, but his gradual immersion in New York's shadowy demimonde of thieves and fences eventually finds the good doctor between those two worlds.
Robinson's principal foils stick closer to their studio strong suits. Humphrey Bogart is 'Rocks' Valentine, a sturdy if familiar variation on the hoods and have-nots that were his early stock in trade at the studio. Bogart's fence and former paramour is Jo Keller, played by Claire Trevor as glamorous, streetwise, and otherwise decent, apart from her knack for larceny. When the doctor asks her to fence his glittering contraband, she's intrigued, and Clitterhouse, known to the hoods only as 'the Professor,' becomes their strategist. Jo is clearly falling for him, while 'Rocks' is visibly jealous of the fastidious stranger's rising influence and romantic rivalry.
In keeping with its ultimately goofy premise, the story navigates some eccentric plot turns with an aplomb that can be credited to the solid cast (including other studio stalwarts such as Allen Jenkins, Ward Bond, and Donald Crisp) and the three principals, who would work off each other to much more riveting effect a decade later in Key Largo. --Sam Sutherland
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A Thorough Experiment in Crime
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse is a fascinating study of crime. Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar, Hole In The Head, A Boy Ten Feet Tall, etc.) plays Dr. Clitterhouse, a society surgeon who embarks on a life of crime - as an experiment. He hopes to prove his theory about criminal behavior changing the personality of the criminal.
The first part of the film is a bit on the lighter side as the doctor swipes jewels and easily evades police. He eventually leads a band of thieves (formerly led ... Read More
Rating: - Unusual plot and role for Robinson
"The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" is an offbeat drama with a very solid cast, whose main players would reunite 10 years later in the screen classic "Key Largo".
The venerable Edward G. Robinson well known for his tough mobster roles plays Dr. T.J. Clitterhouse an eminent and sophisticated physician. His upper crust clientele gains him entrance into the highest society functions. Unfortunately, Robinson has been using his celebrity to engineer several successful jewel heists in the guise ... Read More
Rating: - The amazing dr. clitterhouse 2nd best forgotten Bogart movie
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse is a good movie showcaseing Bogies talent even though the script and plot for the movie is not the greatest but none the less a great 87 mins of bogart and edward g. Robinson show caseing their talents Robinson plays Dr. Clitterhouse as a doctor eager to study the physical and mental states of lawbreakers(suspenseful charater)!!Bogarts plays Rocks Valentine a gang memberThis movie also stars Claire Trevor as Jo Keller as the leader of a gang of safecrakers.Now the storylineClitterhouse ... Read More
Rating:  - The Clitterhouse Movie: Drama? Melodrama? or Just Goofy?
Director Anatole Litwak took quite a chance in 1939 with THE AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE. He reunited such stars as Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart, who had squared off only three years earlier in THE BATTLING BELLHOP. Bogart, as usual, plays the back-stabbing criminal who sees the world only in terms of how it may enrich him. The real star, however, is Robinson, who goes against type as the suave and urbane surgeon who decides that the origins of crime are biological, rather than sociological. As Doctor Clitterhouse, ... Read More
Rating: - Entertainment
EG Rombinson plays a real doctor with a scientific interest in the psychological motivations and aspects of criminals. As he takes this journey for the sake a research, he gets more than he bargins for, with a twist ending.
Although this is another example of Bogart as a bad guy, criticism may fall toward the fact that he is still young here and not as polished. Robinson seems to read through his lines very quickly. Other issues are present in the production, but basically, it is fun entertainment, and not worth dissecting ... Read More
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