Tonight's Movie: Dr. Broadway (1942) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

DR. BROADWAY (1942), a 68-minute "B" film which marked the directorial debut of the great Anthony Mann, was just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

The movie is part of the Dark Side of Cinema XXVI collection along with SMOOTH AS SILK (1946) and THE GREAT GATSBY (1949).

I first saw DR. BROADWAY at UCLA in 2014, when it was part of a terrific festival celebrating Mann's career. I hadn't seen it since then and was very glad to revisit it thanks to Kino Lorber making the movie available for home viewing at long last.

DR. BROADWAY was written by Art Arthur, based on a novel by Borden Chase. The titular character's real name is Dr. Timothy Kane (Macdonald Carey). Lead actor Carey, like director Mann, was making his film debut, though Carey's next movie, TAKE A LETTER, DARLING (1942), beat DR. BROADWAY to theaters by just a few days.

"Dr. Broadway" is a handsome young doctor with a Times Square office. Many of the local Runyon-esque "characters" are friends who banded together to help send Kane to medical school, his father having died when he was young.

As the movie begins, the doctor promptly finds himself helping to save Connie (Jean Phillips) from jumping off a building ledge; meanwhile mobster Vic Telli (Eduardo Ciannelli), whom the doc sent "up the river," is out of jail unexpectedly early and looking for the doctor.

While the initial assumption is that Vic will threaten the doctor, Vic has something entirely else in mind...

This is a terrific-looking, fun film which I like a lot. The screenplay is admittedly a bit hard for me to completely track at times, despite repeat viewings, but I really enjoy the ride. The movie has a great cast, a wealth of fun dialogue, a fast pace, and an incredibly stylish presentation.

Carey is smooth and congenial in the title role; he even rates a special introduction in the film's creatively designed opening credits. By the next year he was working with Alfred Hitchcock on SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943), and it's easy to see why Hitchcock cast him in that film.

Phillips was only in films from 1940 to 1942, though she amassed a significant number of credits in that short time frame. She has a curiously strong resemblance to Ginger Rogers, but that works with her energetic character and I enjoy her in it.

The striking Joan Woodbury (enjoyed in CRASHING HOLLYWOOD and FLAME OF THE WEST) has a relatively short but significant role late in the film.

The many wonderful character actors in the movie include Richard Lane, J. Carrol Naish, Olin Howland, Mary Gordon, Sid Melton, Warren Hymer, Gerald Mohr, Spencer Charters, Thomas W. Ross, John Gallaudet, and Jay Novello, to name just some of the familiar faces in the movie's large cast.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print is a great-looking new HD master from a 4K scan. Sound quality is also excellent.

It's also worth mentioning that this case has particularly well-designed case art based on one of the film's posters.

DR. BROADWAY contains two commentary tracks; the first is by the always-excellent Jeremy Arnold, while the second was recorded by Allan Arkush and Daniel Kremer.

I enjoyed listening to Arnold's track immediately after watching the film and thoroughly enjoyed it. Arnold always comes to his commentaries fully prepared, with a wide variety of topics to discuss; here he comments on everything from the film's place in the careers of its filmmakers to the role of "B" films to the creativity in how Mann and cinematographer Theodor Sparkuhl shot certain scenes, along with much, much more. It's an informative and entertaining hour-plus which I recommend.

A trio of trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber rounds out the disc.

For additional thoughts on this enjoyable film, please visit my 2014 review.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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