private detective jerry church ( patric knowles ) be ask to investigate the strange death of several recently acquit men . the only clue be the mysterious call card find on the body of each victim of a man know only a doctor rx . soon after take the case and church be on hand to see a man name zarini acquit and only to fall dead before he can leave the courtroom . to solve the series of murder and church be kidnap and his wife life be threaten and and he be strap to a table by doctor rx and prepped for an operation involve organ transplantation with a gorilla . will church survive this ordeal and unmask the killer . as far a the classic universal horror ( and horror be use very loosely here ) film of the 30 and 40 go and the strange case of doctor rx be about as bad a you will run across . i place it at the bottom of the heap with the unfortunate she wolf of london . i describe the strange case of doctor rx to a friend a a charlie chan movie without any of the charm or interest of a charlie chan movie . knowles church doesn not make for a very effective or interesting lead . he just too bland . lionel atwill be bill second and but he have so little screen time you will forget he even in the film . and when atwill be on screen and he reduce to play the role of the most embarrassing red herring i have ever run across . gwynne be okay a the love interest or wife and but she can not save the film on her on . the highlight of the cast be shemp howard and and especially and mantan moreland . they have a scene together involve shoot dice that laugh out loud funny . moreland and a usual and steal most every scene in which he appear . other weakness represent the film plotting be plod and the direction be pedestrian and the mystery isn not very mysterious and and the horror be pretty much miss altogether . a most everyone who have write about the strange case of doctor rx have point out and the one scene of real horror feel like it be cut from another film . other than moreland and the one bright spot worth mention be the look of the film . like most other universal picture from this period and the movie look like a million buck . overall and a very disappointing affair that i will be generous to and give it a 4/10 .