Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

At 67 minutes, "The Murder of Dr. Harrigan" is clearly a B-mystery film...albeit a pretty decent one. Bs were films that usually ran from 55-70 minutes and were meant as a second film at a double feature. They usually had simple plots with rather quick resolutions...and they were made by all sorts of companies ranging from the tiny to big studios like MGM and Warner. The Bs made with the bigger companies tended to look a bit nicer and were more likely to have a bigger name actor or two in the flick. And, since this was by Warner Brothers, they put stars Ricardo Cortez and Mary Astor in this one...making it a bit nicer than the average B.Shortly after the film begins, you learn of several people who have plenty of reasons to kill Dr. Harrigan as well as his patient, the rich crank, Peter Melady. However, unlike most B mysteries, this one features TWO murders! As for the police, they're a bit dim (though not as overtly stupid as they are in most B mysteries) and they need the help of some smart folks--in this case Dr. Lambert (Cortez). Overall, a clever and pretty typical B mystery--one that is worth seeing and harmless (unless, of course, you are Harrigan and Melady).

The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936) ** (out of 4) Fast paced Warner mystery has Dr. Harrigan being murdered in a hospital right before he's about to do surgery on a man who has also disappeared. Dr. Lambert (Ricardo Cortez) and Nurse Keating (Kay Linaker) decide to do some investigating on their own and realize that just about everyone in the hospital is a suspect and that Harrigan was working on a new form of anesthetic. THE MURDER OF DR. HARRIGAN isn't the best murder-mystery out there from Warner but even with all its flaws it's still worth watching thanks in large part to the nice cast of characters. Cortez is always hit and miss among film buffs but I thought he was rather charming here. The actor certainly didn't have to over extend himself but he did enough to at least keep you entertained in his character. Linaker, just signed off of Broadway, is actually very good in her part but sadly the screenplay gives her very little to work with. Character actor Joseph Crehan does a fine job at the main detective investigating the case and we also get fine support from Robert Strange, Phillip Reed and Anita Kerry. Then there's Mary Astor who according to the trivia section of IMDb turned down the lead part and to punish her the studio gave her a supporting bit. The role is certainly below her talents but she's good in the part and certainly helps make the film better. With that said, the plot here just isn't interesting enough to really pull you in and I'd argue that the direction isn't up to par either. Still, fans of the cast members will still want to check it out.

Only a certain kind of audience likes these types of movies, the type that flocked to see The Thin Man a few years before this film and the sequel to the Thin Man the same year as this film. It's obvious by the attempts at humorous banter by the romantic leads that this is a thinly veiled attempt to cash in on the same audience back in the hey day of the Thin Man series as the TM movies were attracting. This is nowhere close to those movies with none of the chemistry (although a few quips are funny) and the required explanation of what is going on and who shot who is painfully dragged out and boring. None of the action as Nicky grills the group. And awful dialog (ex: "Glad, glad do you hear!") which is really painful to hear from the likes of Mary Astor.But I am someone who does enjoy these types of movies. It fascinates me how they announce the parts and actions as if they are still on the radio for the sake of those who can't see it. And I enjoy seeing the cultural elements (count how many times the word "negro" is used.)These films are like a quick glimpse into the campy past. And it's no mystery that glimpses of the past are always fun.

A Warner's "Clue Club" presentation, this short (just over one hour) murder mystery will satisfy the hidden sleuths in the audience. As with so many murder thrillers then and now, "The Murder of Dr. Harrigan" is set in a hospital where nurses compete for recognition, advancement, and romance with the handsome physicians, especially Dr. Harrigan (John Eldredge) and Dr. Lambert (Ricardo Cortez, being groomed by the studio as a Latin lover). The popularity of this type film led to the highly successful Dr. Kildare series later in the decade and much later to TV's popular "Marcus Welby, M.D." Countless other imitations have appeared and are still popping up from time to time.The mystery is extremely complex for its day and time. Suffice it to say that a medicinal sleeping formula is being touted by several members of the hospital staff including the administrator, Peter Melady. That he has the completed formula works to his disadvantage since his rivals are determined to claim it for their own. Melady is preparing himself for an operation while his wife, Agnes (Anita Kerry), is in the same hospital with a broken arm. She is surreptitiously being entertained by her paramour, Kenneth Martin (Gordon "William" Elliott--maybe this is how he got his epithet "Wild Bill"). Peter Melady asks his arch rival, Dr. Harrigan, to perform the operation. This is like asking Jack the Ripper to perform an appendectomy on a lady of the evening. To make a long synopsis short, Dr. Harrigan ends up stabbed to death, Dr. Melady ends up missing in action, and an African-American winds up being taken to the morgue, leaving a covey of suspects lurking in the corridors.The romantic angle is almost as confusing. Dr. Lambert is lusting after vivacious nurse, Sally Keating (Kay Linaker), who in turn is lusting after him. Nurse Lillian Cooper (Mary Astor) is lusting after one of the suspects in the case, plus is burdened with a secret revealed at the end of the flick. Nurse Brody (Mary Treen) lusts after a funny line. And Agnes Melady, needless to say, is still lusting after Wild Bill. Besides Nurse Brody, humor is provided by the patients, particularly Wentworth (Johnny Arthur) as a whiner with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who is staying in the hospital for a much-needed rest but keeps being bothered by nurses, doctors, plumbers, the police, and other patients; and by Jackson (Don Barclay), a harmless dipsomaniac who drinks rubbing alcohol and runs amok. "The Murder of Dr. Harrigan" is worthwhile for those of us who love a good mystery. This is a short entertaining programmer in the Warner's "Clue Club" series, which included the popular "While the Patient Slept."