Doctor X

Are you bad luck!

Hiya, Doctor.

Hiya, babe.

- Hey, where are you going?

- Inside, inside.

No, you ain't.

Only stiffs go in there tonight.

- No kidding.

- No kidding.

- What's keeping you out?

- I'm... What?

- Listen, we're pals, ain't we?

- Yeah.

Get a flash of that.

Yeah, well,

it won't do you any good tonight.

Now, look, I got me orders.

Nobody's going in there,

and that goes for you

newspaper guys, too. Now...

Sergeant, all I want to do

is identify a body.

Now, look, walk down the street, because

somebody might think I know you.

- Go ahead.

- That's an idea. Bones.

- Hello, Dee.

- Hello.

- Say, say, what's the hurry, big boy?

- I just want to use your telephone.

Oh, yeah? Well, there's one

down at the corner drugstore.

Listen, I haven't got time.

Will you be a sport? Come on, act natural.

All right, but step on it.

This is no telephone exchange.

Haven't I...

Say, didn't I meet you in Havana?

Yes... What?

Hello, World?

Give me the night desk, please. Yeah.

Willard Keefe. Yeah, this is Lee Taylor.

I'm down at the Mott Street Morgue.

Just now they bring in the body

of an old scrubwoman

murdered under very

peculiar circumstances.

No, they won't let me see it.

I can't get any dope. Police...

Very good. I say very... What?

I say I can't get any dope on it.

Police orders.

Just now, Stevens, O'Halloran

and a guy named Dr. Xavier arrived.

- Something's doing.

- Yeah, I've heard that one, too.

Listen, you lunkhead, I'm not clowning.

Look out the window, will you?

- What do you mean, the moon?

- Certainly I mean the moon.

I'm laying 10 bucks to a dime

it's another Moon Killer murder.

Well, that's different.

Now, listen, Lee, stick right on it.

Fine.

I thought I...

Oh, Rachmaninoff.

How about the Prelude, huh?

Hey, Mike, just a minute. Please!

Hello, Mike. Hey, listen,

what's going on across the street tonight?

I don't know a thing, Lee.

I'm walking my beat

and minding my own business.

- Well, have you got a cigarette?

- I never use them.

Here, smoke this. Paddy, the bartender

down at the corner, gave it to me.

- Oh, much obliged, Mike. Thanks!

- Yeah, no problem.

- Good gracious! What you got there?

- Nothing, just a little handshake buzzer.

You see,

fits right in the palm of your hand.

You wind it up like that, and it discourages

these professional handshakers.

I ought to have one on each hand

for my beat here.

- Well, I gotta be going now. Goodbye.

- So long.

I forgot all about that thing.

Don't ever bring any of those darned tricks

around here again.

What's your theory, Doctor?

Strangulation by

terrifically powerful hands.

You will notice how deeply the thumbs

are embedded in the sternocleidomastoid.

And what do you think of this incision

at the base of the brain?

Obviously made by some type of scalpel

used for brain dissecting.

But it's peculiar that this left deltoid

muscle should be missing.

- It's been torn right out.

- Gentlemen, it wasn't torn.

This is cannibalism.

- This portion of the body was...

- Impossible!

There's no doubt about it.

Thank you, Doctor.

I appreciate your professional opinion.

I'm only too happy to be of any service

to you, gentlemen.

Now, if you'll excuse me,

I have rather an important experiment

in progress

that demands my attention

every few hours.

I hardly think I can be

of any further use to you,

so if you don't mind, I'm very, very sorry,

but I'll say good night.

Just a moment, Doctor, if you don't mind.

One thing more.

- Very well, sir.

- Yes, what?

Now, look here, Doctor,

this is the sixth murder

in the same number of months,

all committed in the full of the moon

with no apparent motive,

by means of strangulation and an incision

with a strange surgical knife.

- Yes, it is peculiar, isn't it?

- Most peculiar.

- What's your theory of the killer, Doctor?

- A neurotic, of course.

- Some poor devil suffering from a fixation.

- Fixation? What do you mean?

A knot or kink tied to the brain

by some past experience.

A madness that comes

only at certain times

when the killer is brought in direct contact

with some vivid reminder of the past.

- It's hard to believe that.

- Yes, for a policeman, I suppose it is.

But I tell you that locked in each

human skull is a little world, all its own.

Yes, well, what would these reminders be,

for instance?

Anything. The sight of the sea,

the full moon. Anything.

The poor devil, sane at all other times,

is forced to live over the scene

of the action that first drove him mad.

Very interesting.

Particularly in view of the fact

that all these murders

occur in the vicinity

of your medical academy.

Are you implying that someone

in my academy could have done this?

- I am convinced of it.

- This is preposterous!

I'm familiar with the character

of every student and professor,

and they're all men

of the highest integrity.

There are other academies in the state...

But they don't have that kind of knives.

The surgical supply house swear

they import them from Vienna

especially for your institute.

It's the only place in the country

that they're used.

Commissioner Stevens,

if you jump at a hasty conclusion like this,

you'll ruin the integrity

of an institution that has one of the finest

reputations in the world.

I'm sorry, Doctor,

but I have to start an investigation.

I tell you this first,

because I'm hoping for your cooperation.

Naturally, I shall do everything

to protect your institution.

- But the newspapers, the publicity.

- Don't worry about them.

We don't want publicity

any more than you do.

If my academy is under suspicion,

give me a chance to conduct

an investigation of my own first.

Surely, with our knowledge

of the human brain,

- we have every facility to catch a madman.

- How would you proceed?

By immediately studying

the pathological reactions

of every man placed under suspicion.

Then trap the guilty one

by a brain examination.

May I examine the records

of your students and faculty?

Why, assuredly, assuredly. You can come

to my office now, if you wish.

But, I beg of you, no publicity, please.

- No, don't worry.

- Please.

Not one newspaper in the country

shall hear of this

until you've had every opportunity

to clear your academy of suspicion.

Thank you. Thank you.

I appreciate your gesture.

What is it? What do you want?

- Father!

- Oh, it's you, Joanne.

What is it, dear?

Nothing. I just came in here

to say good night to you.

Father, what are you doing in here

in the dark? You frightened me.

I'm sorry, Joanne.

I just came here to get those records.

It's late. You're looking very tired, darling.

You're only heading

for a nervous breakdown unless...

That moon, mixed with this other light,

it's too ghastly.

Father, you worry me.

You promised me you'd take a rest.

Lately you've been so...

No, my dear, I'm all right.

Just a little nervous, that's all.

Now, I have some gentlemen

next door in the office.

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