24 Doctor X (1932 )

This  was  a  very  early  Technicolour  film.  It's  an  entertaining  little  film  about  a   cannibalistic serial  killer  , the  "Moon  Killer", who  police  have  established, must  be  lurking  at  the  medical academy  run by  Dr  Xavier  ( Lionel  Atwill  ) and   aided  by  four  very  creepy  scientists  and  a  no  less  sinister  butler. Xavier  persuades  the  police  to  let  him  carry  out  his  own  investigation  to  avoid  adverse  publicity  but  a  clownish  yet  resourceful  reporter Lee  Taylor  ( Lee  Tracy ) is  already  on  the  scent. It's  B-movie  stuff  and  it's  fairly  obvious  who  the  killer  is  but  it's  well-acted , delivers  one  or  two  effective  shocks  and  introduces  one  of  the  most  famous  "scream  queens"  of  all .

Fay  Wray   ( as  Joan  Xavier )   

Sex : Joan  uses  her  sexuality  to  bend  Taylor  to  her  will  and  the  film  ends  on  an  extremely  suggestive  note.

She  is  seen  in  thin  nightgowns  and  in  a  swimsuit  which  is  short  enough  to  give  a  glimpse of  her  knickers.

Death : Survives

 Fay   was   a  25 year  old  Canadian  actress. This  may  have  been  her  first  horror  role  but  she  already  had  a  long  c.v  stretching  back  into  the  silent  era. We  will  of  course  be  meeting  her  again.

Leila  Bennett  ( as  Mamie )

Sex : No  although  Otto  the  butler  seems  to  have  designs  on  her. The  comic  maid  seems  to  have  been  a  fairly  common  trope  in  these  sort  of  films.

Death : Survives

Leila  was  from  Newark  , New  Jersey  and  was  nearly  40  when  she  made  her  film  debut. This  was  a  typical  role  for  her  and  her  film  career  only  spanned  about  5  years. She  died  in  1965 aged  72.

Mae  Busch  (  as  Madam )

Sex : Mae  appears  to  be  the  Madam  of  a  brothel  that  Taylor  pops  into  to  make  a  phone  call  and  engages  in  some  banter  with  him. Other  than  establishing  that  Taylor's  a  sleazy  character,  it's  hard  to  see  what  purpose  she  has  in  the  film.

Death : Survives

Forty  year  old  Mae   was  Australian  and   had  been  a  considerable  star  in  the  silent  era  until  mental  health  problems  got  in  the  way. Her  career  later  picked  up  with  frequent  appearances  in  Laurel  and  Hardy  films, sometimes  as  the  latter's  wife. She  died  in  1946  aged  54  of  colon  cancer. Although  still  married  her  husband  didn't   bother  to   claim  her  ashes  and  they  were  eventually  buried  by  a  chapter  of  the  Laurel  and  HArdy  Society  in  1970.