51 The Crime of Dr Crespi ( 1935 )

This  is  an  odd  little  film. Based  on  Poe's  The  Premature  Burial  we're  dealing  once  again  with  a  dastardly  doctor. Dr  Crespi  ( Erich  von  Stroheim )  is  chief  surgeon  at  a  hospital. An  old  flame,  Estelle  wants  him  to  save  the  life  of  the  man  she  married  instead. Crespi  agrees  but  only  so  that  he  can  execute  a  diabolical  revenge. This  plot is  interwoven  with  some  very  soap  opera  scenes  featuring  the  junior  staff  at  the  hospital  and  no  music  at  all  except  at  the  beginning  and  end  ( both  pieces  highly  inappropriate ).

Von  Stroheim  is  excellent  as  the  dissembling  doctor  and  Dwight  Frye  plays  a  good  guy  rather  than  the  village  idiot.

Harriet  Russell  ( as  Estelle  Ross )  

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  was  Harriet's  only  film  and  I  can  tell  you  nothing  about  her.

Geraldine  Kay  ( as  Nurse  Rexford ) 

Sex :  There's  a  suggestion  she's  having  office  nookie  at  the  end  ( off  screen ).  

Death : Survives

Geraldine  was  a  noted  stage  actress  from  Chicago  but  she  only  appeared in   this  one   film. She  died  in  2001  aged  88.

Jeanne  Kelly  ( as  Nurse  Gordon )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Jeanne   was  at  the  beginning  of  her  film  career  here. She  later  changed  her  name  to  Jean  Brooks  to  avoid  confusion  with  a  famous  male  dancer   and  continued  in  films  up  to  1948. She  suffered  from  an  eating  disorder  and  alcoholism  and  these  conspired  to  kill  her  in  1963  aged  47.