Who Killed 'Doc' Robbin?

This comic mystery was one of at least a couple of late 1940s efforts by Hal Roach to recapture the atmosphere and success of the "Our Gang" comedies of the past. It had most of the elements, but it never really comes together, and it does not come close to the original.

The setup has a gang of children, resembling the original group in a number of respects, getting involved in a murder mystery. Almost the entire movie takes place either in the courtroom or in the abandoned laboratory of an unstable doctor. These settings, and a far-fetched but interesting story idea involving atomic power, provide enough material for what could have been a good movie.

Though a couple of them show some talent, the child actors are clearly a cut below the members of the original gang, and they never work together with the same camaraderie or chemistry. It could simply be the case that by trying to put them too overtly into the same mold, they did not get the chance to be themselves. Except for George Zucco and, to a lesser extent, Virginia Grey, the adult actors are mostly just adequate as well.

On the plus side, the settings work most of the time. On the minus side, it has a surprising number of dated details and/or stereotypes that you cannot help noticing.

A fair amount of the action does work all right as light entertainment. It's the kind of format and plot setup that sometimes produces some very good movies when they are in the hands of a top-quality cast and crew. In this case, the results are at least watchable most of the time, and are occasionally enjoyable, but not enough so to make it of any general interest.

Okay, aside from the "I'm shocked...shocked to find a 1940's film featuring stereotypical characters!", here are a couple of notes for Roach fans who might not have stumbled across this picture.

First, it seems that all the money went into the Cinecolor process. The film has one of the dreariest casts of any 40's B programmer. George Zucco, Grant Mitchell and Virginia Grey are the only name actors in the picture. Whitford Kane, who plays Fix-it Dan, had a wonderful role the prior year in Fox's THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (as the publisher of Mrs. Muir's sea novel). The prosecutor is Wilton Graff, never a particularly humorous actor. The rest of the cast is non-entities and the kids act more like they came out of the MGM-George Sidney unit than a Hal Roach comedy.

Also curious is the musical score. The immensely talented Heinz Roemheld is credited as musical director. However, rather than creating one of his own wonderful works (including those fabulous chase cues with pizzicato violins as in FULLER BRUSH MAN or JACK AND THE BEANSTALK), he basically adapted music from TOPPER TAKES A TRIP and TOPPER RETURNS. These were terrific scores, and the TOPPER RETURNS material is particularly appropriate for this film. Of course, there is some original Roemheld music but it's basically a patchwork score.

The script is fair, the gags are contrived and not particularly funny, but the scenes with the Gorilla are genuinely scary.

As for Dis and Dat, I always winced at the moment in Africa SCREAMS where native Bill Walker turned white at the sight of the big Ape. Now I discover it was done the previous year in WHO KILLED DOC ROBIN! Fun for 48 minutes but don't mortgage the house buying a copy or print.

I don't know if there are any original 35mm Cinecolor prints out there. Most of the prints extant (including mine) are 16mm Thunderbird reduction prints. Cinecolor was a dubious process to begin with and anything other than first generation prints are usually pretty dingy.

I first saw this Hal Roach classic in '76, on local TV, one-half of an after-school double-feature. I don't recall the other movie but it was another "Curly." Enough to say I've been hooked ever since. And when I discovered a DVD copy in the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, I scooped it right up, giddy with serendipity.

Someone has murdered the reclusive Doc Robbin, a late night explosion destroying his laboratory. Dan, the local Mister Fix-it, is arrested and Curly and his gang set out to prove the elderly pensioner's innocence.

The cast is very excellent for the level of talent demanded: The little "gang-sters" are superb (little Ardda will steal your heart); the very lovely Virginia Grey plays the damsel in miss-tress, and George Zucco plays the heavy.

Think of "Our Gang" with candles in a haunted house, add color, and you pretty much have it.

My regrets to those who find overt racism in everything they see. i myself saw nary an example, overt or otherwise.

I had to see this film after reading a review here by some goof ball who went on and on about Hal Roach being racist! Firstly, Hal Roach stuck black kids in his films as friends and equals to white kids, beginning with the silent days! Were some of the scenes stereotypes? Yes, but back then everyone got a good does of stereotyping -- Italians, Jews, immigrants, blacks -- everyone got their fair share and no one seemed to mind, so which era was better? Aren't we tired of people just seeing everything by race and inserting there agenda into the mix? This is a curio piece from long ago. It's actually a cute little puff piece. The other reviewer said something about two black characters being named Did & Dat, but neglected to say that there was also a white character named Fixit. Jeeze. Get off the high horse. It's a movie.

Anyway the film is funny and keeps moving and tries to some extent to be a throw back to the Our Gang series that Roach was so successful at only by 1948, it wasn't gonna happen. Plus Roach Studios were already waning and soon would get into TV production, virtually abandoning theatrical films.

But watch it for what it is -- fun for the who family and a curio.

A gang of cute kids tries to right a wrong by sneaking into a gloomy mansion to find evidence that will exonerate an adult friend.

Looks almost like the 60-minutes was thrown together. It's like the producers thought they could just have the kids react to every spooky old house cliché and that would be enough. Unfortunately it's not. Basically the kids run hither, thither, and yon without plot or characterization. And when not just running around, there's freckle-face Speck (Belding) scrunching out a barely audible scream, again, again and again. All this may save on script, but it also gets tiresome. Meanwhile, movie vets like Grey, Mitchell, and the perennially sinister Zucco, get little more than a few lines and cameo appearances.,

Frankly, I liked Hal Roach's previous Our Gang attempt, Curley (1947), better. Too bad these attempts failed, but judging from Doc Robbin, the studio was pretty much at sea in knowing what a new formula might look like. After all, it's hard, if not impossible, to replace the likes of Spanky, Alfalfa, and Stymie.