Doctor X is a 1932 American pre-Code mystery horror film produced jointly by First National and Warner Bros. Based on the 1931 play originally titled The Terror by Howard W. Comstock and Allen C. Miller,[2] it was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Lee Tracy.

The film was one of the last produced, along with Warner Bros.' subsequent Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), in the early two-color Technicolor process.

They want to investigate Xavier's medical academy, as the brain scalpel used to cannibalize the bodies of the victims is exclusive to that institution.

Joanne is exceedingly cold to Taylor, particularly after finding out that it was his story that pointed a finger at her father and ruined his first attempt at locating the killer.

When power is regained, it is discovered that Rowitz, whose monitor supposedly revealed him as the guilty party just before the blackout, has been murdered by use of a scalpel to the brain.

After strangling Otto, Wells reveals to his horrified colleagues that he has been committing the murders to collect living samples of human flesh for his experiments.

Reporting his story into the paper, Taylor tells his editor to make space in the marriage section for Joanne and himself.

However, facing public apathy, the studios quickly retreated from their ambitious plans for color films late in 1932.

Differences in takes are minor, such as Tracy's ad-lib with a skeleton in the closet, and Mae Busch's dialogue as a madam at a brothel.

The film was produced in the pre-Code era of Hollywood and contains adult themes throughout, such as those of murder, cannibalism, prostitution, and rape.

Following the success of Doctor X at the box office, Warner Bros. followed up with Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), which also starred Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill and was directed by Curtiz.

Time magazine's reviewer wrote: "Doctor X is a routine nightmare ... and is intended for avid patrons of synthetic horror rather than for normal cinemaddicts.

[citation needed] However, the 1942 Universal horror movie Night Monster, which also co-stars Atwill as a doctor, has a similar plot and virtually the same denouement.