Alias the Doctor is a 1932 pre-Code American drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Richard Barthelmess and Marian Marsh.
Plot
The story concerns a man who assumes his dead brother's identity, and becomes a renowned surgeon, despite not having completed medical school.
Cast
Richard Barthelmess as Karl Brenner
Marian Marsh as Lotti Brenner
Norman Foster as Stephan Brenner
Adrienne Dore as Anna
Lucille La Verne as Martha Brenner, Karl's foster mother (as Lucille LaVerne) Oscar Apfel as Keller John St. Polis as Dr. Niergardt George Rosener as Dr. Franz von Bergman Boris Karloff as a surgeon (scene edited from film by the censors)
Background
The film's original script involved a playboy medical student who performs an unspecified operation on his girlfriend, before earning his medical degree. The girl dies from the botched operation, and his foster brother takes the blame. The Hays Office objected because it believed that audiences would assume that the operation was an abortion. In response, Warner Bros. changed the script to provide a specific cause for the operation. In the revised script, the two lovers argue, and the girl is injured when she tumbles down the stairs. Originally, Boris Karloff played a small role in the film as a surgeon, which was cut from the film by censors, and the Karloff footage no longer exists.
Reception
According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $460,000 domestically, and $181,000 foreign.
