Dr. Jack

By 1922 comic actor Harold Lloyd had embraced the longer feature film format, a departure from his earlier two-reel shorts. His November 1922's "Dr. Jack," though, was his first scripted movie intentionally designed from its original concept to fill an entire 60 minutes of plot, and more importantly, gags and stunts.

Lloyd's two earlier feature films, December 1921's 'A Sailor-Made Man,' and September 1922's 'Grandma's Boy,' both evolved from a script containing only 30 minutes of the actor's antics. The two screenplays were extended from their core plots to fill in another 15 to 30 minutes of action. "Dr. Jack," from its opening minutes follows a young doctor, Lloyd, as he administers understanding, a dose of fresh air with exercise and a healthy diet to his treatments. He stands in contrast to Dr. Ludwig, a firm believer in prescription drugs, closed windows and drapes-and especially no exercise.

Dr. Jack is brought in for a second opinion after The Sick-Little-Well-Girl, tenderly acted by Mildred Davis, has been Dr. Ludwig's patient for four long years. The two doctors are naturally at odds before circumstances give Lloyd an idea to break Davis out of her funk. The movie turned out to be a blockbuster hit, earning a top ten box office spot while earning over one million dollars.

Young DR. JACK tries to save a pretty invalid from the machinations of an unscrupulous medical quack.

Silent comedian Harold Lloyd had another success in this wildly funny movie. Healthy servings of sentimental nostalgia mixed into the plot only add to the fun. Playing a doctor whose good humor & common sense make him the most popular fellow in rural Magnolia Meadows, Harold makes full use of his tremendous athletic abilities to propel the storyline, piling one gag on top of another. Whether exiting his moving jalopy to shoo cows from his path, saving a naughty tyke from a spanking or breaking up a poker game in a most unique fashion, Harold is never less than hilarious. Finally, he leads one of his wild trademark chases, this time through a spooky house, a sequence that includes both a wonderful Lon Chaney spoof and one of the funniest enraged dogs to ever appear on film.

Mildred Davis has an unusually good role, showing off her acting skills as the spunky invalid. Eric Mayne is appropriately hissable as the bearded villain. Movie mavens will recognize OUR GANG's mischievous Mickey Daniels as Harold's freckle-faced patient and darling old Anna Townsend as the lonely mother of Harold's lawyer friend - both uncredited.

Robert Israel has composed an excellent film score which perfectly complements Harold's antics on the screen.

The Sick-Little-Well-Girl (Mildred Davis) is being treated by Doctor von Saulsbourg who forces her to stay in bed and trapped in her own home. Then he decides to sent her to his private sanitarium. Dr. 'Jack' Jackson (Harold Lloyd) is a simple country doctor who cares for his poor patients whether they are a little girl with a sick dolly or a little boy trying to skip school or an old lady who misses her busy lawyer son. Doctor von Saulsbourg and The Sick-Little-Well-Girl make a stop where they encounter Dr. Jack.

I really like the sweet doctoring from Dr. Jack until they do the accidental kiss. I get the idea of a Sleeping Beauty kiss. It would fit the story much more if she gets so excited that she's the one who kisses him. There is a lot of chasing around the rooms comedy. This is all good fun. I would really make that change with the kiss.

Too often silent films were bogged down with inter-titles, slowing the action and frequently boring the audience to tears.

Harold Lloyd avoids that, especially in "Dr. Jack."

"Dr. Jack" the movie is a light story, perhaps even silly in spots, but it MOVES, and Dr. Jack the character is such a pleasant and kind and likable person that he overcomes any minor problem like that.

Turner Classic Movies presented this recently with a new score by Robert Israel, who captures the mood perfectly. He is quite the silent film composer, obviously a man of much talent.

For 1922, the acting was great to adequate, and Harold Lloyd is such a graceful and athletic performer that he could alone make this worthwhile; but he is accompanied by many other talented players, so many of whom, alas, don't even get screen credit (although Mickey Daniels, for example, is so recognizable, maybe he doesn't need to be named).

"Dr. Jack" is a lot of fun to watch, in part because you can just watch -- and laugh -- and not have to spend much effort reading.

Most of this Harold Lloyd feature consists of enjoyable low-key comedy, but it is capped off with a manic chase finale that is fun to watch. Aside from a handful of somewhat dated details, it holds up pretty well, and it has some good material. In "Doctor Jack", Lloyd gets to play the kind of energetic, well-meaning character that he performed almost effortlessly.

Most of the first half of the movie simply introduces the characters and presents a series of interactions between "Doctor Jack" and various persons in his hometown. It's pleasant and often pretty amusing, since there are a lot of subtle comic touches to go along with the rather broadly-played events. In the second half, the doctor takes on the 'invalid' played by Mildred Davis, and from there things build up towards the finale.

The conference between 'Jack' and the stuffy specialist is crafted nicely, and the climactic chase sequence is entertaining as long as you don't take it too seriously. In fact, by design it seems to get more and more ridiculous as it proceeds, until it is finally resolved in a clever way.

This doesn't have the memorable material or impressive set pieces of Lloyd's most celebrated movies, but it has a lot of amusing moments, and shows skill in a different way, by taking what is essentially one simple situation and using it for as much comedy as possible.