Dr. Knock läßt bitten

A good occasion to remind the admirable art of Louis Jouvet. And a great option for pandemic time. A respectable doctor remplaced by a smart crook. An entire canton transfomed in large hospital. A prosperous business to make the other belief he is ill. And the profound feeling to live in the skin of this theater play today. Short, a great demonstration of the genius of Louis Jouvet , a portrait, very realistic, of fear and addiction of the medic and the fair, almost expected triumf of medical tirany. The high need to be lied. That is all.

This film has a funny premise but wastes it with endless comedy characters that are never funny. The film is way too talky and just gets boring. You will be willing it to finish.

Dr Louis Jouvet (Dr Knock) takes over as a village doctor and he tells everybody who visits him that they are all ill, thus stimulating the immediate economy around him, eg, pharmacy for medicine and hotelier for sick-bed rentals. He also gets plenty of doctor fees in the process.

So much more could have been made of the idea but the film settles on the philosophical path of how easy it is for one man to control everybody, even those who don't initially believe in him. That is ok as a message but it could have been delivered by taking the audience down two better paths - it could have been funnier or it could have been scarier. Our main doctor Louis Jouvet certainly has a creepy vibe about him.

What we get, I'm afraid, is the French equivalent of those stupid British Ealing comedies that are never funny.

In 1923 the French writer Jules Romains wrote "Knock ou le triomphe de la médecine", a satyrical play about the medicine.On 15th of December 1923 the play was played in Paris for the first time; Louis Jouvet was in charge of the staging and the decoration and was also the main actor. In 1925 the French director René Hervil directs "Knock" with Fernand Fabre as main actor.Then in 1933 a second film called "Knock" directed by Roger Goupillières with Louis Jouvet as main actor. And now in 1951 "Knock" directed by Guy Lefranc with Louis Jouvet as main actor. In France there have been very good actors who can play sarcastic and manipulating roles such as Paul Meurisse or Bernard Blier but maybe the best French actor for playing the main role of Knock is without any doubt Louis Jouvet.In this film Louis Jouvet shows how a false doctor can manipulate the people of a village where before nobody was sick or ill. I enjoyed very much this film for the hudge performance of Louis Jouvet.

This is Louis Jouvet's triumph.The director could be anyone ,he does not exist here.All you've got to do is enjoy Louis Jouvet's fabulous intonations,subtle funny faces and extraordinary presence.

Jules Romain's famous play pits a charlatan against a whole village of healthy peasants .Believe it or not,in the short space of a few months,almost everyone's in bed ,"cured" by doctor Knock.The way Knock turns his patient into hypochondriacs is sheer genius.One could think that Knock's only in it for the money but it's not that simple:actually,he's crazy,and what's worse,a lot of people trust him and think he's the most sensible doctor they have ever known.The ending is not that much comic.The connection with Molière's "le malade imaginaire" is obvious.Human naivete knows no bounds.

Little known, this movie can be read at different levels. A testimony of its time, with the depiction of how was seen life in 1923 in the fifties. The "medical ages" corresponding with the science domination over the 20th century.

But, and above all, this is a satirical comedy, showing the power of manipulation and propaganda. It uses an unusual way, the medicine, to show how someone can change its community using its specific position and power. An finally, Louis Jouvet gave us a huge performance, being of every scene.

A good find!