Entre el amor y la muerte

Society Doctor (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Melodrama from MGM has intern Dr. Morgan (Chester Morris) getting fired after he lets his mouth tell another doctor what he feels about his old-fashioned ways. Morgan is eventually brought back but he has an elderly woman (Billie Burke) offer him a position of a society doctor but he also has to deal with a nurse (Virginia Bruce) who loves him and a friend (Robert Taylor) who loves her. This drama is in the same fashion as the studios previous efforts like NIGHT NURSE and MEN IN WHITE, although this one here came after the pre-code era so this here isn't nearly as racy. What the film does have is some very good performances but in the end you can't help but feel the story is incredibly silly. It's funny but I had never heard of Morris until TCM started playing his Boston Blackie movies and today he's one of my favorite actors and I try to catch anything he's done. He once again turns in a very strong performance here as we believe him as this smart doctor who does worry about morals. Morris really delivers the passion of the doctor but also manages to be very charming. Bruce gets a pretty thankless role but she manages to turn in a nice performance as does supporting players like Henry Kolker, Raymond Walburn and Donald Meek. The up-and-coming Taylor also turns in a fine performance even if the screenplay doesn't do him any favors. The first forty-minutes of this thing contains some pretty good drama and the moral lesson about integrity is pretty good but things go pretty bad during the final twenty-seven minutes. The film really goes crazy the final ten as all sorts of side plots enter the picture and how the film ends is pretty silly and hard to believe. I'm really not sure why the screenwriter decided to take a mild drama and then turn it into a crazy, over-thought psycho ward but it doesn't work. The actors stay true to form but the story just doesn't do anyone any favors. Fans of the cast will certainly want to check this out but it's a shame a better conclusion wasn't thought of.

It would take another 30 years before we would see another doctor like Chester Morris plays in Society Doctor and that would be on the small screen instead of the big one. Vincent Edwards might have seen what Chester Morris did in this film as the talented, but tactless surgeon and Morris could well have been his model for Ben Casey.

Society Doctor is the story of a pair of doctors in a large hospital, one like Morris very dedicated to his profession and the other being the up and coming Robert Taylor who has the talent, but wants to enjoy life as well. Both are courting Virginia Bruce who looks ravishing in her nurse's uniform.

There are quite a few plot lines running through this story the main one involving Morris and his career choices. He's stepping on a lot of toes at the hospital, but he's managed to make a friend of society woman and hypochondriac Billie Burke who's willing to bankroll him in a private practice. She wants to make him a Society Doctor.

But a few medical crises at the hospital and the possible loss of Bruce to Taylor who were seeing each other in real life at this time kind of make Morris's choices clear.

Robert Taylor has an interesting scene in Society Doctor where he explains he's undergone a transformation of character and now wants to be a serious doctor, as serious as his pal Morris is. The scene was well done and I'm certain that Carl Laemmle over at Universal must have seen it and thought that the young man would have been perfect casting for the lead in Magnificent Obsession which is a film entirely based on such a transformation. In any event a lot of people noticed Robert Taylor after Society Doctor, of that I'm sure.

Society Doctor holds up very well and packs a lot into its short 63 minute running time. And it seems to have influenced a few people in their careers.

Never mind what this movie is "about" -- it delivers as much useful information about real life as any studio product of its day. The treat, 75 years after it was cooked up, is watching Chester Morris at the top of his game, probably not aware he's about to slip off the peak, just as Robert Taylor learns his way up the ropes of stardom. Hindsight tells us the fast-talking, brisk, athletic, shiny-haired Morris was quickly eclipsed by mellower, moodier, skinnier, equally handsome guys like Taylor, yet the performances here don't explain why or how. Chester Morris delivers the goods, hackneyed as they are; Robert Taylor poses more than he acts. Guess there's no accounting for tastes or headstrong producers.

The story line stays out of the way of this transition, as the two interns played by the actors are rivals in love almost by accident and don't fight each other for the ethereally lovely Virginia Bruce.

Bonus: I like Bruce more every time I see another of her movies. She's overdue for a birthday tribute on TCM.

Here we have Robert Taylor working in a hospital as a doctor without his trademark moustache. Without it he looks naked and nondescript. Quite frankly the whole film is nondescript. There are no characters that we can connect with nor is there a storyline to engage the audience. Having worked in the medical profession myself I know how boring it can be and this film reminds me of that experience. But that's what this film is: an experience for Robert Taylor to appear in a hospital film as a doctor. At the age of 24 he's too young to be a doctor and he doesn't convince the audience that he has any medical expertise. This just pads out his c.v. and pays the bill, but it is a forgettable film which Taylor fans should stay away from.

Decent mid-1930's MGM drama, but this ain't no Robert Taylor vehicle...this is a Chester Morris film.

Morris' career faltered around the time that Taylor's career was taking off. This is a shame since Chester was a much better actor than Taylor could ever hope to be.

This film has a great supporting cast including Billie Burke, Henry Kolker, and Virginia Bruce does a nice job as the female lead.

I saw this film on TCM and if you see it listed, I suggest you give it a chance.

It's no classic, but a good solid period film.