Society Doctor

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.

"Society Doctor" from 1935 is an entertaining MGM film starring Chester Morris, Robert Taylor, and Virginia Bruce.

Before he became Boston Blackie, Chester Morris was a star, and around the time of this filming, his career lost momentum as those classic Apollos like Robert Taylor and Tyrone Power took over. Here he's the star in what I'm tempted to say is a programmer only because it's short. MGM often used this type of film to train their younger actors, of whom Taylor was one.

Morris plays a hotshot young Dr. Morgan in a metropolitan hospital, and Taylor is Dr. Ellis, his friend, who is a little less ambitious. Instead of being laser-focused, he wants to enjoy life, too. Both of them are interested in the nurse Madge (Virginia Bruce). She's in love with Morgan but he's too dedicated to get involved with anything but medicine. Ellis, however, makes a big play for her.

When Morgan gets in trouble with the head of the hospital, he contemplates becoming a society doctor, and a patient (Billie Burke) offers to set him up in practice.

A subplot is the presence of a criminal visiting his mother in the hospital and the angry wife of the man he crippled.

Because of the cast, this film is entertaining though more than a little absurd, as you'll see. Morris is very good as an arrogant firecracker. Bruce is gorgeous and sympathetic as always.

This is an early film for the earnest Taylor, who would soon become a big matinée idol after being loaned out to Universal for "Magnificent Obsession." He tries a little too hard, which is normal when one is starting out. He's not as effective as Morris. The thing that struck me was how high his voice was! He had a beautiful speaking voice that lowered with smoking and age, as did William Holden's.

A lot of closeups in this film, and the beautiful Louise Henry was showcased as the telephone receptionist. She later gave up films and married a wealthy man.

Fun but strange film.

... to quote Bill Murray in "Tootsie". This is just not any 30's hospital drama, for this one has some touches that remind me of David Lynch. For one thing, Robert Taylor, who is so smooth in his later leading roles, has apparently been directed to play it a bit odd when he has moments alone with the leading lady. It's impossible to pay attention to his dialogue with all of the strange and unnatural gestures he's making and his weird facial expressions. He acts like a high school kid on his first date. Oddly enough, this is the film that convinced Louis B. that Robert Taylor deserved to be promoted to leading roles.

Chester Morris, who I love in just about every movie I've ever seen him in, holds his own in this one too as Dr. Robert Morgan, whom Robert Taylor's character looks up to like a big brother. Morgan has some strange ideas about romance and physicians - he believes that a doctor only has room in his life for floozies and meal tickets when it comes to women, and he finds his meal ticket - at least for awhile - in the person of Mrs. Crane (Billie Burke) a hypochondriac society lady who decides to back Morgan's entry into private practice. He sits bored in a chair in the matron's hospital room, looking like the puppet on a string he has become, as she goes on and on about how to decorate his new office. Hilarious. Billie Burke's ditzy touch is just what this film needs to let you know this entire thing is being played tongue in cheek.

The weirdest part of the film is when an escaped convict/gangster shoots Morgan and then Morgan, still semi-conscious, directs his own surgery while looking in a mirror so he can personally supervise the rerouting of his insides. Will he survive? Only the "MGM News" boy knows for sure! That's right, this film didn't even give the daily newspaper showing us the outcome of the surgery a credible name, they just use it for some shameless promotion and an obvious joke by calling it the "MGM News".

I could fill three more paragraphs about what is so wrong yet so entertainingly offbeat about this film, but I think you get the idea. Recommended for the weirdness of it all. Just don't come to this expecting a fore-runner to Doctor Kildare.

An ambulances rushes a patient to the busy "Metropolitan Hospital" where young doctor Chester Morris (as Bill Morgan) works. He and likewise handsome Robert Taylor (as Tommy Ellis) think likewise young William Henry (as Frank Snowden) needs an immediate appendectomy, but the patient's father wants to wait until his regular doctor arrives. In order to save Mr. Henry's life, Mr. Morris performs the surgery. While grateful, the hospital dismisses Morris for brashly offending his elders. Wealthy hypochondriac Billie Burke (as Mrs. Crane) has Morris reinstated. She also offers him a job as "Society Doctor" for socially prominent older women who suffer from mostly imaginary ailments...

You'll have to watch and see if Morris sticks to saving lives at "Metropolitan" or takes the easy job of tending to lonely rich women. Watching along are best pal Taylor and pretty blonde girlfriend Virginia Bruce (as Madge). Taylor is also in love with Ms. Bruce. Just before the story starts to slow down, something shocking occurs at the hospital. The film moves fast and is appealingly presented. Interestingly, Morris and Taylor strip to their waists to scrub before operating. Their physiques are admirable. There is no lingerie scene for Bruce, but she is nonetheless fetching. And hospitals in the 1930s had no guidelines restricting tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption in the workplace, evidently.

****** Society Doctor (1935-01-25) George B. Seitz ~ Chester Morris, Robert Taylor, Virginia Bruce, Billie Burke

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.