The Country Doctor

You might have noticed opening shots in movies when they appear after the titles. These are called establishing shots, and they set in motion the locale, time (current or in the past) and the mood of the film. The first such cinematic shot appearing in film took place in July 1909 with the release of D. W. Griffith's "The Country Doctor." The establishing shot in this film is a panning opening (camera moves left to right). Most establishing shots are a series of wide static shots. Griffith's opening takes a deliberate view of the countryside, which was filmed in Greenwich, CT. The sequence lingers over the warm plush scenery until ending at the front door of the doctor's house. This opening establishes the bucolic nature of the residing family which the plot revolves around, who are seen in the following sequence running through a field of flowers. The opening shot also becomes symbolic to nature's role in the subsequent action as well as to the contradictory irony that nature plays in everyone's lives (see linked article). Appearing as the sick child's mother is actress Florence Lawrence, who was becoming a familiar face to Biograph Studio Production audiences. Yet the studio still refused to identify the name of this actress to the public. Griffith's opening served as a template for future movies in cinema, weighing the importance in that initial shot of films going forward.

With exteriors filmed in pastoral Cunnecticut and an excellent cast of Griffith's top actors (Florence Lawrence, Mary Pickford, Kate Bruce, baby Gladys Egan), The Country Doctor is still an effective dramatic work, showing a doctor's moral and emotional struggle over treating a young patient while his own daughter lies dying at home.

The family's happiness at the beginning of the film is emphasized with very long takes of the happy threesome walking down their garden path, stopping in a field to pick flowers, smiling and stretching their arms skyward with contentment. Miz Larwence chews the scenery somewhat in these first shots, her gesturing breaking the serenity of the landscape. Once the film goes indoors and she trades her white summer gown for a sober black dress, she is much more controlled. The doctor/father, Frank Powell, also uses some dated indication techniques throughout the film. The real laurels go to the two children of the film, Gladys Egan and Adele DeGarde, who both play their sick-little-girl roles superbly, with subtle, realistic emotion.

There is especially lovely cinematography and scenery in this film. Billy Bitzer's opening and closing panoramic shots of the valley are stunning. Well worth seeing for many reasons, and definitely accessible to modern viewers.

One of D.W. Griffith's most interesting Biograph short films, with one of his favorite settings being in the countryside, you won't find much cinematic melodrama from 1909 under a quarter-hour better than "The Country Doctor." There's a repurposing of the crosscutting common of last-minute-rescue pictures, of which Griffith made many, such as the same year's "The Lonely Villa," for the dramatic tension of a character's dilemma (the doctor trying to treat two young patients, one his daughter, in separate locations). Another technical innovation is the framing of the story by two panning shots, from cinematographer Billy Bitzer, at the beginning and end. The first shot is a pan right--like the meandering stream in the frame or film reel unwinding the frame--demonstrating the bucolic nature of the rather ironically named, as it turns out, "Valley of Stillwater" where the drama will proceed. A pan left resolves our intrusion on the tragedy by escorting us out of it at the end. For a short that largely takes place in two rooms (complete with Biograph logos on the walls to protect against bootlegs), these framing pans along with some idyllic rural photography of the doctor's family enjoying the outdoors early on make for a pictorially lovely early film.

There are at least a couple other historically interesting things about this one. I reviewed it because it's an early cinematic depiction of a doctor and an apparent outbreak of disease (which, although unmentioned in the picture, appears to be diphtheria). Although the doctor's dilemma in which sick child to treat is effective drama, I'm not sure his treatment matters much--seeming to consist at most of applying a wet rag to relieve fever symptoms--but, I suppose, they wouldn't necessarily know any better back then. It seems somewhat odd, too, that despite the image we may have of the early 20th century as given to more widespread contagious diseases, our pandemic of 2020 aside, there don't seem to be many films that deal with such epidemic subjects. When they do, it tends to be to give one main character an illness for dramatic purposes. But, then again, this was long before disaster movie formulas were a thing, and most silent films are lost and only a few of those that survive are available for someone like me to view them.

The other thing is the acting, which isn't bad for its time--part of the evolution of the style of Griffith players adopting a system of gestures more in line with cinematic expression than broad theatricality. Sure, the doctor goes from that goofy, happy-go-lucky face to deathly concern twice and just as abruptly as the last, but that his change in demeanor is so readily apparent at its slightest alteration on screen points to the effectiveness of the acting. Additionally, there's the "Biograph Girl" (later, "IMP Girl"), Florence Lawrence, reportedly one of America's first movie stars, in the cast as the doctor's wife. Future mega-star Mary Pickford has a bit part, too. There doesn't appear to be much of Lawrence's early work widely available anymore, at least not in as good of shape as the prints for this one, so her prominent role here is a nice opportunity. She's fine is the introductory serene moments, but there's certainly some dated arm waving and flailing about later. Even that, though, may get a pass considering the era the film was made and that her daughter is dying in the picture, and I don't think it severely detracts from what is, overall, an exemplary 1909 short, technically and dramatically.

The Country Doctor (1909) : Brief Review -

Amongst DW Griffith's early works which had more heart than anything else as he tells a emotionally gripping short story of a big, noble soul. The Country Doctor is that perfect tale we hope to read in children's books and just as it happens. The emotional connect and sentimental offering of the main character is always important when it comes to such films and someone like Griffith couldn't have missed it surely. The Country Doctor is about a doctor and his emotional struggle between family and duty. In the first frame we see a pan shot of nature, scenery and then we see doctor and his family walking down the Greenery. In the very next frame, the film comes to point with his daughter falling suddenly ill. While he is worrying about her health, he is called by a native whose daughter is also terribly ill. His duty beckons and he leaves his daughter. Here we get to see Griffith's smart direction. It was 1909 so obviously dialogues and long dramatic sequences did not exist, yet he manages to show the doctor's pain. His longing for daughter and such things. That scene when he moves aside front the bed and pulls his hand away, we know how he's feeling. The next scenes are showcased as we are seeing two situations at the same time, one the doctor's daughter with her mother and the other house where the doctor is busy treating someone else's daughter. Eventually we are drove into a sentimental climax where you feel for the doctor but also have proud feeling for him. His noble work is acknowledged and that's where i think the motive of making this short is fulfilled. Overall, it's a fine piece of filmmaking as well as a good heartwarming storyline that you can connect to. The same noble stories have made Big noise in 1940s you know, so give a try to early attempts which established cinema for us.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

This Griffith short is relatively straightforward, on the surface anyway: a country doctor has to tend to two girls who are bedridden and may be dying at the same time. One may live and one... well, you should watch it to find out that part. What stands out of course is the parallel editing, and the ending is somber and melodramatic, but the actors play the emotion without ever going over the top. I didn't get the 'metaphysical' panning shot part of it, showing the valley where the doctor lives at the start and the beginning. It doesn't add much to the drama of the story, and is Griffith's way of jamming in something spiritual, but the shots look exactly the same from the opening to the closing. We also don't get any sense of the doctor's family life before these two girls become sick, it just jumps right into this conflict of the story: will the doctor be able to save both girls. That makes for a good subject, and again the actors are all solid, but it's not great. There isn't much room for anything as far as changing up shots, it's all static and this only works to the benefit of near the end (to cut away from that would be unthinkable).