The Country Doctor (1936 film)

The Country Doctor
The Country Doctor
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Henry King
Screenplay by	Sonya Levien
Story by	Charles E. Blake
Produced by	Nunnally Johnson
Starring	Jean Hersholt; June Lang; Slim Summerville; Michael Whalen; Dorothy Peterson; Robert Barrat
Cinematography	Daniel B. Clark; John F. Seitz
Edited by	Barbara McLean
Music by	R.H. Bassett; Cyril J. Mockridge
Production; company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	March 12, 1936;
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$650,000
Box office	$1.4 million

The Country Doctor is a 1936 American drama film directed by Henry King and written by Sonya Levien.^[3] The film stars Jean Hersholt, June Lang, Slim Summerville, Michael Whalen, Dorothy Peterson and Robert Barrat.^[4] The Country Doctor was released on March 12, 1936, by 20th Century Fox.^[5]

Plot

The Country Doctor is set in a remote area of Quebec, Canada. The country doctor John Luke (Jean Hersholt) is an unlicensed general practitioner who cares for the residents of a small Canadian timber station taking much of his payment in barter. Having spent years operating from the station and from his own dwelling, and following a particularly bad epidemic of diphtheria in which several children die, the doctor decides to travel to Montreal to speak with the medical Managing Director of the region. The doctor's hope is that the director will try to get the rich corporation that owns the land to pay for a proper hospital.

After trying unsuccessfully to make any headway and finding himself stymied by governmental red tape, he crashes a public dinner given by the medical association to argue his point in person. The timber corporation hears of this protest and sends their lawyers to take revenge on the doctor. During the investigation the doctor's lack of a license is quickly discovered and the local police are informed that the doctor has been practicing illegally. The doctor returns to the timber station in low spirits.

Before long, Asa Wyatt (John Qualen), one of the workers comes to the doctor's house with his pregnant wife (Aileen Carlyle). She is just about to give birth and the worker begs the doctor to help them despite his lack of a license.

The local constabulary become involved and warn the doctor that he could face charges if he delivers the baby, but the doctor finds that he can't simply stand by passively and he starts to help the mother as the police berate him. After delivering the child, the doctor realizes that the birth is actually a multiple birth and the delivery continues until the doctor has delivered five babies.

When word gets out, the doctor becomes a national hero, the building of a local hospital is set in motion, and the medical Managing Director in Montreal is congratulated by the Governor-General.

Cast

The Dionne Quintuplets as The Wyatt Quintuplets
Yvonne Dionne as Yvonne
Cecile Dionne as Cécile
Marie Dionne as Marie
Annette Dionne as Annette
Emilie Dionne as Émelie
Jean Hersholt as Dr. John Luke
June Lang as Mary MacKenzie
Slim Summerville as Constable Jim Ogden
Michael Whalen as Tony Luke
Dorothy Peterson as Nurse Katherine Kennedy
Robert Barrat as MacKenzie
Jane Darwell as Mrs. Graham
John Qualen as Asa Wyatt
Frank Reicher as Dr. Paul Luke
Montagu Love as Sir Basil Crawford
David Torrence as Governor General
George Chandler as Greasy
Helen Jerome Eddy as Mrs. Ogden
Aileen Carlyle as Mrs. Wyatt
George Meeker as Dr. Wilson
J. Anthony Hughes as Mike
William "Billy" Benedict as The Gawker
Claude King as Toastmaster
Richard Carlyle (uncredited)

Production

In The Country Doctor (1936), a movie starring the quints, Jean Hersholt portrayed Dr. John Luke, a character based on Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe. There were two sequels: Reunion (1936) and Five of a Kind (1938).^{[N 1]}^[6]

Reception

Film reviewer Frank Nugent in his review of The Country Doctor for The New York Times described the "fell-good" film: "We were prepared to disapprove of the quintuplets as a matter of policy, but there is no holding out against "The Country Doctor" at the Music Hall, in which they are making their first screen appearance—not counting the newsreels. An irresistibly appealing blend of sentiment and comedy, the Twentieth Century-Fox picture justifies even that anonymous advertising genius who described the advent of the Dionne babies as the greatest event since "The Birth of a Nation".^[7]

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a good review, describing it as "an honest film" and "admirably genuine". Greene praised Hersholt for "one of the most sympathetic performances [he had] seen this year", and noted that although those judging the film from the austerest angle might find the comic aspects of the film to be "not in the best taste", he himself found sequences like the delivery of quintuplets to have been "extraordinarily funny".^[6]

References

Notes

^ When Dr. Dafoe rejected the idea of continuing the series, Jean Hersholt created Dr. Christian, which had a long run on radio.

Citations

^ Solomon 2002, p. 240
^ Solomon 2002, p. 217.
^ Halliwell 1989, p. 225.
^ "History: 'The Country Doctor'". Afi.com, 2019. Retrieved: August 9, 2019.
^ "Overview: 'The Country Doctor' (1936)". TCM.com, 2019. Retrieved: August 9, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Greene, Graham (12 June 1936). "The Country Doctor". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980-05-03). The Pleasure Dome: The Collected Film Criticism 1935-1940. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-0-19281-286-5.)
^ Nugent, Frank S."Movie review: 'The Country Doctor' with the Dionne youngsters, has a merry premiere at the Music Hall". NYTimes.com, March 13, 1936.

Bibliography

Halliwell, Leslie. Leslie Halliwell's Film Guide. New York: Harper & Roe, 1989. ISBN 978-0-06016-322-8.
Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. ISBN 978-0-81084-244-1.