Very watchable film dealing with the moral and emotional struggles of an inner city intern, Dr. Morgan, effectively played by Chester Morris. Robert Taylor as Dr. Ellis and Virginia Bruce as Nurse Madge complete a love triangle with Morris that serves as the film's centerpiece. The movie is very nicely filmed - I love the look of hospitals in films from the thirties and forties; they seem so very clean and orderly, nothing like the messy Emergency Rooms we are accustomed to seeing on screen nowadays. Though a tad bit slow at times for the modern viewer, this is a solid piece of melodrama; a great film to watch on a rainy afternoon.
11 Reviews
That is one nutty hospital...
AlsExGal15 April 2010
... 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.
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.
Two career curves intersect on the back lot:
eebyo14 April 2010
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.
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.
Career Paths And Choices
bkoganbing14 April 2010
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.
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.
Nice Performances
Michael_Elliott18 April 2010
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.
** 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.
The doctor is in...and out
blanche-25 August 2017
"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.
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.
Bedside Manners
wes-connors2 August 2015
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
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
CHESTER MORRIS is the star
barrymn130 July 2015
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.
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.
Robert Taylor as a Doctor
marthawilcox183129 July 2014
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.
terrific movie
barbaraj16 February 1999
This is a terrific movie, starring Chester Morris, Robert Taylor, and Virginia Bruce. Also has Billie Burke in supporting role. I want to purchase this video, but don't think it is available. TCM featured it on cable on February 16, l999.
Well-written film with sincere performances
jarrodmcdonald-124 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The story is based on a play by Theodore Reeves, and it is set in a generic fictional establishment called Metropolitan Hospital. It is probably more a continuation of the studio's earlier hit MEN IN WHITE (1934), and it sets the stage for YOUNG DR. KILDARE (1938).
However, this offering is different because the head doctor is not middle-aged like Jean Hersholt or Lionel Barrymore in those other two pictures. Instead, he is young and handsome and appears on screen in the form of Chester Morris, known for gritty crime stories. The young intern, meanwhile, is not played by Clark Gable or Lew Ayres, but by a new studio contractee named Robert Taylor.
The guys are featured shirtless within the first few minutes of the film, cleaning up after an operation. Eye candy for movie patrons. Successive scenes show Morris and Taylor in a triangle with a lovely nurse (Virginia Bruce) who just assisted in the operating room.
On-screen dilemmas involve an assortment of unusual characters. This part resembles the formula for Kildare, Marcus Welby, Trapper John and other medicos that would become popular with audiences.
A patient undergoes surgery despite his father's objections. This leads to Morris being fired, then reinstated. Basically, his conflict is-- does he want to be right, or does he want to remain on the right side of the hospital administrator (Raymond Walburn)? Faced with the prospect of career uncertainty, he toys with the idea of leaving public medicine and starting his own private practice.
Billie Burke plays a charming society matron who in her days before Glinda waves an imaginary wand and says she will set Morris up in his own lucrative practice. She has developed a crush on him, and she's eager to fund a new facility and provide all the necessary equipment while referring her rich friends to him for pills and such!
It's interesting to see the lead doctor embroiled in hospital politics, going against the establishment before such things became fashionable decades later. There is also considerable commentary on how big money interests control the medical profession, points that are just as relevant now as they were then.
Chester Morris is a skilled actor who successfully puts across the arrogance and idealism of his character. Robert Taylor, at the beginning of his 28-year association with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, shows promise with his performance. His style did not evolve much. The guys may be competing over the same girl, but there is camaraderie and friendship on display. Especially when "Sprout" (Morris' nickname for Taylor) must conduct emergency surgery on his boss/pal/rival who's been shot by a gangster trying to elude police.
The story dramatically shifts gears in the last ten minutes. It suddenly turns into an ironic case of the head doctor becoming his protege's patient.
Overall, this is an engrossing and well-written film with sincere performances. SOCIETY DOCTOR perfects a formula that would be used for the many Kildare pictures which followed, as well as the countless television medical programs that came afterward.
However, this offering is different because the head doctor is not middle-aged like Jean Hersholt or Lionel Barrymore in those other two pictures. Instead, he is young and handsome and appears on screen in the form of Chester Morris, known for gritty crime stories. The young intern, meanwhile, is not played by Clark Gable or Lew Ayres, but by a new studio contractee named Robert Taylor.
The guys are featured shirtless within the first few minutes of the film, cleaning up after an operation. Eye candy for movie patrons. Successive scenes show Morris and Taylor in a triangle with a lovely nurse (Virginia Bruce) who just assisted in the operating room.
On-screen dilemmas involve an assortment of unusual characters. This part resembles the formula for Kildare, Marcus Welby, Trapper John and other medicos that would become popular with audiences.
A patient undergoes surgery despite his father's objections. This leads to Morris being fired, then reinstated. Basically, his conflict is-- does he want to be right, or does he want to remain on the right side of the hospital administrator (Raymond Walburn)? Faced with the prospect of career uncertainty, he toys with the idea of leaving public medicine and starting his own private practice.
Billie Burke plays a charming society matron who in her days before Glinda waves an imaginary wand and says she will set Morris up in his own lucrative practice. She has developed a crush on him, and she's eager to fund a new facility and provide all the necessary equipment while referring her rich friends to him for pills and such!
It's interesting to see the lead doctor embroiled in hospital politics, going against the establishment before such things became fashionable decades later. There is also considerable commentary on how big money interests control the medical profession, points that are just as relevant now as they were then.
Chester Morris is a skilled actor who successfully puts across the arrogance and idealism of his character. Robert Taylor, at the beginning of his 28-year association with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, shows promise with his performance. His style did not evolve much. The guys may be competing over the same girl, but there is camaraderie and friendship on display. Especially when "Sprout" (Morris' nickname for Taylor) must conduct emergency surgery on his boss/pal/rival who's been shot by a gangster trying to elude police.
The story dramatically shifts gears in the last ten minutes. It suddenly turns into an ironic case of the head doctor becoming his protege's patient.
Overall, this is an engrossing and well-written film with sincere performances. SOCIETY DOCTOR perfects a formula that would be used for the many Kildare pictures which followed, as well as the countless television medical programs that came afterward.
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