The Country Doctor (1909) User Reviews

Powerful Drama Which Makes You Reflect

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 17 December 2007]

I like the sub-head to this early silent film: "A Story Of The Temporal Deeds That Reap Spiritual Reward." It's something to think about.

This is a D.W. Griffith movie, and a powerful little (16 minutes) drama of a country doctor who seems to have an idyllic life with a beautiful wife, daughter and a beautiful country setting. One day is daughter falls critically ill. While the doctor-father is examining her, and tending to her, another frantic mother comes by, seeking the doctor for her sick little girl. At first, the doctor is reluctant to leave his daughter but after the second mom, a very poor woman, almost faints, he goes to see that girl. In the meanwhile, his daughter dies! The story ends on that dramatic scene.

Wow, this isn't what I expected and the story almost leaves the viewer stunned. The movie is a thought-provoker, making audiences ponder the question of whether the doctor did the right thing and did he give his own daughter sufficient treatment, etc.? Apparently, the film brought some discussion. At any rate, it was to show life realistically; that there aren't always happy endings to all stories in life.

Notes: Griffth is famous for "Birth Of A Nation," but he made tons (over 400) of short films prior to that 1915 movie.....In the scene at the poor people's shack, an older sister is seen at the far right of the bedside scene. She was 16-year-old Mary Pickford!

Terrence Malick, eat your heart out

[JohnSeal · 7/10 · 26 December 2010]

The opening and closing scenes of D.W. Griffiths' The Country Doctor feature enough lush Connecticut scenery, undulating fields of tall grass, and windblown tree branches to make Terrence Malick green with envy. The film's story, which serves as the substantial filling in between these pastoral moments, is more than satisfactory for a 1909 one-reeler, with Griffith telling a never dull tale of a medico torn between caring for both a poor child and his own comparatively well-off daughter, each apparently stricken with diphtheria. He saves the life of one via surgical intervention, but the other expires before he can return to her sickbed. The Country Doctor is a deeply affecting and beautifully shot drama and features an uncharacteristically grim visaged Mary Pickford in one of her earliest roles.

The Doctor's Dilemma

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 5 September 2010]

The Country Doctor opens and closes with a slow panning shot of pastoral countryside, the effect of which is lost until you learn that the closing shot was apparently originally given a blue tint to make sense of the final intertitle, and it's a fitting epilogue to a rather sombre piece from D. W. Griffith.

In a long-ago land filled with American Biograph logos (to foil dupers), the country doctor of the title lives an idyllic life, strolling through fields of wheat with his wife and daughter, grinning insanely and just inviting fate to deliver a fist to the solar plexus. Sure enough, little Edith, the smallest member of this ideal family unit, is stricken by some unspecified illness. She looks like she is in the process of turning after being bitten by a zombie, but little Gladys Egan gives such a wonderfully restrained performance (seriously) that we can be sure it's something much more mundane (but no less fatal) that her character is suffering from. Luckily, the doc is on hand to hold her wrist and look concerned - until, that is, a poor neighbour knocks on the door and begs him to come and tend to her own sickly child. What, we wonder, is the doctor to do?

Apart from Egan's great performance, the other key performances - Frank Powell as the doctor and Florence Lawrence as his wife - are a little overwrought even for such dramatic circumstances, and while Griffith's construction of the film is spot on you can almost hear him barking instructions to the players as they go through the melodramatic motions.

Still Quite Effective

[Snow Leopard · 22 March 2005]

This somber D.W. Griffith drama is still quite effective in grabbing hold of your emotions and making you anguish over the dilemmas facing its characters. It's hard to see how even today anyone could significantly improve on the way that it gets the most out of the material.

Griffith chose to open the story with a long panning shot of a beautiful countryside, before introducing "The Country Doctor" and his family. This opening is very effective in establishing the setting, and in fact the first few minutes are taken up with that shot and with some light-hearted scenes of the family outdoors. When the more serious part of the story is suddenly introduced, it is that much more effective for the contrast that has been established.

The main story is based on a simple but powerful premise, as the doctor must make agonizing decisions between his duty as a physician and his loyalty to his own family. Many things work together to make it so effective. The cast (which includes early audience favorite Florence Lawrence as the doctor's wife, and Mary Pickford in a smaller role) is pretty good, and the technique is quite refined for 1909. The cross-cutting at crucial points is particularly effective, as is the careful setup of several significant parallels.

Although many other film-makers of the era deserve to share the credit with Griffith for introducing and experimenting with the kinds of techniques that would soon become standard, this feature is a good example of why Griffith attained the kind of reputation that he had. It's very carefully done, and it works well enough to remain effective even today.

Established the Establishing Shot

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 1 February 2021]

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.

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

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 25 October 2021]

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.

parallel girls and the valley stays the same in lightness and dark

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 4 February 2017]

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).

A Doctor's Sacrifice

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 8 September 2022]

"The Country Doctor" begins with an opening caption of "A story of the temporal deeds that reap spiritual reward." We then see Doctor Harcourt's daughter, Edith (Gladys Egan), has fallen seriously ill. At the same time a little girl (Adele DeGarde) not too far away has also fallen seriously ill. The mother (Kate Bruce) of the neighbor girl rushed to Dr. Harcourt's home to solicit his help. Naturally, he declined as he was dealing with his own crisis. After some pleading he relented and went to help the neighbor girl while his own daughter was dying.

This is where I thought the spiritual reward would come in--and I was right and wrong at the same time. As Dr. Harcourt (Frank Powell) tended to the neighbor girl his daughter passed away. I thought, "Where's his spiritual reward?" And that's just it, his reward will be spiritual, not temporal. So, his daughter dying was a matter he'd have to deal with, but by aiding a neighbor in need he will reap a spiritual reward.

I believe in spiritual rewards as well, but that's one reward I may have had to forgo--assuming that he did the right thing religiously to begin with. I'm not familiar with the Bible, so it could be that there is a greater reward for aiding a stranger even when your own family is in need. I have yet to come across such commandments in my own religion.

Free on YouTube.

Starts slow, but builds to an effective denouement.

[Kieran_Kenney · 9/10 · 21 February 2006]

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.

Deadpan Bedside Manners

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 5 November 2007]

Frank Powell (as Dr. Harcourt), Florence Lawrence (as Mrs. Harcourt) and little Gladys Egan (as Edith Harcourt) are the perfect country family; however, tragedy strikes their idyllic world when little Gladys becomes gravely ill. Fortunately, wealthy Harcourt is also "The Country Doctor", and can sit by his daughter's bedside as she struggles to regain her health. Unfortunately, poor mother Kate Bruce and daughter Mary Pickford need Dr. Harcourt's services as Adele DeGarde, the girl in their family, is likewise bedridden. The good doctor is torn between his little girl and his responsibility as the town's doctor.

G.W. Bitzer's Greenwich, Connecticut location footage is generous, and this film's highlight; though, you'll wish it was better preserved. The story, dealing with a doctor's responsibility, is a good one. Both Mr. Powell and Ms. Lawrence go too far over-the-top in their portrayals this time around, however. Ms. Bruce and Ms. Pickford are more restrained, but little daughters Egan and DeGarde absolutely steal the show with their deadpan bedside manners, especially little Gladys!

**** The Country Doctor (7/8/09) D.W. Griffith ~ Frank Powell, Florence Lawrence, Gladys Egan, Mary Pickford

Fair to good.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 12 August 2013]

"The Country Doctor" was directed by D.W. Griffith and has an appearance by Mary Pickford (without her usual ringlets) but otherwise it's a rather undistinguished little film. The biggest problems are the film's length (it really could have been a bit shorter) and some terrible overacting at the end.

A doctor is called away from his own sick daughter to minister to a sick child in a nearby home. However, after saving that child, he learns that because he was gone, his own child dies--and he and his wife go through some silly histrionics and gesturing when this occurs.

Films made in the very early days of cinema were extremely brief (less than 10 minutes--often much shorter) but at about 14 minutes, "The Country Doctor" is actually way too long, as it cannot maintain much momentum because the plot is quite thin. Also, while Griffith made some lovely and inspired film, this one just seemed amazingly uninteresting until the unintentionally funny ending.

Doctor's Dilemma: Streamlined Crosscutting

[Cineanalyst · 17 September 2020]

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.

Develops a power that is certain to make it a growing influence

[deickemeyer · 28 November 2014]

The heart dramas which have come from the Biograph studio have been numerous, but perhaps none has been stronger, nor has there been one which has made the profound impression which is made by this one. Ordinarily the gloom which accompanies death seems needless in a picture play, but where a drama teaches a great moral truth as this one does, perhaps it should be accepted as indicating the right view of life rather than as an amusement. It is difficult to select any one scene as typifying the tremendous struggle in the doctor's soul as he leaves his own child, ill unto death, to attend the child of a poor woman, also dangerously ill. Nature's noblemen are none too numerous, and yet, if the accumulation of noble deeds typified in this film could all be gathered in one sheaf, what a mighty power for good they would become. It is heartrending, that last scene, when the doctor leaves the bedside of the sick child, happy in the consciousness that he has performed his duty and has carried her safely over the crisis, only to find that his own loved daughter has died for want of his care. One doesn't like to think of it, and yet above all the sorrow and despair there arises the thought that he did his duty, as he saw it, and though the result was bitter, still he could do nothing else, and that alone is his consolation. With good photography and staging and the superb acting of the Biograph Company this drama develops a power that is certain to make it a growing influence wherever it is shown. Such pictures will go far toward answering the many criticisms which have been applied to moving pictures by those who apparently never took the trouble to investigate and see what the leading companies are turning out every day. – The Moving Picture World, July 10, 1909