Doctor Bull (1933)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

James Gould Cozzens (novel) and
Paul Green (adaptation)

Release Date:

22 September 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

BACK BY REQUEST ! For those who missed it before...For those who want to see it again! (1936 re-issue poster)

Plot:

Doc Bull, a no-nonsense country doctor who has served his community for decades, fights small-town prejudice and provincialism in several crises.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Small Town | Widow | Medical | Paralysis

Cast

Will Rogers	...	Dr. George 'Doc' Bull
Vera Allen	...	Mrs. Janet 'Jane' Cardmaker, Widow of Charles Edward Cardmaker / Bull's Girlfriend
Marian Nixon	...	May Tupping - Telephone Operator
Howard Lally	...	Joe Tupping
Berton Churchill	...	Herbert Banning - Janet's Brother
Louise Dresser	...	Mrs. Herbert Banning
Andy Devine	...	Larry Ward, Sodajerk
Rochelle Hudson	...	Virginia (Muller) / Banning
Tempe Pigott	...	Grandma Banning
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Aunt Patricia Banning
Nora Cecil	...	Aunt Emily Banning
Ralph Morgan	...	Dr. Verney, Owner Verney Laboratory
Patsy O'Byrne	...	Susan - Dr. Bull's Cook
Veda Buckland	...	Mary - Janet's Maid
Effie Ellsler	...	Aunt Myra Bull

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1287)

Company:

Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In the book, there are discussions about abortion between Doctor Bull and Virginia Banning. These were dropped from the script after a complaint from the Hays Office. In the movie, there is just a vague notion she is pregnant. Also, the character of Larry Ward had a venereal disease in the book, but in the film he's just a hypochondriac.

Quotes:

Dr. George 'Doc' Bull: Oh, there's an old saying. There's only one way into the world, but there's a thousand ways out.

Soundtrack:

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Worth seeing for Will Rogers

"Doctor Bull" is Ford's first of three collaborations with Will Rogers. Much like their later pictures, it combines humor and drama with greater emphasis on dialogue and performance rather than narrative. Mr. Ford admired Rogers' folksy charm and found in him a figure whose moral wisdom perfectly matched with his own. In these leisurely and unpretentious pictures, Rogers is successfully a healer and reconciler, but, like most of Ford's subsequent protagonists, he is also a melancholy and lonely figure.

Though it is nowhere near the charm, subtlety and enduring greatness of "Judge Priest"(1934) & "Steamboat 'Round the Bend"(1935), "Doctor Bull" is nonetheless worth seeing for Mr. Rogers' loving portrayal of a small-town Connecticut doctor combating typhus and narrow-mindedness.

It is interesting to note that in the same year Rogers starred in another whiff of Americana - Henry King's lovely and often underrated "State Fair."