Doctor Bridget (1912) User Reviews

The Cure

[boblipton · 6/10 · 3 April 2016]

Harry Morey is a sick young man. His concerned parents stick him in bed and call in high-toned doctors, who feed him foul-tasting elixirs and force gallons of vile concoctions down his throat. He is rescued by the housekeeper, who throws out the medicines and sets him to work scrubbing floors.

John Bunny, the fat old man who was rapidly becoming the first American movie comedy star, plays the housekeeper in drag. Given that he acts about the same as he does in trousers, this is funny in itself. More than that, it is a variation on his usual character, who was wise, all-seeing, and usually in opposition to Flora Finch, who also plays in this one.

If you're interested in seeing this, or other examples of Mr. Bunny's work on the cheap, the Eye Institute has just posted a bunch of them to their YouTube site.

Bunny in drag

[kekseksa · 3 April 2016]

Yet another John Bunny comedy creeping out of the woodwork thanks to the splendid EYE institute.

Bunny is in fine form as Bridget the cook (played in drag but absolutely straight) curing a spoilt bourgeois hypochondriac by a dose of hard work in the kitchen. The social satire may be mild but it is spot-on and the film has all the usual elegance of composition and fluidity of movement typical of Vitagraph

The film relies on Bunny's superb screen-presence, particularly impressive here because he/she is quite self-effacing for a good half of the film before deciding to take the treatment out of the hands of the idiotic doctors.

It is a very laughable offering

[deickemeyer · 9 April 2017]

The author of this picture hands one out to the doctors or rather to the quacks. There's a back-cut too for the people who employ such. The center of the picture isn't Biddy, played by Bunny; but the cherished son of her employer who is being killed by too much care and attention. Harry T. Morey is too old for the part and fails to add to the fun very much. He gets sick and five doctors are called in, successively. The last and most amusing of them is Hal Wilson, the hydropath. Biddy has been nursing a growing disgust and takes Dr. Wilson by the ear, the family being away. Her cure is to make Master Harry work with the promise of a good dinner for reward. From the time Dr. Wilson comes until Biddy effects her cure, it is a very laughable offering. The author is Arthur F. Clark and the producer is Frederick Thompson. - The Moving Picture World, December 21, 1912