By Appointment Only (1933) User Reviews

Well Acted But....

[boblipton · 6/10 · 28 December 2018]

Lew Cody is a dedicated doctor with a large practice among the hypochondriac rich. They pay for the poor people whom he cares for. He's engaged to Aileen Pringle, who is a society deb, and one day, between her and the perfectly healthy rich people who eat up his time, a poor woman dies in his office, leaving orphaned Sally O'Neal behind. Cody takes the sweet young girl as his ward. He goes off to Europe to study for three years and when he gets back, he discovers nothing has changed .... except that Miss O'Neal has grown up and is engaged to Miss Pringle's brother. This disturbs him.

This is a well acted movie, with several silent players -- including Marcelline Day, Pauline Garon and Claire MacDowall -- giving fine performances. It also starts out with some real social issues, all ready to be investigated; the disconnect between people who have money and can afford the best of care as opposed to the poor who need care is still with us. All of these interesting subtextual points are raised, and then the second half drops them entirely to focus on a four-sided triangle. That plot is settled by the end of the movie, but the issues that might have given it some importance are lost.

Watch it, Doc!

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 4 June 2015]

There is another reviewer, Howdymax, whose judgments about films I usually find egregious but he hit the nail on the head when he observed about actresses in old movies that in scenes involving conversation, they have a tendency to twist their fingers together at waist-level. "Fiddling with the paper clip," he called it. Well, actresses have to do SOMETHING with their hands. What else can they do -- send semaphore signals?

A rich, middle-aged surgeon, Lew Cody, acquires a fourteen-year-old Sally O'Neill as his ward. If actresses fiddle with the paper clip when they play mature characters, they seem to go absolutely APE when they play youngsters. O'Neill breaks new ground in the fiddling field. Forget paper clips. She indulges in some kind of demonic macramé or crocheting. By the time she ages to eighteen, she has knitted and purled her way through enough material for another Bayeux tapestry.

Sally O'Neill is cute, and the Great Physician notices this, even at fourteen. His eyes light up like a pinball machine, his pupils dilate, and he salivates unashamedly over the floor. O'Neill plays it exceptionally dumb, as befits a naive teenager, but she's not THAT dumb. Cody is an older man, a wealthy and renowned surgeon and he's in her thrall. "Call me Uncle Michael," he tells her. (Mm-hmm.)

Actually, she does a poor job of being fourteen. She overacts in a way that's painful to watch and listen to, but she knows her prey, and Uncle Mike finds it very appealing. He finds it increasingly difficult to restrain his ardor. And she doesn't help him, cuddling on his lap and kissing him full on the lips.

He goes away for a few years to receive some honors and decorations from European Institutes and when he returns, she's no longer the dumb kid who straightened the butler's bow tie. She no longer simpers or affects a child's voice. She has a nice figure too, as we see in a swimming pool scene. Uncle Michael can't take his eyes off her. She has breasts too, but then she also had breasts when she was fourteen. Not that she mammous processes were attention-getting, just that they were more noticeable than those of any girl in my sophomore class in high school. Well, maybe Bunny Grossman approximated O'Neill's contours but it would be a close call.

Nothing to worry about, though. This isn't "Lolita", so no one has any reason for their anti-pedophile glands to be in an uproar. She winds up with a sensible kid of her own age after Uncle Michael comes to his senses. The kid, who has a chipper personality, isn't as rich yet at the Doc, but his socialite mother may very well be, and she won't be around forever.

Is that orange blossoms in the air -- or mint.

Kind of creepy...

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 10 August 2011]

Sally O'Neill plays a 14 year-old, though she was actually about 25 at the time. This is a pretty serious problem, as it sure compromised the first portion of the film--especially when she tried way too hard to act young. This served to only make her real age all the more apparent. If you are the sort of person, like me, who thinks that this gimmick (also used in "The Major and the Minor") is dumb, this will seriously impact the film. If, on the other hand, you can ignore this, then the film should be more enjoyable.

The film begins with a busy society doctor lamenting how he might just be wasting his time working with rich hypochondriacs. Just then, a 'normal' (non-rich) person dies in his waiting room while he's been yakking it up with a friend. The doctor feels terrible about this (though it really isn't his fault) and when he meets the dead lady's daughter (O'Neill), he becomes her step-dad, of sorts, and pays for her to go off to a nice boarding school.

Some time passes. Now the film starts to get kind of creepy (and a lot like "That Hagan Girl"), as the Doc begins showing signs that maybe he's less interested in his long-time girlfriend and interested, at least unconsciously, with his young ward (now 18). This pretty weird and leads to the big finale.

All in all, the film is not badly made, though poorly cast and just plain uncomfortable. Watchable but I wish this had been re-worked just a bit.

A Dud

[view_and_review · 4/10 · 2 February 2024]

Before we begin, let me address the elephant in the room.

They really expected us to believe that Judy Carroll (Sally O'Neil) had just turned fourteen!? She looked not a day younger than twenty-five! That, by itself, was enough to ruin my viewing experience.

A woman named Mary Carroll (Claire McDowell) went to Dr. Michael Travers' office for medical care. While waiting for the busy Dr. Travers (Lew Cody) she died. As Dr. Travers was leaving his office after this grave event he spotted what looked like a young woman to me, sitting in his waiting room waiting for her mother. The young lady said her name was Judy, she was waiting for her mother, and today was her birthday. She just turned fourteen.

GTFOH!

I had to look up the actress to see if I was trippin' or not because she looked like a grown ass woman, just petite. Sure enough, Sally O'Neil was born in 1908, twenty-five years before "By Appointment Only" was released. I was thinking, "Surely it's going to be revealed that she's an adult and she's just playing them," but that never happened.

Dr. Travers didn't have the heart to tell Judy that her mother just died, so he invited her to his house instead to celebrate her birthday. Eventually it turned into him becoming her guardian and he would be known as Uncle Mike.

Then it turned into something more distasteful. By the time Judy was seventeen Uncle Mike fell in love with her and she fell in love with him. It was awkward and cringeworthy.

The movie ended the right way, with Judy marrying Dick Manners (Edward Morgan), a man more her age, but not without its drama. I simply couldn't get past how old Judy (Sally O'Neil) looked. That, coupled with the sub par acting and pedestrian script, made "By Appointment Only" a dud.

Free on YouTube.

Sally O'Neil Finds the Perfect Role!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 27 December 2016]

By the time Sally O'Neil made this movie it was heralded as a comeback. She hadn't made a movie since 1931 but her private life always made sure her name was in the papers. Whether being sued several times for unpaid back taxes, unpayment for cars, groceries - even late library books, she and her sister were even shot at (which probably had more to do with her brother being a convicted felon and escapee). Apparently she was bitter towards Hollywood for her career ups and downs but her nose for trouble maybe had something to do with it as well. As Judy she found the perfect role - one that gave her a chance to act as a gamin, then as a peppy young lady.

"If it wasn't for the charity patients I'd give up medicine but if it wasn't for the rich hypochondriacs I wouldn't be able to treat the poor" - dedicated Dr. Michael Travers (Lew Cody) juggles a busy practice which doesn't leave him much time for his social butterfly fiancé, Diane (Aileen Pringle) who also has her hands full with her headstrong brother Dick. When a sick woman (Claire MacDowall) dies in his consulting room, Travers takes over the parental tasks of her daughter, the enchanting Judy. Sally O'Neil is terrific in this role - she mayn't look 14 but she turns on all her Irish charm and personality and you believe in her. A few years pass - Travis is back from a European lecture tour and Judy is just about to graduate from high school. She is in a secret engagement with Dick and it is here that the waters get a bit muddy - or in other words the movie has been edited!! If the cuts had been left in Dick would have come across as a less than perfect catch!! Initially Diane comes across as a social climbing society snob, more concerned with her brother's moodiness than spending time with the diligent Michael. Pauline Garon who in the 1920s found stardom in flapper roles, was still sassy and pert in this - she comes to the consulting room wanting to talk about her friend - and Dick!! She is cut off and it is only in a heated exchange between Michael and Diane towards the end, phrases like "that scandal" and "as if he is a proper husband for Judy" gets bandied about, you start to get the picture!!

"Uncle Michael" feels he has lost touch with Judy and wants to get to know her all over again - but without the "uncle" moniker!! Dick can see all too clearly what's happening and Diane who seems to have had a personality change since taking charge of Judy's schooling, is now a dutiful "mother" coaching the girl in her studies so she can make everyone proud of her!! Fortunately there is no surprise ending or it may have been conveniently "lost" after the code. It was almost a Wampas Baby reunion - not only Sally O'Neil and Pauline Garon but Marceline Day who had the very thankless role of "Brownie", the doctor's receptionist, she did provide a red herring because you actually thought the kindly doctor was going to end up with her.

Recommended.

Surprisingly Good Film

[karenerak · 8/10 · 9 January 2005]

By Appointment Only is a typical early 1930s light drama with a few twists and innuendos. Sally O'Neil plays the young girl Judy who is orphaned after Dr. Travers (Lew Cody)is unable to save her mother. The good doctor, feeling guilty and neglected himself, takes in the orphan as her guardian. His girlfriend tries to be patient, but feels she is losing him to Judy as she matures to a beautiful young woman.

All of the principals are great in their roles, but Sally O'Neil really stands out. The role of Judy seems tailored to her talents allowing her to be both ingénue and vixen.

Just over 60 minutes in length makes me believe some dialogue ended up on the cutting room floor. This is also attributed to moments where the characters seem about to confront each other and then are cut to the next scene. It still remains a good film and worth looking at.