Grade: D
Synopsis: Gossip taints a country doctor’s reputation in a small New England town.
Doctor Bull is a well-produced, atmospheric drama from director John Ford.
Ford does a great job of capturing the look and feel of a small New England town. The sets and costumes are all perfect, and you get a good sense early on of both the good and bad that results from everyone knowing everyone in an area so close to great metropolises like Boston and New York City, yet so removed.
Will Rogers is perfect in the titular role, a good-natured pill-dispensing country doctor who inadvertently becomes the target for the town’s gossip and frustrations. He’s absolutely believable from the opening scene on, but unfortunately, the rest of the cast fails to register, aside from Andy Devine as a hypochondriac sodajerk with, possibly, two appendices.
The big problem with Doctor Bull, though, is that the film just isn’t very interesting. The material ages poorly in an era where simply visiting a widow is hardly cause for scandal and the technically limited camera work provides little visual flair. Much like Ford’s other 1933 film, Pilgrimage, there’s just not enough story here.
Bottom Line: As a curiosity for John Ford or Will Rogers fans, Doctor Bull is worth a peek, but others should look elsewhere.
