The cast of Society Doctor (1935) was a showcase of MGM's contract players in 1934 – Chester Morris, the leading man who never quite made it to the top rung, Virginia Bruce, the beautiful leading lady who, like Chester Morris, never quite made it to the A list, and Billie Burke, forever associated with her role as Glinda the Good Witch in 1939's The Wizard of Oz, but who established a career in films playing fluttery society women and mothers. Society Doctor was a "B" picture and didn't do much for any of their careers, except for Robert Taylor, the new pretty boy at MGM, who studio chief Louis B. Mayer was paying $50 a week. For him, it was the film that elevated him from bit parts to leading man status.

Based upon an unproduced play The Harbor by Theodore Reeves, with a screenplay by Michael Fessier and Samuel Marx, and directed by George B. Seitz, Society Doctor was shot quickly in a few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas 1934 under the working titles of Ambulance Call and Only Eight Hours (the latter being the title the film was reviewed under in several newspapers before being changed at the last minute to Society Doctor).

The clichéd plot points are familiar to anyone who has ever seen a medical film produced in the 1930s: the earnest young physicians who vie for the attentions of the beautiful nurse, the jab at the medical profession's pandering to the rich at the expense of the poor, and the professional jealousy between doctors.

The film had been announced with stars Clark Gable and Fay Wray in the leads, but Gable was reassigned elsewhere and Wray was noted by The Hollywood Reporter as having "skipped out" on the role before production began. Society Doctor was then assigned to Morris and Bruce, with Taylor in a supporting role as Morris' best friend (and rival for Bruce). After screening the film at the studio, Mayer was so impressed with Taylor that he promoted the young actor to leading roles. The increase of fan mail for Taylor after this film was released sealed the deal.

The critical reaction to Society Doctor was lukewarm at best. Variety called it "another effort to bring in a second Men in White (1934), which fails to pack enough of a plot wallop in the opening to gain the necessary interest. It's implausible and frequently drags because it is necessary to pad out until enough time has been spent to bring it to a close." The New York Times' film critic said the film "is played in spotless white and with an appropriate sense of glamour and nobility by Chester Morris, Virginia Bruce and a promising newcomer, Robert Taylor. It impressed this column as an ecstatically foolish fable, but who is one against so many?" Critic Kate Cameron prophetically wrote that "in a market where young leading men are so scarce a commodity that the same players are used over and over again until one is likely to grow weary of the same faces, the appearance of an actor with the potentialities of young Mr. Taylor is to be hailed with cheers. Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, Franchot Tone, Gene Raymond, Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea and Chester Morris, push over and make room for Robert Taylor!"

Producer: Lucien Hubbard
Director: George B. Seitz
Screenplay: Michael Fessier, Samuel Marx; Theodore Reeves (play "The Harbor")
Cinematography: Lester White
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Music: R.H. Bassett (uncredited)
Film Editing: Ben Lewis
Cast: Chester Morris (Dr. Bill Morgan), Robert Taylor (Dr. Tommy 'Sprout' Ellis), Virginia Bruce (Madge Wilson), Billie Burke (Mrs. Crane), Raymond Walburn (Dr. Horace Waverly), Henry Kolker (Dr. Harvey), Dorothy Peterson (Mrs. Kate Harrigan), William Henry (Frank Snowden), Mary Jo Matthews (Mary Roberts), Robert McWade (Harris Snowden), Donald Meek (Moxley), Louise Henry (Gail - telephone operator), Johnny Hines (Reporter Hardy), Addison Richards (Pete Harrigan), Bobby Watson (Reporter Albright).
BW-67m.

by Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES
The AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-1940
The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
"Society Doctor at the Mayfair" The New York Times 4 Feb 35
Variety Film Reviews 1934-1937