Oh Doctor! (1917)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

Writers:

Jean C. Havez (story)
Joseph Anthony Roach (story)

Release Date:

30 September 1917 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Roscoe is a doctor who falls in love with a pretty woman whose boyfriend, in turn, falls in love with Roscoe's wife's jewelry.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Horse Race | Betting | Marital Discord | Fake Illness

Cast

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle	...	Dr. Fatty Holepoke
Buster Keaton	...	Junior Holepoke
Al St. John	...	Gambler
Alice Mann	...	Vamp
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alice Lake	...	Maid

Runtime:

USA:23 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Comique Film Company

Silly, But Generally Entertaining Material From Arbuckle & Co.

Though much of it is rather silly, "Oh Doctor!" has some good material too, and it is generally entertaining. The story is goofy and implausible, but it is told and played with verve by a pretty good cast. 'Fatty' Arbuckle plays a pretty disreputable character who is not really sympathetic, yet Arbuckle's good-natured energy is enough to make you hope that things will turn out all right for "Dr. Fatty". Buster Keaton's performance as the doctor's son (mostly a foil for 'Fatty') is rather interesting, because it is the exact opposite of the stoic manner that he adopted in his own later pictures - his performance here is even more exaggerated than in some of the other short features he made with Arbuckle.

The story hops around between a number of settings, and without a good cast it might not have worked very well. But the different settings do give rise to some worthwhile comedy material. There are a good number of Arbuckle/Keaton shorts that are better, but "Oh Doctor!" is still worth seeing if you enjoy the lively antics of Arbuckle & company.