Doctor Jack

After the great success of Grandma's Boy (1922), a film even his comic rival Charles Chaplin openly admired for its well- constructed screenplay, Harold Lloyd's share of the profits from the pictures he made at Hal Roach's studio rose from 72 to 80 percent, a considerable sum from movies that were the 1920s equivalents to blockbusters like Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977).

Lloyd liked to divide his films into two categories: character pictures and gag pictures. Dr. Jack (1922) relies almost entirely on funny sight gags since the character of Dr. Jack Jackson remains the same, unbelievably nice person from beginning to end. In the title role, Lloyd cares for the townsfolk, dispensing medical expertise along with a healthy dose of good humor and positive thinking. He's called to the big city as a consulting physician for Miss Haskell, a pretty socialite who has been languishing under the "care" of quack Dr. Ludwig von Saulsbourg so that the latter can continue to support himself and his clinic on the considerable wealth of Miss Haskell's father. Realizing all the poor girl needs is a little excitement in her life, Dr. Jack disguises himself as an escaped lunatic who invades the Haskell household. Doubling (with the aid of some incredible costume changes) as the lunatic and his captor, Jack manages to rid the household of both the girl's psychosomatic illness and the sham physician who encouraged it. Although the film seems to bear the influence of Lloyd's Midwestern Christian Science upbringing, Lloyd always insisted it was not meant as a promotion for the religion.

Dr. Jack was Lloyd's 13th film with leading lady Mildred Davis. The two wed a year later and remained together until her death in 1969, one of Hollywood's longest and happiest marriages. They made one more picture together, Safety Last (1923), perhaps Lloyd's best remembered feature. Then she made three more silents before retiring.

Although not as critically praised as many of his other films and scarcely remembered today, Dr. Jack outperformed even Grandma's Boy at the box office. It returned a $1,275,000 gross on its $113,000 cost.

Additional trivia: Director Fred Newmeyer shot the original pilot for the "Our Gang" series, but it tested poorly with audiences. The short was scrapped and re-shot with Bob McGowan as director.

Director: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Producer: Hal Roach
Screenplay: Thomas J. Crizer, Jean C. Havez, Sam Taylor, Hal Roach
Cinematography: Walter Lundin
Cast: Harold Lloyd (Dr. Jackson), Mildred Davis (Miss Haskell), John T. Prince (Charles Haskell), Eric Mayne (Dr. Ludwig von Saulsbourg).
BW-60m.

by Rob Nixon