Oh Doctor! (1917) User Reviews

In which Roscoe portrays a deeply dysfunctional doctor dad

[wmorrow59 · 7/10 · 19 May 2002]

Considered a missing film until quite recently, Oh Doctor! marked the fifth collaboration between Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. The surviving print turned up in Norway, which might account for the somewhat awkward English of the re-translated title cards, but no matter; this is an exciting and fascinating find for silent comedy buffs, and an offbeat film in many respects. Not hilariously funny, but novel and enjoyable in its own way, and of course a real treat for fans of the two stars.

Viewers who've seen Arbuckle's other "Comique" brand comedies will notice right away that Oh Doctor! is plot-driven to an unusual degree for this series. In some of the other films it seems as though the guys started shooting with only enough material for a one-reel short, then had to switch gears midway through and come up with a whole new storyline. (You find that in some of the Sennett comedies too, suggested by weird hybrid professions for the lead comic: barber/jailer, sheriff/photographer, etc.) But for this film screenwriter Jean Havez provided a strong storyline, and while some of the gags appear to have been improvised along the way, director Arbuckle and his crew clearly stuck to the script for the most part. Most of the laughs derive not from slapstick or pratfalls -- although you'll find a fair amount of roughhouse here -- but from the situation. Oh Doctor! is essentially a situation comedy with farcical elements, and that alone makes it unusual in Arbuckle & Keaton's output from this early period.

More striking still is Buster's far-from-deadpan performance as Roscoe's obnoxious son. He wears a sort of modified Buster Brown outfit, and plays much younger than his actual age (only 21!) at the time the film was made. Although Buster can be glimpsed smiling, laughing and weeping in some of the other collaborations with Arbuckle, right up to The Garage, their last co-starring effort, he really mugs up a storm in Oh Doctor!, sobbing with enthusiasm in almost every scene. Then again, he has good reason to cry, for he has one mean daddy here. From the very first scene "Dr. Holepoke" is hostile to his son, deliberately sticking him with a pin, kicking him, pushing him over a table, etc. Sure, this is only a silent comedy from a simpler era, and maybe we're all too self-conscious about this sort of behavior now, but still as I watch this I wonder which came first: the kid's bratty behavior or Dad's slapping and punching?

It's notable that Roscoe Arbuckle, like W.C. Fields later on, often chose to portray such unattractive characters, as he does here, and that audiences loved him anyway -- up to a point, that is. In this film Roscoe is not only mean to his son, he's chilly towards his wife, flirts openly with a dark-eyed vamp at the race track (where he also brusquely snatches his wife's binoculars away), squanders his family's money on a losing horse, and deliberately crashes his car into a crowd of pedestrians so he can distribute his business card to the injured. Then to top off his perfect day, he gets tipsy with the race track vamp in her apartment, and for the finale, steals cash from a bookie joint while impersonating a cop, stuffing wads of bills into his clothing. In the final shot, when Mrs. Holepoke kicks her husband, he kicks her back.

And yet, despite all of the above, when this movie is over we somehow like Roscoe nevertheless. On screen he is doggedly sympathetic, and even when his character acts like a jerk his own likability as a performer transcends everything. Arbuckle had a special star quality, and it lasted until his luck ran out. But he shines in Oh Doctor!, and we can be grateful that this highly unusual and entertaining film has been rediscovered.

Delightful comedy about horrible people

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 19 January 2016]

Roscoe Arbuckle plays a rude family man who argues bitterly with his wife and pushes around his young son (played by a twenty-one year old Buster Keaton!). When he is lured in by a greedy vamp who, along with her thieving cohort played by Al St. John, his wife's jewels are endangered, in addition to Arbuckle's own finances, which are all at stake in a horse race.

Oh Doctor! is one of Arbuckle's stronger efforts, with more of a coherent plot and character-based gags. Arbuckle plays a truly horrendous person, which is funny in a dark way. Al St. John seems to be a love or hate performer in my circles, but he's great here as the scheming conman. Folks used to Buster Keaton's stoic manner will be shocked to see him mug so here, crying and laughing and whining with his mouth gaping open at its fullest capacity. Especially hilarious when you read interviews of his from the 1950s and 1960s in which he proclaimed he could not smile in front of a camera ever. That's show business, kiddos.

Oh Doctor! was another enjoyable Arbuckle/Keaton short

[tavm · 6/10 · 19 July 2009]

This is yet another Roscoe Arbuckle/Buster Keaton short I watched on the DVD collection of the best of Arbuckle/Keaton. In this one, Arbuckle is married with Buster playing his obnoxious son. Perhaps because I knew this was a slapstick comedy with Keaton being an expert at acrobatics, I laughed every time Arbuckle shoved his "son" upside his head with the result of Buster constantly wailing! Buster also laughs at such inappropriate places as when the horse at the racetrack Roscoe secretly bets on keeps running in circles! Plot-which also has Arbuckle flirting with another woman unbeknownst to his wife-gets confusing at times but whenever he and Keaton do their stunts, the short provides some decent laughs. So on that note, Oh Doctor! is worth a look.

Doctor Arbuckle does everything except doctoring!

[weezeralfalfa · 6/10 · 5 September 2018]

An early Roscoe Arbuckle/Buster Keaton comedy short. Neither of the characters they play is very likable. Keaton's character appears to be a teen, probably spoiled by his mother, and abused by his father(Roscoe). Mostly he does nothing except cry, or occasionally laugh uproariously: quite atypical for a Keaton character!. The latter happens, when the horse Roscoe bet on gets confused ,turns around and runs the wrong way for part the race. Roscoe doesn't think it's funny, hits him, and he cries.......Besides being abusive toward his son, Roscoe often disrespects his wife. While they are sitting, waiting for the horse race to start, a sexy young woman sits down next to him, and he flirts with her, and, apparently, he gives her his phone number, as she later calls him up ,with a fake illness reason for him to come see her. This is a way to get him out of the house, to make it easier for her boyfriend(played by Al St. John) to go to his house(How does he know where it is??) and steal the expensive-looking necklace he saw his wife wearing. In another incident, when he is excited by news that the horse he bet on won the derby, he drags her along the street in his haste to get to the bookie joint where he bought his ticket. She stumbles and falls, but he ignores this, and continues running. Dressed as a policeman, he scares all the bookies and their cronies out of their hideout, and grabs the cash they left. When he shows this to his wife, she scolds him for betting on horses, and kicks him in the behind. He returns the favor.......The minimal plot is pretty disjointed and nonsensible. After Al steals Roscoe's wife's necklace, the wife goes calling on the vamp's apartment(how does she know where it is??). The vamp has the necklace around her neck. Roscoe doesn't want his wife to know he's there, so he dresses up in the policeman's uniform ,hanging up in the kitchen. How the policeman relates to the vamp is unclear, but he seems to have an admirer in the maid(Alice Lake), who disappeared after the policemen. They are never seen again.......Al and Roscoe have a time fighting in and above the vamp's room, and the wife is locked in the closet for a while. Eventually, Al and the vamp disappear out the window, minus the necklace, and are not seen again........In summary, one of the more chaotic Arbuckle/Keaton collaborations, with Keaton having a minimal role.

The dark humor of Roscoe Arbuckle

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 28 March 2023]

Roscoe Arbuckle's comedic persona has none of the sweetness or vulnerability of the giants who would dominate the decade following his own heyday - Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd. I mean, he sticks a tie pin into his son's leg to make him scream in pain and divert his wife's attention so he can sit next to a woman who's flirting with him, for god's sake, and that's not the only abuse he doles out. He gambles at the racetrack, using beer bottles for binoculars and gripping the legs of both his wife and another woman in his excitement. He dispenses potent alcoholic beverages while making a house call as a doctor more readily than medicine. There is an impish malevolence in his mischievous grin as he tries to cheat on his wife, walking into a trap set up by a couple of thieves to rob his wife of her necklace while he's doing so. There is also darkness in a funeral home asking a doctor for a list of his critically ill patients, and the doctor turning his unmanned car loose upon a crowd of pedestrians to scatter them and then distribute his business card.

Arbuckle is probably harder to like over a century later or maybe he's just an acquired taste, but I started to see his appeal in this, his 4th film with young protégé Buster Keaton. He's like a dark libidinous force, unafraid of what you may think of him. When his wife kicks him out of frustration at the end, he kicks her back - there is no syrupy redemptive arc at work here, which I actually appreciated. Plus, you get Buster at 22 playing a child, crying and expressing frustration before trying to track the bad guys down. The names are amusing too, Dr. I. O. Dine, M. Balm Moribund & Co. Funerals and Interments, and Digger O. Graves. This two-reeler won't be for everyone, but I thought it was a decent way to spend 24 minutes.

Unfunny and Unfocused; Arbuckle and Keaton are Capable of Much Better

[drqshadow-reviews · 3/10 · 5 August 2020]

An impulsive doctor takes his small family to the horse track for a bit of front-row excitement. Overhearing a hot gambling tip, he dumps his savings into a losing bet and swiftly tumbles into the manipulative paws of a crooked married couple. This nasty pair does their best to remove him from what's left of his estate, though they're really just as fundamentally inept as their quarry.

I wasn't feeling this one. The plot is transparent from the start, the constant shifts in scenery limit the crew's opportunities for ad-libbed laughs and Buster Keaton is wasted in an ill-fitting role as the doc's irritating young son. The story gets more direction than usual, given the age, genre and format, but that comes at the expense of the free-wheeling humor that is Arbuckle and Keaton's mutual forte. Nobody bats a thousand.

fun but without much depth

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 20 May 2006]

This is a silent comedy short that is just okay--he and co-star Buster Keaton went on to do much better shorts, but it still is entertaining even though it is a pretty forgettable film.

Fatty is a well-to-do doctor. The film starts with him taking his son (Buster) and his wife to the horse races. There, Fatty's eyes wander to another woman. Little does he know that she and her boyfriend are thieves.

Later, through some tough to believe coincidences, the woman steals Fatty's wife's necklace. Fatty dresses like a cop and eventually the day is saved and he manages to win a wad of cash on a long-shot at the track. His reward is having his wife yell at him.

The film has a few pratfalls and that's really about it.

Oh, Doctor! review

[JoeytheBrit · 4/10 · 29 June 2020]

A rare opportunity to see the great Stoneface Buster Keaton bawling like a kid as the put-upon son of Doctor Roscoe Arbuckle is the only reason to visit this otherwise below-par comedy. Arbuckle's character is the kind of perfidious bully possessing no redeeming features that would be the villain in most films, and yet he receives no kind of come-uppance. This might have been forgivable if the humour was of a high standard, but there is very little here to raise even a smile.

Still in Development

[DKosty123 · 6/10 · 29 August 2010]

This early silent comedy with Arbuckle & Keaton is far more complex plot wise than you'd expect for a 1917 silent. It goes through an entire story with a whole lot of twists for a short film. While Keaton is not in character playing Fatty's son, he is still effective.

Arbuckle is a Doctor who takes his wife & son to the races and loses all his money by listening to a crooked horse touter give him a bad tip on a horse & bets & loses all his family fortune on the tip. He does not do this alone, as he is over hearing the touter swindling another party.

At the track, Fatty flirts with a woman & in the race scene is seated between his wife & the woman he is flirting with. Cheering on the horses, he grabs both women's legs. They both slap his hands away during the race.

Keaton appears to be here for abuse as the son. During the latter portion of the film, Fatty's wife's valuable necklace is stolen as he gives it to the mistress. There is a complex sequence in the mistress apartment where the necklace changes hands 3 times and both women hit the same guy over the head with a vase while trying to hit each other.

Fatty then dresses as a cop and manages to get the fortune back through a strange set of circumstances after he wins another horse bet. His wife gets the necklace back & they walk away from the camera, her with her necklace & him with the cash.

Arbuckle directs this quite well. This plot actually get reused in other films down the road though it would have been better if the tout had been stuck when the horse won the race, but that would come later.

The Many Faces of Buster Keaton

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 7 August 2021]

Buster Keaton's fourth film and credited as containing his most animated facial expressions while playing Fatty Arbuckle's son appears in September 1917's "Oh Doctor!" Distribution company Paramount Pictures was so impressed with Arbuckle's Keystone Studio movies its executives offered Roscoe in late 1916 his own comedy studio under the name Comique Film Corporation as well as giving Fatty full control over his productions. Arbuckle agreed, and set up his studio on 318 East 48th Street, Manhattan (which is now an indoor parking garage). Arbuckle made 21 films from 1917 to 1919 under the Paramount umbrella, using the studio for interior filming while locating in New Jersey's countryside for his bucolic exterior sequences.

Keaton plays Arbuckle's son in "Oh Doctor!" a role which requires quite a range in visual expressions for the usually Stone Faced comedian. Fatty, meanwhile, plays in one of his standard adultery roles where he all too often wanders off the marriage path seeking variety. As a doctor, Roscoe is extra friendly to one particular female patient, who, with her husband, turn the tables to heist one of the doctor wife's prized necklaces. Arbuckle's disguise as a policeman to reclaim the necklace causes a great amount of on-screen amusement.

Silly, But Generally Entertaining Material From Arbuckle & Co.

[Snow Leopard · 16 March 2004]

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.

Arbuckle

[Michael_Elliott · 10 March 2008]

Oh Doctor (1917)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Dr. Fatty gets in trouble when a woman he flirts with turns out to be a thief with his wife's jewelry on her mind. The best aspect is Buster Keaton playing Fatty's son and being constantly abused by daddy.

His Wedding Night (1917)

** (out of 4)

Fatty once again has to fight for the woman he wants to marry. Going through these films in order I've noticed that each one basically has the same storyline and always has a food fight. This is getting a tad bit boring but Buster Keaton has a small role and brings some laughs.

Out West (1918)

*** (out of 4)

Spoof of the western genre has Fatty Arbuckle landing in a small town being over run by thugs. Buster Keaton plays the timid sheriff. There are minor laughs throughout the film but it really works due to its wonderful charm and the fact that the spoofs work for westerns even made within the past few decades. There's some off colored racial humor, which might insult some.