Doctors Don't Tell

Last updated
Doctors Don't Tell
Doctors Don't Tell poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Screenplay by
Story byTheodore Reeves [1]
Produced by Albert J. Cohen [1]
Starring
Cinematography Ernest Miller [1]
Edited byEdward Mann [1]
Music by Cy Feuer [1]
Production
company
Distributed byRepublic Pictures Corp.
Release date
  • 27 August 1941 (1941-08-27)
CountryUnited States [1]
Budget$760,000 [2]

Doctors Don't Tell is a 1941 American drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur and written by Theodore Reeves and Isabel Dawn. The film stars John Beal, Florence Rice, Edward Norris, Ward Bond, Douglas Fowley and Grady Sutton. [1]

Contents

Plot

Med student Ralph Sawyer operates on Diana Wayne, victim of a vehicular accident, saving her life. Later, Sawyer opens a medical practice with buddies Frank Blake and Peter Piper. Even though Sawyer woos Diana, she falls for Blake.

Blake purchases some much-needed medical supplies on the black market from scarred gangster Joe Grant and his bodyguard, Barney Millen. When Millen is shot during a shake-down attempt, Blake cares for him. Millen is arrested and Blake defends him at trial, claiming he fixed an acid burn and not a gunshot wound. Sawyer, who has a side job working for the medical examiner's office, discovers that most of his clients are thugs sent to the doctor's office by Joe Grant. He realizes that Blake lied in court.

Grant murders the shake-down victim, who tells the cops before he dies that a "man with a scar on his face" shot him. Grant forces Blake to remove Grant's facial scar or get exposed as a gangland doctor. Blake does so, but takes photos of the operation that documents what he's done. Diana walks in as the surgery is ending, and realizes her beau is in league with a criminal element.

Grant goes on trial. Blake sends his photos to Sawyer, who is forced by a judge to admit that Blake was the source of the images. Blake, realizing his future is finished no matter what, testifies in court against Grant. Grant is found guilty, and Millen shoots Blake when he leaves the courtroom. Millen himself is then killed by the cops. Sawyer, Piper, and Diana mourn Blake.

Cast

Production

The Hollywood Reporter stated that the film has been on Republic Pictures schedule for about two years before it went into production. [1] The film's opening credits state it was taken from a Liberty magazine story, but the screenplay Theodore Reeves and Isabel Dawn are original with only the title of the magazine article being used for the film. [1]

Production began on the film in July 1941. [1] How director Jacques Tourneur became involved in the development of Doctors Don't Tell is unknown. [3] The films editor Edward Mann was allowed to film additional scenes in early August 1941. [1]

Release

Doctors Don't Tell was distributed by Republic Pictures and was released on August 27, 1941. [1] Various running times are given to the film, ranging from 53, 65 and 67 minutes. [1] [4] [5]

Reception

On discussing the film, Tourneur declared "I detest this film; it's my worst." [3] Chris Fujiwara discussed the film in his book Nightfall: The Cinema of Jacques Tourneur, declared the film as "routine and banal", concluding it as the "antitheseis of the richly textured, subtle work that Tourneur had already shown he could do on a small budget" [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Tourneur</span> French film director (1904–1977)

Jacques Tourneur was a French-American filmmaker, active during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known as an auteur of stylish and atmospheric genre films, many of them for RKO Pictures, including the horror films Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, and The Leopard Man, and the classic film noir Out of the Past. He is also known for directing Night of the Demon, which was released by Columbia Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Tourneur</span> French film director and screenwriter (1876–1961)

Maurice Félix Thomas, known as Maurice Tourneur, was a French film director and screenwriter.

<i>Cat People</i> (1942 film) 1942 film by Jacques Tourneur

Cat People is a 1942 American supernatural horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced for RKO by Val Lewton. The film tells the story of Irena Dubrovna, a newly married Serbian fashion illustrator obsessed with the idea that she is descended from an ancient tribe of Cat People who metamorphose into black panthers when aroused. When her husband begins to show interest in one of his coworkers, Irena begins to stalk her. The film stars Simone Simon as Irena, and features Kent Smith, Tom Conway, and Jane Randolph in supporting roles.

<i>Night of the Demon</i> 1957 British horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur

Night of the Demon is a 1957 British horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. It was produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis, and was adapted from the M. R. James story "Casting the Runes". The film's storyline concerns an American psychologist (Andrews) who travels to England to investigate a satanic cult suspected in more than one death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Fowley</span> American actor (1911–1998)

Douglas Fowley was an American movie and television actor in more than 240 films and dozens of television programs, He is probably best remembered for his role as the frustrated movie director Roscoe Dexter in Singin' in the Rain (1952), and for his regular supporting role as Doc Holliday in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. He was the father of rock and roll musician and record producer Kim Fowley.

<i>Nightfall</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by Jacques Tourneur

Nightfall is a 1956 American crime film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Aldo Ray, Brian Keith and Anne Bancroft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles D. Brown</span> American actor (1887–1948)

Charles D. Brown was an American stage and film actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Fix</span> American film and television character actor (1901–83)

Peter Paul Fix was an American film and television character actor who was best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than 100 movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career between 1925 and 1981. Fix portrayed Marshal Micah Torrance, opposite Chuck Connors's character in The Rifleman from 1958 to 1963. He later appeared with Connors in the 1966 Western film Ride Beyond Vengeance.

<i>The Comedy of Terrors</i> 1963 horror comedy film by Jacques Tourneur

The Comedy of Terrors is a 1963 American International Pictures horror comedy film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Joe E. Brown in his final film appearance. It is a blend of comedy and horror that features several cast members from Tales of Terror, a 1962 film also released by AIP.

<i>Stars in My Crown</i> (film) 1950 film by Jacques Tourneur

Stars in My Crown is a 1950 Western film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Joel McCrea as a preacher whose faith tames an unruly town by inspiring the townspeople to change. It was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Joe David Brown.

<i>Canyon Passage</i> 1946 film

Canyon Passage is a 1946 American Western film directed by Jacques Tourneur and set in frontier Oregon. It stars Dana Andrews, Susan Hayward and Brian Donlevy. Featuring love triangles and an Indian uprising, the film was adapted from the 1945 Saturday Evening Post novel Canyon Passage by Ernest Haycox. Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Jack Brooks (lyrics) were nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Ole Buttermilk Sky."

<i>Easy Living</i> (1949 film) 1949 film

Easy Living is a 1949 American drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Victor Mature, Lucille Ball and Lizabeth Scott. The film features the real-life Los Angeles Rams football team.

<i>Way of a Gaucho</i> 1952 film by Jacques Tourneur

Way of a Gaucho is a 1952 American Western drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Gene Tierney and Rory Calhoun. It was written by Philip Dunne and based on a novel by Herbert Childs.

<i>Lucky Night</i> 1939 American comedy film directed by Norman Taurog

Lucky Night (1939) is a comedy movie from MGM starring Robert Taylor and Myrna Loy, directed by Norman Taurog.

<i>Bullet Scars</i> 1942 film by D. Ross Lederman

Bullet Scars is a 1942 American film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It was directed by D. Ross Lederman with top-billed stars Regis Toomey, Adele Longmire and Howard da Silva.

<i>The Winning Ticket</i> 1935 film by Charles Reisner

The Winning Ticket is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and starring Leo Carrillo, Louise Fazenda, and Ted Healy. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>The Fearmakers</i> 1958 film by Jacques Tourneur

The Fearmakers is a 1958 American film noir crime film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews. The screenplay is based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Darwin Teilhet. The film centers on seemingly nonpartisan political messages that are shaped by a public-relations firm secretly controlled by communists determined to undermine the American government.

<i>The Man Who Lived Twice</i> 1936 film by Harry Lachman

The Man Who Lived Twice is a 1936 American crime film directed by Harry Lachman and starring Ralph Bellamy, Marian Marsh and Thurston Hall. It was remade as Man in the Dark in 1953.

<i>Reward Unlimited</i> 1944 American film

Reward Unlimited is a short film produced in 1944 by David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films, for the United States Public Health Service, dramatizing the need for volunteer military nurses for the U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. Directed by Jacques Tourneur, the 10-minute film stars Dorothy McGuire in one of her first films. The story by Mary C. McCall, Jr., dramatizes the choice that young Peggy Adams makes to become a nurse, her training, and her volunteering for military nursing service. The cast includes Aline MacMahon, James Brown, Spring Byington and Tom Tully.

<i>Rupture</i> (2016 film) 2016 American film

Rupture is a 2016 American science fiction horror thriller film directed by Steven Shainberg and starring Noomi Rapace.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Doctors Don't Tell". American Film Institute . Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Rep's Next Biggie". Variety. 26 April 1939. p. 14.
  3. 1 2 Fujiwara 1998, p. 70.
  4. ↑ Fujiwara 1998, p. 302.
  5. ↑ Fujiwara 1998, p. 303.
  6. ↑ Fujiwara 1998, p. 71.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.