Amazon.com: Dr. Jack [VHS] : Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, John T. Prince, Eric Mayne, C. Norman Hammond, Anna Townsend, Charles Stevenson, Jackie Condon, Mickey Daniels, Joy Winthrop, Richard Daniels, James T. Kelley, Oscar Morgan, Florence Mayon, William Gillespie, Dorothy Vernon, 'Auntie' Mackay, Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor: Movies & TV

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

One of Harold Lloyd's less-familiar features, this is a charming comedy about a small-town doctor who prescribes common sense and good humor for his patients. He takes on the case of the "Sick Little Well Girl," who's been needlessly kept as an invalid by her wealthy family. Dr. Jack revives her spirits with a healthy dose of excitement in the form of an escaped maniac loose in the house at midnight... actually the doctor in disguise. Mildred Davis and "Our Gang's" Mickey Daniels are featured. Included as a bonus is Lloyd's two-reel comedy short, Number, Please? (1920). Both films are presented complete, with original organ scores by Bob Vaughn.

Amazon.com

The title character of Dr. Jack is a small-town physician (Harold Lloyd) with a knack for nonmedical solutions--he cures one patient by giving him a saxophone, another with boxing lessons. When he tricks a big-city lawyer into visiting his sweet old mother and lifting her depression, the lawyer asks the good doctor to visit the daughter of an old and wealthy friend, a young girl whose malady is unspecified but provides a substantial income to a quack named Dr. von Saulsbourg. Naturally, when Dr. Jack and the girl meet, romantic sparks fly; but when they accidentally kiss, the girl's shocked father insists that Jack leave in the morning. With only one night to rescue his beloved from von Saulsbourg's clutches, Jack realizes that what she needs more than anything else is excitement--and to provide it, he disguises himself as an escaped convict, leading the household on a topsy-turvy chase through the mansion. Harold Lloyd doesn't have the balletic grace of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, but he's got his own understated charm and a knack for witty, inventive stunts. The accompanying short ("Number, Please?") may be even more fun than the main feature; Lloyd plays a brokenhearted guy trying to forget his troubles in an amusement park, where he runs into his former sweetheart and her new beau. Finding the girl's lost dog and stolen purse seems simple enough, but in Lloyd's world the simplest things produce the most astonishing complications. A delightful snippet of silent comedy. --Bret Fetzer

Product details

Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.32 x 4.19 x 1.12 inches; 6.13 Ounces
Director ‏ : ‎ Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 33 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ March 21, 1999
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 9, 2007
Actors ‏ : ‎ Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, John T. Prince, Eric Mayne, C. Norman Hammond
Studio ‏ : ‎ Unknown Video
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00004OCYI

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The Doctor is in

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 12, 2002

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As Leonard Maltin states, this is one of Harold Lloyd's lesser known features, and only slightly weaker than his more familiar fare. I'm sure the plot was well-suited for the "roaring 20s": out with the old stuffy shirts, in with the new, carefree way of thinking. The short, NUMBER, PLEASE and the feature are both Harold Lloyd Lite, but it's safe subject material for laughs. NUMBER, PLEASE is two long gags, one with a lost/stolen purse and one with a telephone booth, both of which are ingenious. A personal enjoyment, I love seeing old footage of amusement parks, so that was an added pleasure. The subject matter of DR. JACK lends itself to numerous gags, and after Lloyd milks every joke out of the "Good Doctor" and "Sick Little Well Girl" bits, he parades as an escaped convict to keep the fun going.
The two currently available Harold Lloyd silents on Amazon are GRANDMA'S BOY and DR. JACK. Plot-wise, GRANDMA'S BOY is much stronger, which leads to gags that really sock your funny bone, making it a more satisfying film. Can't help but notice that Lloyd had a hand in writing GRANDMA'S BOY, but not DR. JACK. Perhaps this is why it's lacking the heart of the former? Concerning the technical aspect, this DR. JACK print is in slightly better shape then GRANDMA'S BOY, but not by much. One final comparison, Anna Townsend is back as another "Granny" character in JACK, but has significantly less screen time and doesn't get the opportunity to chase off an old hobo with a broom ... take that for whatever it's worth to you.
As the Amazon editorial comment above states, Lloyd's gags don't contain the balletic grace of Chaplin or Keaton, but that makes his style all the more appealing to me. Lloyd's character was famous (for awhile in the 1920s, even more profittable at the box office then Chaplin's & Keaton's characters) because he represented the "everyman", someone you could imagine meeting in real life. He was a normal guy, sometimes down on his luck, trying to win the girl -- and how many normal guys do YOU know who have "balletic grace"? There are plenty of Keaton films out there to keep us satisfied in that arena. And Lloyd did try the Chaplin route with his Lonesome Luke character which ended up being a rather significant flop. Just enjoy Lloyd for what he is -- energetic, charming, surprisingly clever, and thankfully different then the other two great silent comedians. Vive la difference!

Format	Black & White, NTSC, Silent, Full length
Contributor	Harold Lloyd, Jackie Condon, Florence Mayon, Dorothy Vernon, Fred C. Newmeyer, Charles Stevenson, Joy Winthrop, Richard Daniels, Eric Mayne, William Gillespie, John T. Prince, Mickey Daniels, Sam Taylor, Anna Townsend, Oscar Morgan, Mildred Davis, James T. Kelley, C. Norman Hammond, 'Auntie' Mackay See more
Runtime	1 hour and 33 minutes