THE MEDICINE MAN (Tiffany Studios, 1930), directed by Scott Pembroke, is not a story about a doctor and his rare medicine discovery for some rare disease. It's actually a minor little melodrama dealing about a carnival man whose profession is never giving suckers an even break by selling tonic bottles for one dollar. While such a story might have starred such silent film comedians as W.C. Fields, Harry Langdon or Lloyd Hamilton getting a fresh start in the new medium of talking movies, THE MEDICINE MAN, in fact, gives the acting honor over to a relatively newcomer by the name of Jack Benny, the same Jack Benny of vaudeville, radio and later television. Having made his movie debut as master of ceremonies in the all-star musical, THE HOLLYWOOD REVUE OF 1929 (MGM, 1929), followed by a backstage musical, CHASING RAINBOWS (MGM, 1930), starring Bessie Love, Benny gets his first leading role not for a major studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but one for a poverty-row one (Tiffany Studios). Though most famous for comedy, Benny, usually a straight man surrounded by comical gags, basically plays it straight in an offbeat production such as this.
The story unfolds in a small town grocery store where Mamie Goltz (Betty Bronson) and her younger brother, Buddy (Billy Butts) work for their widower father (E. Alyn Warren) helping with the stock. Also working for Goltz is a young man named Gus (Vadim Vraneff). Goltz, however, happens to be an abusive foreign-born father who whips his children whenever things don't go his way. Entering the scene is Doctor John H. Harvey (Jack Benny), a medicine man in a sideshow parading down the street in his automobile to a crowd of cheering country folks, including Mamie, with whom John, the titled medicine man, takes an interest. He later comes into the store to offer her tickets to attend his side show that night. Though Goltz does give Mamie and Buddy permission to go, after finding a record broken earlier by Buddy, as punishment, he sends them both upstairs to bed. Though they manage to sneak away the backdoor entrance to attend the show, Miss Wilson (Dorothea Wolbert) and Hattie (Caroline Rankin), a couple of snoops, notices them in attendance and do their duty by notifying their father. Miss Wilson tells on Mamie again later on when she catches her and Harvey along together kissing. After Mamie is brutally whipped by Goltz, and not wanting his daughter to have anything more to do with the medicine man, he allows to have Peter (Adolph Milner), a fellow middle-age widower with children, a man whom Mamie detests, to marry her against her will.
While THE MEDICINE MAN includes certain scenes that comes as a reminder of an old-fashioned silent melodrama, namely D.W. Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919) in regards of child abuse, its theme in present might have already seemed out of date even by 1930. E. Alyn Warren as an accented peaking father, is definitely no threat to Donald Crisp's brutal performance in BROKEN BLOSSOMS, though he is one father who brings fear to his children to not send him a Father's Day card, plus bitter anger to the hired hand whenever his anger gets the better of him. Granted, for a Jack Benny movie, THE MEDICINE MAN is not a comedy, which would be a disappointment to his fans. At the same time, his most avid followers would see how he performs himself in a dramatic story out of curiosity mainly because he's in it. Though some of the Jack Benny style can be found here, especially during his side show performances, most of the humor goes to Tom Dugan and George E. Stone as Benny's associates. Aside from humorously keeping a gold-digger, Hilda (Eva Novak) away from Harvey, they do a comedy take by cheating customers of their change after selling medicine bottles. His similar style of cheating suckers of their money was done better and most famously by Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello comedy team a decade later. Dugan also gets to cheat his sucker in card games where he always comes out a ahead, maybe. Dugan and Stone briefly do a comical song that stirs few chuckles from its audience before Benny steps in with his sales pitch of his tonic bottles.
Sadly, circulating 66 minute prints contain poor visuals and occasional jump cuts indicating some minor missing material, especially during the carnival sequence. Virtually forgotten and unknown even to film scholars, regardless of some availability, including video cassette and some broadcasts on public television during the late night hours in the 1990s, THE MEDICINE MAN gets by on its own merits, especially when Jack Benny films are concerned. (** elixers)
The story unfolds in a small town grocery store where Mamie Goltz (Betty Bronson) and her younger brother, Buddy (Billy Butts) work for their widower father (E. Alyn Warren) helping with the stock. Also working for Goltz is a young man named Gus (Vadim Vraneff). Goltz, however, happens to be an abusive foreign-born father who whips his children whenever things don't go his way. Entering the scene is Doctor John H. Harvey (Jack Benny), a medicine man in a sideshow parading down the street in his automobile to a crowd of cheering country folks, including Mamie, with whom John, the titled medicine man, takes an interest. He later comes into the store to offer her tickets to attend his side show that night. Though Goltz does give Mamie and Buddy permission to go, after finding a record broken earlier by Buddy, as punishment, he sends them both upstairs to bed. Though they manage to sneak away the backdoor entrance to attend the show, Miss Wilson (Dorothea Wolbert) and Hattie (Caroline Rankin), a couple of snoops, notices them in attendance and do their duty by notifying their father. Miss Wilson tells on Mamie again later on when she catches her and Harvey along together kissing. After Mamie is brutally whipped by Goltz, and not wanting his daughter to have anything more to do with the medicine man, he allows to have Peter (Adolph Milner), a fellow middle-age widower with children, a man whom Mamie detests, to marry her against her will.
While THE MEDICINE MAN includes certain scenes that comes as a reminder of an old-fashioned silent melodrama, namely D.W. Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919) in regards of child abuse, its theme in present might have already seemed out of date even by 1930. E. Alyn Warren as an accented peaking father, is definitely no threat to Donald Crisp's brutal performance in BROKEN BLOSSOMS, though he is one father who brings fear to his children to not send him a Father's Day card, plus bitter anger to the hired hand whenever his anger gets the better of him. Granted, for a Jack Benny movie, THE MEDICINE MAN is not a comedy, which would be a disappointment to his fans. At the same time, his most avid followers would see how he performs himself in a dramatic story out of curiosity mainly because he's in it. Though some of the Jack Benny style can be found here, especially during his side show performances, most of the humor goes to Tom Dugan and George E. Stone as Benny's associates. Aside from humorously keeping a gold-digger, Hilda (Eva Novak) away from Harvey, they do a comedy take by cheating customers of their change after selling medicine bottles. His similar style of cheating suckers of their money was done better and most famously by Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello comedy team a decade later. Dugan also gets to cheat his sucker in card games where he always comes out a ahead, maybe. Dugan and Stone briefly do a comical song that stirs few chuckles from its audience before Benny steps in with his sales pitch of his tonic bottles.
Sadly, circulating 66 minute prints contain poor visuals and occasional jump cuts indicating some minor missing material, especially during the carnival sequence. Virtually forgotten and unknown even to film scholars, regardless of some availability, including video cassette and some broadcasts on public television during the late night hours in the 1990s, THE MEDICINE MAN gets by on its own merits, especially when Jack Benny films are concerned. (** elixers)