Author:
Simulacrum
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Date:
2/4/2021 6:35:26 AM
Subject:
RE: doctor robinson
Well, it had good performances by Stanwyck and the newcomer Clark Gable. Some of the social manipulation was interesting. To me, though, it just doesn't wear as well as Stanwyck's (or director William Wellman's) later work. A lot of the funniest moments are unintentional (especially the medical ones involving things like milk baths and blood transfusions), though you do sort of get wrapped up in Stanwyck's dilemma with the kids. Gable made the most of a villainous part. Everybody else was sort of forgettable, especially the males, but this was the result of Hollywood "talkies made quick" thinking -- you had handsome, reassuring doctors, quasi-comical riffraff, etc. I think it must have been a reasonably worthwhile way to pass an evening in the early '30s, but today its drama is mostly amusing because so many operatic things keep piling on top of each other. 3/5
