Dr. Socrates (1935)

Just before Paul Muni got his chance to play the titled doctor in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935), the role which earned him his Best Actor Academy Award, he played the title role in this crime drama, as Dr. Lee Cardwell. William Dieterle directed both films; their other two collaborations were also titled roles for the actor: in the Oscar winning Best Picture The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and as Juarez (1939).This film's story was written by W.R. Burnett, who'd provided continuity for an earlier Muni title role, Scarface (1932); Mary McCall Jr. adapted it and Robert Lord, who provided the story for Muni's Bordertown (1935), wrote the screenplay.Dr. Cardwell (Muni) now lives in Big Ben, "the biggest small town" in an Ohio county, because as a big city surgeon he'd lost his nerve when he couldn't save his fiancée's life; she'd been critically injured in an automobile accident after a fight with him. Despite the urging of two of his former colleagues (one played by Samuel Hinds), he refuses to return to his practice, instead continuing to "hide out" in a small town community "run" by another gregarious doctor named Ginder (Robert Barrat), making it difficult for moody Cardwell to find patients. Dr. Ginder has dubbed him Dr. Socrates because his nose is always in books written by foreign scholars. Cardwell lives with Ma Ganson (Helen Lowell), who treats him like a son and allows his rent to be overdue.The action really begins when a local boy now big city gangster Red Bastian (Barton MacLane) returns home to hide out, and have Cardwell treat his bullet wound. Though Cardwell refuses payment, Red leaves him a C note ($100) which, because of his desperate financial condition - especially with the grocer, Cardwell deposits. Banker Ben Suggs (Raymond Brown) doesn't particularly like Ginder and befriends Cardwell, who agrees to visit Suggs's hypochondriac daughter Caroline (Grace Stafford) and helps to "cure" her.While Red and his gang are on their way to another job, they pick up a hitchhiker named Josephine 'Jo' Gray (Ann Dvorak), but she escapes during the holdup making some think she was a moll even though Red had shot her in the shoulder after she'd run. Cardwell helps her and takes her to his office to treat her wound against Ginder's protestations. Later, when Jo is cleared by the Sheriff et al, Cardwell asks her to stay because he's formed an affection for her, one which is mutual.When Red's arm that had been shot starts to hurt again per an infection, he has his gang kidnap the doctor and bring him blindfolded to their hideout. Afterwards though, Cardwell sees Bob Catlett (Olin Howland), and vice versa, and figures out where he's been. This is important because Red in turn has Jo kidnapped such that Cardwell decides that he must save her (from the fate of becoming a moll and) for himself. This happens at virtually the same time that G-man Greer (Henry O'Neill) et al have arrived in town to find and apprehend, or kill while trying, Red and his gang.Ma pleads with Greer to wait until 1 AM to rush the Catlett place; meanwhile, Cardwell is inside because he'd convinced Red that the Feds were after him per the C note from Red they'd traced to him. Because Catlett had questioned him about typhoid fever per one of his neighbor's earlier, Cardwell persuades Red and his gang to submit to an injection which is ostensibly a vaccine but will really put them to sleep for 12 hours.Of course there's a last minute raid and gun battle with the G-men. Red is killed in the shootout whereas Jo and Cardwell survive so that they can be together in the end; Ginder and the rest of the town sing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" to Cardwell.Hobart Cavanaugh plays a busybody pharmacist-soda jerk and Mayo Methot plays Red's moll Muggsy; Dick Elliot and Grady Sutton, as a grocery clerk, appear uncredited as does Marc Lawrence, as the gangster named Lefty.

Ann Dvorak first hit Hollywood as a choreographer and dancer but once she broke out of the chorus line and into dramatic parts she made an immediate impact. With her intensity and ravishing beauty she could have spent her career being an adornment in any film she was placed in but she was a fine actress and wanted better parts and treatment - unfortunately she received neither. Warners lost interest in their feisty star and started putting her into any film that came along. There were duds (she must have cringed when she recalled her part in "Heat Lightning") but there were also some interesting ones. "Dr. Socrates" had her starring with Paul Muni who in the 1930s was Warner's most important star even though Robinson and Cagney were far more popular.This is a great little movie about a small town doctor jokingly called "Dr. Socrates" by the local wags because he always has his head in a book and Jo (Dvorak), a young hitch-hiker, who unwittingly finds a ride into town with the local bad boy turned vicious gangster, Red Bastian (Barton MacLane). Unfortunately for Dvorak and Muni, once MacLane hits the scene there is no room for anyone else. Barton "why speak when shouting will do" MacLane is just fantastic as the "rough as guts" gangster - he never leaves centre stage, whether he is making a call on the doc to remove a bullet or holding forth among his gang (Marc Lawrence has a bit as a young punk) - even Mayo Methot as his moll "Muggsy" is no match for his brawling and brutish ways.If it wasn't for Barton and Ann, this would be just another movie about "down home folk" with a few holes. Muni's doctor doesn't have a particularly warm persona and he doesn't seem concerned when "Ma" can't pay the grocery bills. When Jo realises she is riding with bank robbers she tries to escape but is shot and taken to the doctor. For a while I thought it was going to be similar in plot to "Fury". The establishing shots had shown a lot of the town's people as narrow minded, finding the doctor a figure of fun just because he is a square peg in a round hole. Word gets out that Jo is a gun moll and there is a scene where it seems like the whole town converges on the doctor's doorstep to run Jo out of town.The last part of the movie takes place at the gang's hideout. Red has kidnapped Jo - she is going to be his girl from now on and the doctor, on finding her, realises that the hideout is in the vicinity of a typhoid outbreak. MacLane seemed to have so much fun with his role, especially when he tries to convince Jo that he can be real fun to be around while threatening to knock "Muggsy" silly!!! Terrific fun!!

Dr. Socrates (1935) *** (out of 4) Fast moving and tense film from Warner features Paul Muni in the title role of Dr. Socrates, a doctor who becomes the outcast in a small town after he helps a woman (Ann Dvorak) who accidentally got caught up with a gangster (Barton MacLane). Soon the doc and the girl begin to have feelings for one another and he must figure a way to get her away from the gangster. In an interesting bit of trivia, Muni didn't want to have anything to do with this film but agreed to do it if Warner would allow him to make THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR, which would eventually be released the same year and earn Muni the Oscar. There's also a funny joke here where Muni is talking about a book on the life of Pasteur. With that out of the way, the rest of the film is a pretty tense little gem that manages to feature some great performances and a pretty smart story. The movie might not be as respectable as some of Muni's bigger films but I thought there was enough here to easily recommend it. For starters we have Muni delivering an exceptional performance as he perfectly can play the kindness of the doctor but also show off his brains. The doctor being able to think fast on his feet plays an important part in the film and Muni makes us easily believe that he is smart enough to do what happens at the end. He also has a dry, sarcastic humor that comes off very well and he even delivers a few laughs. Dvorak isn't one of my favorites but she makes an interesting mix with Muni. MacLane isn't one you'd expect to see playing a gangster but he actually does a very good job and makes the character quite memorable with his humor and style of toughness. Fans of Humphrey Bogart will know that he and Kay Francis would remake this four years later in the bizarre KING OF THE UNDERWORLD. Bogart has another connection to this film as his first wife, Mayo Methot, plays the gangster's mole here. While this film is a lot smarter than many of the dramas from the studio, it also contain enough gunplay to please fans of their gangster pictures. The ending has one machine gun after another making for quite a big bang to go out on.

Muni was just biding his time between "important" roles when Warners made a deal with him to do this little crime melodrama, after which they would let him do one of his pet projects. So here he is as the man whose constant reading of books causes the townspeople to label him "Dr. Socrates," a name that seems to fit the soft-spoken, easy going doctor that Muni plays in a minor key.Instead of overwhelming the screen in his usual manner, he lets BARTON MacLANE give a vivid, scene-stealing performance as Big Red, a criminal wounded in a bank holdup who needs the doc's care and promises to send him more customers if he'll put a lid on treating him, instead of reporting him to the police. Fortunately, MacLane has some of the best lines in the script and ends up being the most interesting character in the whole story.ANN DVORAK is young and pretty as the hitch-hiking woman who accepts a ride from MacLane's gang and ends up being suspected of being a gang member when the gang pulls a bank robbery and she's seen fleeing from the scene. When she's hurt, she ends up in Muni's care and the rest of the story is rather predictable but entertaining.As the N.Y. Times said: "A pleasant enough melodrama" about a doctor who unwittingly gets mixed up with the mob. It's a trifle with a better than average script and some nice performances from the Warner contract players.