Oh! Doctor (1917)

“Oh Doctor!” is a 1917 American silent comedy film comprising two reels, directed and starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton. In this movie, Roscoe Arbuckle portrays a doctor who falls head over heels for a charming woman. However, the woman’s boyfriend becomes infatuated with the jewelry owned by Roscoe’s wife.

What makes this film unique is the portrayal of Buster Keaton, famously known as “The Great Stone Face,” as a highly emotional character, often displaying laughter and tears. Moreover, many of the comic mishaps involving the “child” Buster, subjected to antics by “father” Fatty, draw inspiration from Keaton’s vaudeville performances, where his real father, Joe Keaton, comically tossed young Buster around the stage, humorously depicting a dysfunctional family dynamic.

*P.S: According to the Exhibitor’s Herald, Similar to numerous American films from that era, Oh Doctor! underwent editing by both city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors mandated the removal of a scene in which a man lifts a woman’s skirt up to her knees.

We hope that does not stop you to watch the movie. Watch the full movie here:

Cast

• Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle in the role of Dr. Fatty Holepoke
• Buster Keaton portraying Junior Holepoke
• Al St. John as Snapper the Gambler
• Alice Mann playing the role of the girl or Vamp
• Alice Lake appearing as Snapper’s Maid

Oh! Doctor (1917) – Story line

Young Dr. Holepoke brings his teenage son and wife to the racetrack, where he flirts with a girl. He stabs his son’s knee so they swap seats, putting him by the girl. A tipster whispers a horse tip, which the doctor overhears.

He bets $1000 on “Lightning” with a shady man, but the horse runs backwards, costing him the money. At home, he gets a letter asking for fatally ill patients.

The tipster and girl plot to lure the doctor over. She calls about drinking shoe polish. En route, the doctor hears a soap seller’s pitch that using his soap means never needing a doctor. The doctor lets his car hit the crowd.

At the girl’s house, the doctor mixes drinks and they allude to getting intimate. The maid is visited by her policeman beau. The tipster steals from the doctor’s home but flees when spotted.

The tipster gets a tip to bet on “Romeo.” The girl shows the doctor the secret gambling den entrance and he bets.

The tipster gives the girl the doctor’s wife’s stolen necklace. She hides it as the doctor returns. Both wives arrive, causing chaos. In a policeman’s uniform, the doctor fights the tipster on the roof before he falls back inside and gets arrested.

Romeo wins big, earning the doctor a fortune, but in his police garb, he mistakenly robs the betting den and gets dragged home by his wife.