Doctor Bull

Rogers was a talented comic actor, but the films he made with Ford are drastically overrated, especially Judge Priest. Doctor Bull isn't really much of anything. It isn't funny enough to register as a comedy, and there is nothing happening dramatically either. It's probably the most inconsequential Ford this viewer has seen. It just plods along without making any kind of impression. Thankfully it's short, but only devoted Ford/Rogers fans need apply.

Nothing particularly great about this film, but I always like me some good ol' Will Rogers.

John Ford's first of three films in three years with Will Rogers. While Rogers does his thing (which ranges from amusing to heartfelt, and even occasionally laugh out loud funny), Ford uses the story of this small town doctor to meditate on the subject of "progress" and what that might actually mean.

A surprisingly heartfelt John Ford movie with Will Rogers doing a exceptional job being the old fashioned Doc Bull! It's one of them small town environments where everybody knows everybody and gossip runs wild with Rogers doing his best to keep a lid on the talk helping the people as best he can. He's a simple man while the world around him keeps changing. He's ancient, but does gives all his heart. And that comes across so beautifully under Ford's direction.