The Country Doctor
About The Country Doctor
Doctor Harcourt, played by Frank Powell, is treating his daughter Edith, played by Gladys Egan, when a poor mother, played by Kate Bruce, begs him to come to her child, who is worse. His wife, played by Florence Lawrence, sends the maid twice to bring him home. The other mother holds his arm. He stays, that girl lives, and he returns too late to save Edith. The last shot pans from the house back to the fields.
Cast & crew
More about The Country Doctor
D. W. Griffith wrote and directed. G. W. Bitzer photographed it. Biograph released it on July 8, 1909. The original length is 942 feet, listed at 15 minutes. Mary Pickford plays the poor mother's elder daughter. Adele DeGarde plays the sick child. Rose King plays the maid. None of the players is credited on the film.
Themes
Look
G. W. Bitzer opens with a slow pan over the Harcourt place and closes with a pan from the house back to the fields.
Preservation
In the public domain in the United States. Prints are at the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.
Notes
- The release date is July 8, 1909.
- Pickford plays the elder daughter in the poor family, not Edith.
- Prints are at the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.
- The opening and closing shots are slow pans across the same countryside.
Scenes
- The poor mother catches the doctor's arm when he tries to leave her child.
- He comes home after Edith is already dead, and the pan leaves the house.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheCountryDoctor)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Country Doctor (1909).webm)
