Saturday, June 25, 2022

The Medicine Man (1930)

IMDb plot summary: The son and daughter of an abusive shopkeeper turn to a medicine show salesman for help.
Directed by Scott Pembroke. Starring Jack Benny, Betty Bronson, and E. Alyn Warren.

The Medicine Man tells the story of a young woman who works for her overbearing father in his store, but then she falls in love with a swindler from a traveling circus, played by Jack Benny. There's really very little to this movie -- there is some light conflict where she worries that her father will not let her leave or will treat her younger brother badly if she does, but overall the stakes are pretty light and it's mostly just people wandering around the traveling circus. It was one of those movies where I could feel myself forgetting about it while I was in the middle of watching it. For some of the other ones in this project, I've been able to lean into an interesting film history component even when I've been bored by the narrative, but there wasn't much to grasp onto for this one. There's just nothing remarkable or worth caring about in this one.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Medicine Man < Frank
The Medicine Man < Madeline
The Medicine Man > Lady in Cement
The Medicine Man < Spider-Man 3
The Medicine Man > Little Italy
The Medicine Man > Hannibal
The Medicine Man < Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging
The Medicine Man < Brokeback Mountain
The Medicine Man < Marathon Man
The Medicine Man < Paramount on Parade
The Medicine Man < You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
The Medicine Man < Maggie's Plan
Final spot: #2972 out of 3590, or 17%.

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