Knock (1951)
Directed by Guy Lefranc

Film Review

Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine, a play written by Jules Romains, was one of Louis Jouvet's many theatrical successes in the 1920s.  The actor co-directed the first screen adaptation of the play in 1933 with Roger Goupillières, whilst naturally playing the principal role.  He then reprised the part in a subsequent remake almost twenty years later, this time with Guy Lefranc in the directing seat.  Lefranc started out as an assistant to Marcel Carné and Jean Renoir before making a name for himself in the 1950s with a series of popular comedies, including several featuring the popular performer Fernand Raynaud (La Bande à papa, Fernand Cow-boy).

In his second film, Lefranc turns in a fairly enjoyable entertainment in which Jouvet (better known as a serious dramatic actor in such films as Hôtel du nord) shows his flair for burlesque comedy.  Assisted by a talented ensemble that includes such notable performers as Jean Brochard, Pierre Renoir, Jean Carmet and Jane Marken, Jouvet appears to be in his element, fielding gags with aplomb in this mischievous satire on the medical profession.  The slickness of the lead actor's performance betrays his personal reservations over the film, concerns that frequently brought him into conflict with his young and inexperienced director.

Knock suffers from the same failing as many similar screen adaptations of popular stage plays - it struggles to free itself from the theatrical nature of its source material  Lefranc's ambitions were clearly no more than to deliver a filmed play, but in doing so opportunities for greater visual impact are lost.  Today, the film appears painfully static, totally lacking in cinematic artistry.  Fortunately, this obvious shortcoming is more than compensated by the quality of the script and the exuberance of the performers, who make this a deliciously wicked satire on the mutually parasitic relationship that is bound to develop between a medical practitioner and his patients.

Film Synopsis

Dr Knock is a firm believer that medicine is the greatest of human achievements, and it is with eager anticipation that he takes over his new practice in the picturesque French village of St-Maurice.  His predecessor, Dr Parpalaïd, has recently moved to a new practice in Lyon, and has omitted tell the good Dr Knock that the reason for his move was that he had virtually no patients in the village.  It seems that everyone in the locality is in a remarkably good state of health, and this is partly because no one wants to pay for medical treatment.

Dr Knock isn't a man who admits defeat readily, so he offers each and every villager a free consultation.  Naturally, everyone in the area takes up the offer, and each is surprised when the doctor diagnoses a serious illness.  In next to no time, all of the villagers are convinced they are seriously ill and hastily take to their beds.  Even Dr Parpalaïd, during a brief return to the village, is persuaded he has fallen ill!  So much for the first stage of Dr Knock's scheme.  Now it is time for him to put his medical training to good use...