The Country Doctor (1936)

Jean Hersholt tackles the role of a country doctor, a role that would eventually metamorphose into Dr. Christian, a series that would occupy him for the rest of his life in a B movie series, on radio, and even in one episode of a television series, cut short by his untimely death.

Here, directed by Henry King -- a brilliant jack-of-all-trades, but whose métier was the rural comedy-drama, starting with TOL'ABLE David -- and supported by a great cast including John Qualen, Montague Love, Jane Darwell and Slim Summerville, Hersholt is not precisely the star -- there are the usual youngsters involved with falling in love -- because this was intended as a publicity-driven programmer and the Dionne Quintuplets are actually top-billed. But everyone runs things through expertly and Jean Herholt was born to play this role.