Last month Steve Ainsworth wrote about Jane Austen’s view of dentistry from the early 19th century. In this issue we are jumping forward and taking a quick view of how the dental visit was portrayed in the 20th century through the medium of film.
It’s a gas
As early as 1910 there was a film about a dentist. The Avenging Dentist saw thieves break into the safe in a dentist’s waiting room (where else would you put a safe?) whilst he is tending to a patient. The dentist heard about the robbery though and quickly planned his revenge. Luring the thieves into the dental chair he then went on to inflict hideous oral torture on them. By the end of the film they are begging for the police to arrive. It may not sound like it, but the film was a comedy.
Three years later there was another dentist related feature, this time more scenario based comedy than slapstick, Cupid in a Dental Parlour. In this story, a young dentist (rumoured to be played by Harold Lloyd making his film debut, although he was not officially credited) is in love with a girl, but her father doesn’t approve of the match. At the next appointment Harold takes the opportunity to gas the father and goes off and elopes with the daughter. Obviously the ethics are questionable here; maybe the character just misunderstood the meaning of ‘the daughter test’.
With Painless Pain (1926) it was back to slapstick humour. A struggling young dentist’s fiancé comes up with a novel marketing idea, one that guarantees an increase in demand for dental services. She hires a thug to go around beating people up (and of course knocking a few teeth out) then drops her husband-to-be’s business card into their pocket. I’m sure this film could be re-made quite easily, although to keep up to date the thug would have to just threaten rather than actually assault his victims – it is all about prevention now after all!
The legendary Laurel and Hardy dabbled with dentistry with Leave ‘em Laughing (1928). The film’s opening title card asking what is “worse than an aching tooth at three in the morning?” – the answer, “two of them”. Stan is suffering from two aching teeth and his moaning is keeping his bedfellow awake (something surprisingly easy to convey despite the fact the film was
silent). After an unsuccessful attempt to pull the tooth himself (the string tied to the door method also used by Buster Keaton in 1920’s The Scarecrow), Olly takes Stan to the place “where brave men’s hearts go pit-a-pat – the dentist’s office”. After the dentist mistakenly pulls Olly’s tooth the pair’s squabbling leads to an accident with the nitrous oxide. They leave the practice and laughing hysterically try to drive their car away, much to the distress of the local traffic officer who has to deal with the accidents which follow.
Laughing gas was used again nearly 50 years later in The Pink Panther Strikes Again. Inspector Clueso (played by Peter Sellers) goes undercover as a dentist to gain access to the ex-police chief turned criminal Charles Dreyfus. Misuse of the nitrous oxide leads to both characters in hysterics as an extraction takes place. Clueso’s melting disguise nose and pulling of the wrong tooth blows his cover.
Talkie era
In 1932 WC Fields starred in the title role of the talkie The Dentist. Misanthropic, insensitive and generally unpleasant, Fields is more interested in cheating at golf than treating patients. When he finally does get into his practice he wrestles with a female patient whilst trying to extract a tooth “Tell me, have you ever had this tooth pulled before?”
The scene originally showed the lady wrapping her legs around Fields but this was considered too risqué by the censors and cut. The next patient is a man whose beard is so big and bushy Fields spends a good couple of minutes rummaging around trying to find the mouth. (If this kind of scene sounds too ridiculous to be funny for you then skip the next paragraph – it’s the Three Stooges.)
Twice did the slapstick team of the Three Stooges take on the subject of dentistry. In All the World’s a Stooge (1941) they play janitors; one of them is mistaken for Dr I Yankum and forced to treat a patient. Industrial drills, industrial cement and dynamite are all in use as they bungle their way to a successful treatment. Ten years later the trio starred in The Tooth Will Out – where following a chase they hide in an open building which happens to be a dental school. After studying for a week, paying $5 (and creating a set of talking false teeth) they are given their dental diploma. If only it were that simple to qualify nowadays!
Back over this side of the pond dentistry was the theme of a low budget 1961 film starring Bob Monkhouse and Kenneth Connor. Dentist on the Job sees two young dental students get into trouble when inadvertently purchasing stolen dental equipment. Whilst not being the best story in the world the dentists themselves are portrayed in a much more positive light than other films and the comedy is more witty than silly.
Serious business
Dentistry wasn’t only used for the sake of comedy in 20th century cinema of course. Alfred Hitchcock, the godfather of thrillers, utilised the dental chair in 1934’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. Here a dental practice is the secret meeting place of a criminal band. To gain access to them the film’s lead character pretends to have toothache and submits himself to a dental examination. Even nearly 80 years on the scene is still gripping; and reportedly had a huge impact on John Schlesinger – the director of Marathon Man, the film with arguably the most memorable dental scene in 20th century
cinema. It is perhaps a little worrying how easily a dental examination can be turned into a scene of terror. The position of the dentist and patient is one of extreme dominance for the former, there is a bright light shining down into the face of the latter whilst all around there are instruments of potential pain and torture. In Marathon Man there is the added effect of confusion as Laurence Olivier’s dentist character continually asks his ‘patient’ “Is it safe?”. The lack of comprehension of the question for the patient makes it all the more terrifying and horrible. There may be a lesson there about effective communication.
In 20th century film not all dental patients are scared though. In the 1960 version of The Little Shop of Horrors Jack Nicholson plays Wilbur Force, the masochist patient who gets a thrill out of dental pain: “You know most people don’t like to go to the dentist but I rather enjoy it myself, don’t you? I mean there’s a real feeling of growth, of progress, when that old drill goes in - haha!”
In the 1986 version of the story Steve Martin plays the dentist Orin Scrivello. He is abusive and sadistic, like the lead in The Avenging Dentist. But while 1910’s character appeared in a silent movie, Steve Martin’s dentist was in a musical. He gets his own introduction song which explains that it was his sadistic nature which drew him to dentistry. I’m sure there aren’t many patients that will see that film and believe it to be the main motivating factor for most dental careers, but the song is undeniably catchy and does stay in your head.
Dentists and dentistry was used by film-makers throughout the course of the 20th century. This is unsurprising perhaps as the dental visit is an experience (almost) all viewers will be able to associate with. Of course the film’s portrayal of dentistry is exaggerated for effect, but for them to work they must have a base audiences can draw from. The recurring themes throughout the 20th century are nervous patients and the threat and reality of dental pain. I wonder if the 21st century’s representation of dentistry will be more positive - rather than a cruel Lawrence Olivier asking “is it safe?” the over-riding image for film goers in this century might be a friendly character telling them that it is.