Summary
Jimmie is a desperate man on the edge of professional ruin. After a catastrophic journalistic error leads to his immediate firing, he is offered a singular, high-stakes path to redemption: infiltrate a sanitarium and secure a photograph of the reclusive Dr. Paine and his high-profile patient, 'Soapy Bill.' Jimmie arrives to find his competitors literally being tossed out the door, prompting him to adopt a risky persona. He poses as the patient himself, only to be intercepted by four men who claim to be the facility's leading physicians. What Jimmie doesn't realize is that these men are actually patients who have usurped control, and each is eager to prove their radical 'cure' is superior. The result is a grueling gauntlet of pseudo-medical torture, ranging from bone-snapping chiropractic adjustments to a near-fatal stint in a steam cabinet. As Jimmie survives the madness and secures his prize, a final twist involving a rival female reporter reminds him that in the news business, the competition is often more dangerous than the patients.
Synopsis
Jimmie, a young newspaper man, has just been fired for a grave error in reporting-and the editor is still sore. As the ex-reporter is leaving the office, stretcher-bearers carry in another reporter who had been sent to get a photograph of the famous Doctor Paine and his patient, "Soapy Bill." The editor calls Jimmie back and tells him that if he can get those photographs he can have his job back. Jimmie gets to the sanitarium just in time to see a half dozen other reporters thrown out-and he decides to use strategy. He enters and is met by four doctors. They ask him if he is "Soapy Bill" and Jimmie says that he is. The four doctors decide to cure him and each takes turns with his favorite method. Each of the doctors is jealous of the others and they individually conspire to prove that each of the others is wrong, and Jimmie is given four courses of treatment calculated to cure his burglarious tendencies. Hypnotism fail. The next doctor tries chiropractic treatments and Jimmie twisted into more curves than a pretzel. Electric treatments also fail. The last doctor is a believer in steam treatments and Jimmie is locked in a steam cabinet nearly roasted alive before he makes off with cabinet and all. As he rushes into the hall the real Doctor Paine makes his appearance and explains that the four "doctors" are "nut" patients of his and in apology offers to do anything he can for Jimmie to square accounts. Jimmie asks for his photograph-but forgets all about it in his interest in a girl reporter there on the same errand.
