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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Only if you really dig early sound-era curiosities or if you have a weird obsession with how Swedish people dressed for dinner in 1930. Most people will probably find it way too slow and stiff. If you want a fast-moving plot, stay far away from this one.
I sat down with Doktorns hemlighet thinking it might be a hidden gem. It is more like a dusty marble you found under a radiator. It is based on a play by J.M. Barrie, and boy, can you tell. People walk into rooms and stand in spots that feel like they were marked with literal chalk on the floor.
Märta Ekström plays Lillian, and she has these very intense eyes. She spends a lot of the movie looking like she is about to cry or perhaps just remembered she left the stove on at home. Her husband, Richard, is played by Ivan Hedqvist. He’s the kind of guy who probably complains that the air is too loud. He is just... mean. Not in a fun movie villain way, but in a 'I'm going to ruin this dinner party' way.
The banquet scene is where I started to lose my mind a little bit. It feels like it lasts about three years. Everyone is sitting there in their tuxedos and gowns, and the silence is that heavy, scratchy 1930s silence where you can hear the film grain humming. I noticed one extra in the background who looked like he was genuinely terrified of his soup.
Then Hugo Paton shows up. He is the love interest. Lillian falls for him, which makes sense because her husband is basically a human rain cloud. Their chemistry is... okay? It’s very polite. Even when they are being scandalous, they seem like they are worried about wrinkling their shirts. It reminds me a bit of the vibe in The Ladybird, but with less of a pulse.
The movie is called The Doctor's Secret, and Hugo Björne plays the doctor. He has a very impressive mustache. It’s the kind of mustache that demands its own billing in the credits. He’s there to provide the 'weight' to the story, I guess. He mostly just looks concerned and professional while people make bad life choices around him.
I kept waiting for the 'secret' to be something wild. It isn't exactly a plot twist that will make you drop your popcorn. It is more of a moral dilemma that feels very 'theater' and not very 'cinema.' If you’ve seen Playing with Fire, you know how these early Swedish dramas love their heavy moralizing.
There is this one shot where Lillian is looking at a clock. The camera stays on her for so long that I started counting the ticks. I think the director wanted us to feel her despair, but mostly I just felt like I needed to check my own watch. It’s that early talkie problem where nobody knew when to cut the scene.
Compared to something like Honey or Fast Company, this feels very old-fashioned. Even for 1930. It doesn't have that snappy American energy. It’s very European, very serious, and very beige in its emotions. I think I preferred the weirdness of The Uneasy Three over this, even if that one was a bit of a mess too.
I will say this though: the costumes are genuinely great. If you like looking at silk and lace, you’ll have a good time for about twenty minutes. After that, you might start wishing someone would just trip over a rug or tell a joke. Nobody tells jokes in this movie. It is a very joke-free zone.
There is a moment toward the end where the tension is supposed to be high, but the way the actors move is so deliberate it almost looks like slow motion. One guy reaches for a door handle like he’s trying to catch a fly. It made me laugh, which I don't think was the point.
Anyway, if you’re bored and want to see what Swedish high society looked like when sound was still a new toy, give it a go. Just don’t expect to be on the edge of your seat. You’ll be lucky if you stay in your seat at all without nodding off during the long silences.
It’s a small movie. A quiet one. Maybe too quiet. But Märta Ekström really does try her best with the material she was given. I've seen worse from this era, like Star Dust Trail, which was just a slog. This at least has a bit of atmosphere even if it’s the atmosphere of a very damp basement.
IMDb 5.2
1928
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