"A cigarette before a tonsillectomy is always welcome," says Dr. Ellis (Robert Taylor), to which a nurse (Virginia Bruce) brightly counters with, "A cigarette before and after a tonsillectomy is even more welcome!" Whereupon Taylor blithely lights a match on a skull decorating his desk. This complete disregard of the dangers of smoking may not have been all that unusual in 1935, but the exchange still sounds artificial at best. Society Doctor, in fact, is wholly artificial, from the blustery hospital director, played with all the hot air at his disposal by Raymond Walburn, to the Max Factored floor nurses giggling at young Dr. Ellis' supposedly witty repartee. Throw in a couple of wisecracking reporters, a paralyzed policeman, the gangster who got him in that position, and a heroic doctor (Chester Morris) who oversees his own life-threatening operation, and you have a typically farfetched B-movie, MGM-style. Happily, the cast also includes Billie Burke at her fluttery best and whenever she is present, which is not often enough, Society Doctor suddenly springs to life.