The Doctor and the Girl

Very few films were made before the 1970s with doctors and medicine as the main subjects. Hollywood had made the jump to sound movies in 1929, but the medical profession wasn't much in the public's eye – at least not in the realm of entertainment. Two films in the 1930s were mainly about doctors and medicine – "One Man's Journey," in 1933, and "Magnificent Obsession," in 1935. Both films had major stars of the time and were successes, but their plots were very serious. Film historians have said that Hollywood thought the public was too wary of somber subjects. People living through the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II needed more light-hearted entertainment. Having fun helped take their minds off their troubles for a while. So, comedy, romance, mystery and musicals best fit the bill for the film industry at the time. But, with the end of WW II, movie interests began to expand.

One of the very first films focused on doctors and medicine was this 1949 MGM movie, "The Doctor and the Girl." It may have piqued the interest in other quarters for more such stories. A British film, "White Corridors," came out in 1951, and in 1954, a remake of "Magnificent Obsession" scored another box office hit. Interest in medical heroes and plots continued to grow. A 1961 movie, "The Young Doctors," had a huge cast. That same year, the first popular daytime TV medical drama (aka, soap opera) aired. "Dr. Kildare" ran through 1966. In 1962, "General Hospital" premiered. In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records lists it as the longest-running American soap, and it's still going strong. Only two other TV series have gone longer, but both are now off the air. By the 1970s, the medical field began to emerge as a major sub-genre for films and TV programs. Shows ranged from drama to comedy, romance to crime and mystery, war to sci-fi, and even horror scripts.

With new TV programs and films about doctors and medicine today, the very earliest movies still stand out for their excellent stories and performances by top casts. "The Doctor and the Girl" is such a film. The plot may seem to be so familiar today, but it wasn't at the time. Indeed, it was a leader in showing conflict between "high brow" medicine and that practiced for common folks. The performances by the stars are outstanding – Glenn Ford, Janet Leigh, Charles Coburn, Gloria De Haven, Bruce Bennett, and Basil Ruysdael. This is a movie worthy of any film library.

Such big names in this one... Glenn Ford had just made the awesome GILDA a couple years back... Charles Coburn was a character in so many old, mostly black and white films. although Gentlemen Prefer Blonds WAS in color. Janet Leigh, of course, will go on to make Psycho ten years later. and little ol Nancy Davis Reagan will be Mrs. President Reagan. Ford is the newly accomplished Doctor Corday. He runs into all kinds of serious issues, with patients at his hospital, as well as his own father, the older Doctor Corday ( Coburn). Will his good wishes for a patient interfere with his life at home? and will his dis-approving family let him live life his own way? it's like an episode of General Hospital, before there was such a thing. lessons about bedside manner and doctor skills. some pretty big issues about things that were just beginning to be discussed, towards the end of the film production code. Directed by Curtis Bernhardt, who also did Possessed (J. Crawford) and Stolen Life (B. Davis). He certainly worked with the greats. This one is just pretty okay. can't give it very high marks.

I just wanted to say that the above reviewer is a bit misinformed regarding the history of films about physicians, particularly in the '30s. There was no shortage of movies with doctors as the central character in the early sound era, and some of them are "Men in White," "Internes Can't Take Money," "The Citadel," "Strange Interlude," "Symphony of Six Million," "Arrowsmith," "Yellow Jack," "Doctor X" "The Story of Louis Pasteur," just to name a few off the top of my head, without doing any research. Paramount's "Internes Can't Take Money," starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea, was the first movie to feature the character of Dr. James Kildare, created by author Max Brand. I'm sure that the studio's executives rued the fact that they didn't have the foresight to feature the sympathetic young doctor in a series, which is what M-G-M did, starring Lew Ayres as the compassionate and crusading Dr. Jimmy Kildare. That series, by the way, started in the '30s with "Young Dr. Kildare" in 1938, followed by "Calling Dr. Kildare" and "The Secret of Dr. Kildare" in 1939. So, you see, there were quite a few doctors gracing movie screens throughout the 1930s.

Even though it's reminiscent of pure soap opera, there is something legitimate here to keep you watching. In this case, it's the life and death subject matter and the "doctor's" decision to practice medicine in the poor part of town that keep the film vibrant. Parts are played well by all actors, allowing the plotline to be preeminent, as it should be.

We have a cohesive narrative here produced sensibly and wisely -- that reins it in, and takes it out of the realm of soap opera. This movie is "thinking" entertainment and is well worth watching.

Glenn Ford is a young doctor from a well-connected family in "The Doctor and the Girl," a 1949 film also starring Janet Leigh, Charles Coburn, Gloria de Haven, Bruce Bennett, and Nancy Davis, our former first lady.

Ford plays Dr. Michael Corday, an up and coming doctor who comes to do a rotation in a hospital and brings a lot of his well-known doctor/father's attitudes with him. The senior Dr. Corday (Coburn) has fixed attitudes about family and medicine and runs his home with an iron fist. The first night that Michael returns home from his medical training, his sister Fabienne (de Haven) announces that she's moving to Greenwich Village. In those days it was absolutely unheard of for an unmarried woman to move out of the parental home, so her father's not happy.

Michael isn't liked at the hospital. He's snobby, brusque, and too clinical, interested in his work but not people. Then he runs into a woman he processed in the outpatient ward, Evelyn (Leigh), who is waiting for lung surgery, and he realizes how cold he was to her. He works to make it up to her, and they wind up falling in love, and over his father's strenuous objections, he marries her and gives up the important residency he was promised. He and Evelyn move to her Third Avenue apartment, and Michael sets up practice. Meanwhile, the only child that hasn't disappointed the senior Corday is Mariette (Davis), who is marrying a doctor (when her dad sets the date) and is living at home. Corday Sr. soon learns the effect of his rigidity.

I really liked this film. It was an absorbing family drama, maybe on the soapy side, but there's nothing wrong with that when the characters are well depicted. Glenn Ford is very sincere and likable in his role and gets to show a little more dramatic range than usual; the pretty Leigh is lovely as Evelyn, frail but with an inner toughness. The rest of the cast is solid. Bruce Bennett plays the ENT doctor Michael has to deal with on his rotation. Bennett was in countless films, an Olympic champion in 1928, and died 5 years ago at the age of 100.

Very good movie, well worth seeing.