Chefarzt Dr. Pearson

The Young Doctors is a low-key medical drama involving (among other things) the clash between an older pathologist Dr. Pearson (Frederic March) and a younger doctor Dr. Coleman (Ben Gazarra) who challenges his authority and medical know-how. March is excellent as the crusty, experienced older doctor who is forced to confront his own aging and fading medical competence. Gazarra's youth and rebelliousness provides the perfect foil for him. The film also features one of my favorite character actresses, Aline MacMahon, as a one of the hospital's few female MDs. The weakest acting is by Dick Clark as Dr. Coleman, whose RH positive baby provides a harrowing dramatic moment in the film. This is a slow-moving black and white film, but it's surprisingly engrossing.

While there are many movies about medicine (and there have been before this), I loved this one in particular thanks to the direction, the acting and the plot, very unique for a movie set in a hospital. I liked also the black and white cinematography because it truly fits the movie's dramatic moments.

The film is set in an hospital, with Fredric March as Dr. Pearson, the head pathologist that has many years of experience and teaches the job to the young students. Meanwhile arrives the new assistant, Dr. Coleman (played by Ben Gazzara) and tries to convince Pearson to use new and innovative medical strategies. But soon, they have a clash of ideas thanks to two serious cases.

I have to agree with user bkoganbing: medical dramas are sometimes similar to courtroom dramas because they both deal with life and death issues. The uniqueness of the movie is that is set in the Pathology lab, a rarely seen part of the hospital.

The cast is maybe one of the best ensemble cast ever found in a medical drama. Fredric March and Ben Gazzara shine as the two main characters, two doctors that after clashes they turn to be very human, and in the end they respect each other. Ina Balin (in the same year of THE COMANCHEROS) is a young nurse that has also a severe medical condition, and falls for Gazzara's character. Dick Clark stars as a young medic with a pregnant wife that battles to keep the baby alive.

But the real standout in the movie is Eddie Albert in his most underrated performance: as doctor Dornberger, the pediatrician that saves Dick Clark's newborn son. You can see all of Albert's seriousness and dedication in the job by the sweat crawling in his skin. And he succeds in saving the baby and making him take his first steps in the world.

In the cast also Edward Andrews as another doctor, George Segal (in his debut) as March's assistant and Aline McMahon as March's friend.

Still, this is a truly unique and pleasant movie (although forgotten nowadays) that also kept my interest until the end.

"The Young Doctors" is a 1961 film that is primarily about an old doctor (Frederic March) and a young doctor (Ben Gazzara). Gazzara, as David Coleman, comes to work in the pathology lab, the universe of Dr. Pearson (March), who resents this young whippersnapper's attempts to update the practices and equipment. It's the practicality vs. the idealism of youth - the budget, the energy fighting with the board, all of which Dr. Pearson is all too familiar. He makes it clear that he's not about to be driven out, either.

There are two subplots - one concerns Cathy (Ina Balin), a nursing student whom Coleman falls in love with; and Dr. Alexander (Dick Clark) and his wife, whose baby is born with erythroblastosis. This is the most dramatic, emotional, and suspenseful part of the film as the baby's doctor (Eddie Albert) transfuses the child. You really hold your breath.

This is a well-acted film, if a little bit predictable and dated, with excellent performances by March, Gazzara, Balin, and Albert. Dick Clark could have been a stronger presence. Aline MacMahon, a real old-timer, does a great job as a surgeon.

Recommended.

The title of this film, The Young Doctors, is quite misleading. The film focuses on a generational conflict between two doctors in a big city hospital, the older man Fredric March the head of the Pathology Department and a new man, Ben Gazzara, put in charge of the Serology section. There are other doctors in the film, but their parts are merely in support of these two.

March is an older guy who feels a not so gentle nudge from the higher ups who feel maybe it's time he put in his retirement. Like a lot of people in his age bracket, his job is his life and he can't separate where one begins and the other leaves off.

Ben Gazzara's character is borrowed heavily from Robert Mitchum's in Not As a Stranger. He's the young idealistic type with more than a touch of arrogance however. Put Gazzara and March in the same work environment and we have the recipe for a pretty good medical drama.

Medical settings have been almost as good as courtrooms for drama. That's because in both you are dealing with life and death issues. What makes The Young Doctors unique is that this is the only film in my memory that has to deal with the Pathology Lab. Usually medical dramas take place with surgeons or researchers as the protagonists. What I like about The Young Doctors is that it shows another part of the hospital does play a critical role. My mother was in fact a secretary in a Pathology Lab in a hospital and if she were alive now, she'd be the first to applaud this film.

Both March and Gazzara turn out to be very human after all and both make a major blunder each on a given case. Yet they develop a healthy respect for each other as time goes by.

Other performances you will like here is Ina Balin as a student nurse with a major medical condition, Edward Andrews as another pathologist, Dick Clark who's another young doctor whose wife, Phyllis Love, is having a difficult pregnancy, and Aline McMahon, friend and confidante of March. I have a feeling that Florence Eldridge may have been offered the part before McMahon.

One guy here who is outstanding is the ever dependable Eddie Albert who plays a pediatrician. The most harrowing scene in the film is during an operation on Clark's newborn infant to give him a blood transfusion. Watch Albert's performance with minimal dialog during the procedure. As the sweat pours down him you feel right with him the worry and concern he has for his littlest patient barely able to taste life. His skill allows the newborn to have that crack at making his mark in the world.

We've seen medical dramas from Arrowsmith to ER and The Young Doctors takes an honored place among them.

As a medical student, I found this film to be enjoyable not because it features a groundbreaking plot but based on the wonderful insight it offers into the practice of medicine in the mid 20th century.

The characters are well developed and the actors do a great job with an average story. Personally, I thought Dick Clark's character was probably the weakest and Ben Gazzara stole the show.

If you are in the field of medicine, I think you will find this an enjoyable watch. You will also be offered a reminder of how far medicine has come, even in the last 50-60 years.

Overall, I rated this title 8/10 as it offers an average, but interesting story with some great acting.