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.

I was drawn to this on TCM by the presence of Fredric March, Ben Gazzara and Eddie Albert, all among my favorite actors. I had expected a pro-forma medical flick but was surprised to find a movie with depth, grit, emotion and intellectual meat. As other reviewers have mentioned the title is misleading, and might more accurately have been called "The Old Pathologist," as Fredric March's role is central, and carries the movie. He plays a once-idealistic but now burnt out chief pathologist, who comes into conflict with a young tyro brought in by the hospital board to reinvigorate the pathology department. The conflict is handled intelligently with an excellent script. The romantic interest ties in smoothly with the medical issues. One is kept in thrall throughout, and March's performance is a stunner. Despite his crustiness in the end he is a sympathetic figure. As far as Dick Clark, after seeing this you'll know why he went with American Bandstand rather than pursue an acting career. The B&W cinematography to me enhances, rather than diminishes, the movie. An overlooked gem well worth a see.

This movie was quite a pleasant surprise. I expected something along the lines of The Interns (which was a piece of trash), however for 1961, it was fairly authentic as to hospital and medical aspects. But but best of all, the relationships of the main characters carried the story, which included portrayals of women with intelligence and independence - a real exception for movies of the time. Talented performances by most of the main actors/actresses deserve mention: Fredric March (for the most part, eschewing his predilection for over-acting), Ben Gazarra, Ina Bilan (who's never gotten the credit she really deserves), Aline McMahon, and Dick Clark (I never even knew he was an actor). I could find nothing in the IMDb database about Oscars, but certainly some of these performers deserved at least to be nominated. I'm glad I caught it on TCM.

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.

"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.