La vida en sus manos

I must have been a child of 10 or so when I saw this movie on television. I was totally engrossed in the story but was called away in the middle of the movie and I never got to see the end. It has stayed with me for 50 years and I have never seen it re-run. And I have definitely searched for it. I would love to see this movie again ... all the way through! Alternatively, I'd even settle for the name of the novel it was based on. But I wish someone would put it out on DVD...

Lillian Gish was absolutely wonderful as Miss Susie, as I recall. Dressed in period costume, she really was MISS SUSIE SLAGLE and someone I wanted to know. It was a powerful performance by a wonderful actress.

This is the film that inspired me to go to medical school...not necessarily to follow a clinical career but certainly got me started. The action focuses on several medical students living in a boarding house run by a spinster, Miss Susie Slagle, the incomparable Lillian Gish. The students include Sonny Tufts, the scion of the Boston Brahmin Tufts (of the same university of the same name) family, in his pre-Hollywood bad boy days, a young Lloyd Bridges, character actor Billy De Wolfe, Pat Phelan and several others of interest only to old movie buffs like myself. It is more a "slice of life" type film and focuses on personal conflicts of the medical students. Tufts is great as the student who gains his confidence during an epidemic and it's a delight to see Ray Collins in a pre-Tragg role and the beautiful Joan Caufield. No video, no DVD listed, so watch for this one on the late show.