L'Odyssée du docteur Wassell

Gary Cooper did four films with Cecil B. DeMille and this is easily the best of them. Although World War II is now history at the time this film was made, the incidents described were two years old. The attack sequences were brilliantly staged in the best DeMille manner, a kind of preview of 3-D.

DeMille in his autobiography admitted that the romantic flashbacks concerning Dr. Wassell were completely made up. The real Corydon Wassell and his wife were married all the time the action of the film took place. He described as a white lie, I think one's marital status is a bit more than that. Having said that the teaming of Cooper and Laraine Day was worked well and the romance fits in nicely.

Dr. Corydon Wassell was an early hero of World War II who was a doctor in the US Navy having been previously a medical missionary in China. He was ordered to abandon his stretcher cases as the Allies were evacuating Java in 1942 before the Japanese advance. He stayed and got themsafely evacuated with a few adventures along the way. He was decorated by President Roosevelt and FDR's radio message concerning Wassell's courage inspired DeMille to make this film.

DeMille said he could only envision Gary Cooper for the part. I'm sure that was the case because of DeMille's past success with Coop, but also because the Arkansas born and bred Wassell was similar to Cooper's own Oscar winning character of Tennessee native Sergeant York.

The rest of the cast performs admirably. The most poignant scene in the film involves a woman being shot during the Japanese aerial attack on the Dutch freighter Janssen in front of her little boy. As she urges the kid to go on and not look back, if a tear doesn't come to your eye you are made of stone. DeMille's films, especially his costume pictures sometimes have some stilted Victorian dialog, but in this one there is none.

Also I'd like to single out from the supporting cast Paul Kelly who plays one of the stretcher cases. He's a griper and a complainer all the way through, but when that kid's mother is shot as I previously described, he takes charge of the little boy in a scene that is the best in the film. Also Philip Ahn who plays Cooper's oriental confidante does it with strength and dignity which were his hallmarks as an actor when so many Asian players were stereotyped.

Even if you don't like DeMille, you'll like this film.

An attractive and engaging picture about U. S. Navy doctor Corydon M. Wassell, stationed in Java when the Japanese overun the island. The Story of Dr. Wassell is a 1944 American World War II film set in the Dutch East Indies, competently directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Dr. Wassell is a missionary doctor from Arkansas, who had in the past worked in China (which is shown in the first half of the film as a series of flashback) and after the Japanese invasion of Batavia finds himself (now as a doctor in the US Navy) caring for twelve American soldiers badly wounded during Japanese strafing of some cruisers. Wassell's placed in charge of evacuating the wounded. When he learns that stretcher cases must be left behind, and ignoring advice to abandon his patients, Wassell manages to care for them while leading them through the jungle until they can be evacuated by boat to Australia. So he disobeys orders to rescue some badly injured soldiers and get them to safety. He coordinates the remaining injured servicemen and leads them to safety towards the last Allied evacuation points. Drama of Loyalty and Love! The Story the Whole World Has Heard About!. Have You seen Tremartini? She's from the Pacific-And she's terrific!. He had three loves...and all were great!. Incredible Adventures of a Country Doctor Who Became the Country's Hero!

A patriotic and sensitive film dealing with a valiant person as starring, when the Japanese sweep through the East Indies during World War II, Dr. Wassell is determined to escape from Java with some crewmen of the cruiser Marblehead, that's why the U. S. forces withdraw from Java, ahead of the Japanese invasion. Based on a true story of how Dr. Wassell saved a dozen or so injured sailors who were left behind when able bodied men were evacuated to Australia. Starring the great and always sympathetic Gary Cooper, along with Laraine Day, Signe Hasso and Dennis O'Keefe. Naturally, there has to be some romance, so Gary Cooper's paired with Laraine Day as a Red Cross nurse. And adding other nice secondaries, such as: Stanley Ridges, Carol Thurston, Carl Esmond, Paul Kelly, Elliott Reid, Philip Ahn, Barbara Britton . The film was based on a book of the same name by novelist and screenwriter James Hilton. The book and film were inspired by the wartime activities of U. S. Navy Doctor Corydon M. Wassell which were referred to by President Roosevelt in a radio broadcast made in April 1942, the appropriate section of this broadcast appears toward the end of the film, as a result Wassell won the Navy Cross for humanitarianism in WWII. For their work on this film, Farciot Edouart, Gordon Jennings and George Dutton received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Effects.

It displays a colorful cinemagraphy in brilliant Technicolor from directors of photography William E. Snyder and Victor Milner. Shot on location in Tapachula, Metapa, Chiapas, México and Paramount Studios, Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Placerita Canyon State Park, Condado de Los Ángeles, San Diego, California, Estados Unidos. Adding the emotive and thrilling musical score by the classic composer Victor Young. This vigorous motion picture was well realized in Cecil B DeMille's ordinary style, supported by a magnificent second unit by Harold Rosson; both of them made some greatest spectacles of all time. Although a nimbler action filmmaker than Cecil might have made even more of the Oscar-winning effects work. Cecil produced and directed 70 films and was involved in many more. Many of his films were romantic sexual comedies, as he is supposed to have believed that Americans were curious only about money and sex. His best-known were biblical and religious epics that further established him as the symbol of Hollywood, such a: King of Kings (1927), The ten Commandments (1923) , The Crusades (1935) and , of course , Charlton Heston's Ten commandments (1956) and he made two versions about The Buccaneer : 1938 and 1958, the latter was ended by Anthony Quinn and Arthur Rosson due to his death. The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) rating: 6.5/10. Better than average. The flick will appeal to Gary Cooper fans.

GARY COOPER is a dedicated Naval doctor during World War II tending to the wounded in Java where a shipload of men are wounded and expecting an attack by the Japanese. LARAINE DAY is the lovely woman he loves and who stands by him when the going gets rough.

The Technicolor photography is a big asset in making the war scenes more realistic and the men really look like damaged goods in their bandages and splints--two of whom are played by PAUL KELLY and DENNIS O'KEEFE. O'Keefe shares a wobbly, artificial sub-plot romance with a nurse (CAROL THURSTON) who looks after him. Ditto for SIGNE HASSO and ELLIOT REID. However, all of the scenes in the infirmary have an authentic look, thanks to DeMille's eye for detail.

The wounded men are full of high spirits and hi-jinks but Cooper is told that 60,000 Japs have landed in Java nearby and none of the wounded would have a chance to escape. It's up to him to devise a plan where he can help some of the wounded escape.

The action scenes are fine but there's too many lulls in between with clumsy use of flashbacks involving Wassell's romance with Laraine Day and some tediously repetitious scenes of wounded men suffering further wounds when the men try to make an escape with the aid of British troops.

Certainly not a typical Cecil B. DeMille vehicle, but Cooper gives a decent performance.

The running time is too long because the flabby screenplay is sidetracked by poorly handled flashback segments. The sub-plot with Dennis O'Keefe's character just doesn't work and the whole story takes too long to tell.

As WWII becomes part of 20th Century History, we now look back upon the Hollywood films depicting WWII as over-sentimental and patriotic. But this film is different, it was not about a great Allied victory but an Allied defeat and how one man, an American doctor single-handedly risked his life to save American sailors too injured to be moved during the pending invasion of Java by the advancing Japanese fleet. It is these real-life stories that are absent of any propaganda that will make this film survive. Although a bit glamourized for WWII moviegoing audiences, this film holds up well and it covers a part of WWII with respect to the Dutch involvement rarely discussed. Finally, Cecille B. DeMille, Gary Cooper and Technicolor still make this film an engaging experience.

Gary Cooper has the title role in "The Story of Dr. Wassell," a fact-based 1944 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and also starring Laraine Day, Dennis O'Keefe, Signe Hasso, and Elliott Reid. During World War II, a naval doctor tries to evacuate soldiers from the East Indies as the Japanese are approaching. He insists upon taking the wounded on a transport ship, the Pecos, even though it is against orders. In the end, he is not able to do it. Wassell stays with his soldiers, all of whom assume they will die on Java. But the doctor won't give up. Along the way, we learn of his life in China and the woman (Day) that he loved.

"The Story of Dr. Wassell" is a little long and gets off to a slow start, but holds up thanks to Gary Cooper and the audience's involvement with some of the well-drawn supporting characters. By the time the movie is over, you feel like you've been in the war with them. I'm not sure if that's due to the length of the film or what the soldiers went through.

Cooper was about 43 years old when this film was made, yet he still retained that boyish smile of his. I've never figured out if he was a great actor or not; he was so outrageously handsome, I just can't stop staring at him. He didn't have James Stewart's range, Bogart's timing or Wayne's biting voice, but there was something very solid about him, as well as virile, likable, and magnetic. He also has a no-nonsense way of portraying a character, kind of cutting to the chase, and his performance really carries this film. Laraine Day doesn't have a very big role - in fact, she's wasted. The movie does provide a showy role for Dennis O'Keefe (who replaced Alan Ladd) and Signe Hasso, a very good actress often relegated to B films. O'Keefe plays a wounded soldier named Hoppy - and if you see this film, don't turn it off when you see "The End" because Mr. DeMille actually has an update about him.

The script could have been tighter, but "The Story of Dr. Wassell" is good entertainment, maybe a little dated, but nevertheless the story of a real-life hero who deservedly won the Purple Heart.