The Young Doctors

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 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.

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.

If you liked Not as a Stranger, you're going to want to rent The Young Doctors. It follows a group of first-year doctors joining a hospital. Not only are there the usual hurdles, like losing sleep, getting lost in the corridors, workload overload, and adjusting to hierarchy and red tape; but each new doctor has his own personal struggle. Ben Gazzara is a pathologist, butting heads with the head honcho Fredric March, who's been in charge for decades. Ben falls in love with a nurse, Ina Balin, who has secrets of her own. Dick Clark's wife is expecting a baby, but they're both nervous about it because of their previous attempt.

Fredric March has class, confidence, and presence, owning every inch of the screen. Ben Gazzara has a different type of energy, the Paul Newman bad-boy generation of upstarts; but it's obvious he loves his field as much as his predecessor. Just like Not as a Stranger, there are criticisms and praises for the medical establishment in the story. We all wish doctors were all-knowing and could cure everything, but that's not the way it is. This film could have been made today, which is remarkable how little things have changed. With just a computer and a cell phone or two, a word-for-word remake could be filmed in the 2020s. Interesting, well-acted, and a story that keeps you guessing until the end, rent this one for a stimulating evening.

Watching The Young Doctors again after many years, I was struck by the film's no nonsense approach to the vagaries of medicine. While circumstances-and science have changed in the intervening 47 years since the movies' initial release, the drama of life and death in a hospital, as trite as that sounds, plays out with earnestness and poignancy. Ben Gazarra plays pathologist David Coleman, assigned to a lab headed by the incumbent Doctor Pearson.(Fredric March.) Pearson, (played to perfection by March), resents the younger man's attempts to modernize the antiquated path lab. The push-pull dynamic between the two men is believable,even if it does, at times, creep toward cheesiness. Coleman's budding relationship with nurse Cathy Hunt (Ina Balin), has to hit the right note, as their interaction figures prominently in the climax of the story. Both actors are up to the task, especially Gazarra, who makes his character live and breathe-and be real. The poignant scene of an exhausted Eddie Albert as a doctor trying to give a dying infant a chance at life resonates-even today. I found the film compelling and genuinely moving, just as I did when I saw it for the first time.