Uomini in bianco

This movie is best known in film history as the inspiration for the Three Stooges' comedy short "Men in Black", although there is really no comparison between the two. This is a well-paced little hospital drama made right before the production code began to be enforced. Dr. George Forrest (Clark Gable) is an intern at a busy hospital and Laura Hudson (Myrna Loy) is his socialite fiancée. Forrest wants to study under Dr. Hochberg (Jean Hersholt) when his time is up as an intern, but it means only twenty dollars a week and long indefinite hours. Laura wants her fiancée to go into private practice so that they can have a normal life together after their marriage. Laura may be a bit of a spoiled brat, but she knows it, so it makes her more likable. Forrest is torn between wanting to please Laura and wanting the great chance to work with Hochberg. A fight between the couple one night sets up the scene for a scandal that has the opportunity to derail both Forrest's career and personal life. That is pretty much the crux of the movie.

What keeps it interesting is the pacing and the performances. I found it to be the most believable of the Gable/Loy pairings I've seen. Plus, unlike so many MGM dramas of the 30's, there is no unreasonable bad guy in sight - only the fight to advance medicine. Another matter of interest is the art deco interior design of the hospital. For example, there is a staircase in the main lobby of the hospital that is out of this world.

I stumbled across this and TIVOed it -- curious to see a young Clarke Gable, with Myrna Loy.

The thing that grabbed me most was the cinematography. The use of shadows was very evocative, almost Citizen Kane-like. Beautifully framed shots, sometimes looking slightly up or down, slightly angled. Very poetic. A few crane shots. Worth seeing for the cinematography alone.

All the early 30s doctors in their white robes look like they exist and work in some idealized, futuristic art deco spaceport. Very odd and interesting to look at.

The other reviewer here pointed out that there was no music. Without the sappy over the top music to help tell the story, we instead experience the evocative camera-work in it's splendor.

Definitely worth a watch.

Two things are surprising about this film: Clark Gable could really act and Richard Boleslawski knew what to do with a camera. There's a muted fantasy aspect about this film, and there are cinematic statements, made through symbols, that remind one of "Citizen Kane". "Men in White" is a filmed play, done so convincingly that even a cynical viewer can be persuaded to judge the medical profession as one of honor. Richard Boleslawski has been greatly overlooked as a stylist, and Gable as a real actor, before he became crusted over. There's a scene, where he rips a hypodermic needle from the hands of an incompetent doctor, that really works well.

Firstoff, I wonder if these comments will ever be read! I never even heard of it until it was shown on TCM tonight. I almost changed the channel but went ahead an stayed with it because it had this black and white quality like Citizen Kane and the lack of a single note of music made it seem like a stage play. As obscure a movie as this is, it is a very relevant movie because it was probably the first big city hospital drama about the lives of the doctors " Men in White", ever put on celluloid! I kept saying as I watched this black&white masterpiece of film, directing and acting, that this show was just like the modern 2000's TV series ER! Right down to Clark Gables character "Dr. George" who played a character just like George Clooneys! He was a young goodlooking idealistic doctor educated in the new medicine and he was rufffling the feathers of the old school practitioners and thier outdated methods! He was loved by his patients and fellow workers and had an uncommon softness towards his child patients, just like Clooney in ER! Although he wanted a social life, it kept getting in the way of his first love, medicine. It was uncannily like ER! It deserves to be seen by anyone who likes good moviemaking because this flick was ahead

As mentioned in Moe Howard's book MOE HOWARD & THE 3 STOOGES (Citadel Press, 1977), MEN IN BLACK (1934) an early Three Stooges short made at Columbia Pictures was a take off on MEN IN WHITE. "For duty and humanity" is a phrase used numerous times throughout this twenty minute comedy and is a central theme in the Clark Gable film which was released earlier that same year. MEN IN BLACK, which contains another reoccurring phrase (which many Three Stooges fans will remember immediately) "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard", was nominated for the Academy Award in 1934 for best short. An abbreviated version of this short was reenactment in the ABC-TV movie THE THREE STOOGES (1999) which was produced by Mel Gibson, a well know Stooges enthusiast.