Um Benemérito

This melodrama creaks with age but the best performance by far was given by one of the oldest actors--Edward Ellis. Many actors who came to movies late in their careers are quite mannered and stagy. Some actors--Charles Middleton comes to mind--turned this stiffness into a virtue but more often, it simply dates the movie. I was very surprised at the subtlety of Ellis' performance as he managed to display a variety of emotions with underplayed touches. It reminded me of the best performances of Marie Dressler, a high compliment.

It is a shameless tearjerker about a small town doctor trying to warn his community about a potential polio epidemic which angers town leaders because it will mean canceling the local fair in which they are all invested. A tearjerker but then Marie Dressler jerked a few tears in her day.

One funny sight is poor, young Lee Bowman with the waistline of his pants resting closer to his armpits than his waist.

Richard Moore

Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay for this sentimental tale of an unselfish country doctor who cared for rich and poor alike. EDWARD ELLIS is Dr. John Abbott and little DICKIE JONES is his son. Jones was the little boy who supplied the voice for Disney's PINOCCHIO. When an orphan girl is left on Ellis' doorstep, the orphan girl grows up to be ANNE SHIRLEY and LEE BOWMAN is the grown-up Dickie Jones.

It's a leisurely tale that moves slowly without the usual melodramatics one might expect in a story of a country doctor--with the only dramatic touch coming well past the midway point with a possible epidemic of infantile paralysis causing the doctor to advise the townspeople to cancel the upcoming country fair. His theory meets with resistance until the feared outbreak occurs and then the townspeople can't thank him enough for all his work.

There's a Frank Capra feel to this kind of story, but director Garson Kanin keeps it pretty well in command and prevents the sentimentality from becoming too thick.

Summing up: Good, but not quite the inspiring yarn it was intended to be thanks to below level production values and rather routine performances.

Man to Remember, A (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Remake of One Man's Journey, which I watched a few days ago. This time Edward Ellis plays a country doctor who grows old and poor because of his kind heart, which won't allow him to turn away sick people even if they don't have the money to pay him. Garson Kanin directed the screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and it's pretty faithful to the original movie. The fact that it's too faithful is the only real problem with the picture because if you've seen the original then you know everything that's going to happen here. Other than that I'd say this version is somewhat better as the story is better laid out and there's a new opening and closing, which suits the story very well. Ellis is terrific in his role and brings a lot of class and warmth to his character.

This is a lovely film with a beautiful performance by Edward Ellis as John Abbott, a doctor who practices among the poor and down in their luck in his home town. The film has an interesting pedigree. It's directed by Garson Kanin and written by Dalton Trumbo. It was made in 15 days for $84,000, in less time than scheduled and under its $100,000 budget.

The only print of this that could be found was in the Netherlands, so the subtitles are in Dutch, as are any handwritten notes.

Abbott is a widower with a young son, Dick. They settle in Westport, Connecticut. There is no hospital there, and Abbott works sometimes for pigs, potatoes, whatever he can get.

After he delivers a baby girl to a man whose wife dies while giving birth, he finds that baby on his doorstep. He names her Jean. She grows up to be Anne Shirley, and Dick grows up to be Lee Bowman. And the two become romantically involved. Times have changed - even though they're not related, you'd never see that in a movie today.

One night, Jean's date, Howard Sykes, accidentally shoots her in the arm. It's not serious, but since his father George (Granville Bates) is the richest man in town, Abbott blackmails him into building the hospital. Sykes, in retaliation, makes sure he can't practice there.

Edward Ellis was on Broadway and also was a actor and producer there in the early part of the century; he started in films in 1917 and worked into his seventies. In this movie, he was 68 years old.

A Man to Remember is sentimental and I have to admit I cried, being a sap. It's about a man who, despite disappointments and resistance to his ideas, contributes a great deal to the world and doesn't let anything get him down. We can all take a lesson from a life well lived.

A crowd has gathered to pay respect to the funeral procession of Dr. John Abbott. The movie flashbacks to the moment when Abbott arrives with his young son Dick. Over the years, he treats both the poor and the rich. Money is never the issue. He even adopts a baby left on his doorstep.

The Dutch subtitle is a little weird. The major problem there is that any letter or note gets translated into Dutch. It's not impossible. One gets the essentials of those notes. There is the shooting and hospital plot. I wish it's not a shooting. The horse trading is a bit unseemly. The epidemic story is as timely as ever but it does end up with the audience being forced to root for childhood paralysis. I would also push back on the sibling romance. Other than all that, it is old fashion but it is in line with a long tradition of these old fashion movie about people of duty and service. It's Mr. Holland's Opus. It's It's a Wonderful Life. The basic structure is set for those tearjerkers but it needs some adjustments.