O Dilema do Médico

An interesting but not particularly engaging George Bernard Shaw satirical play is given a serviceable cinematic treatment from director Asquith - who clearly had fared much better with PYGMALION (1938) - but, nonetheless, the film is buoyed by a good cast (Leslie Caron, Dirk Bogarde, Alastair Sim. Robert Morley, Felix Aylmer, Michael Gwynne, Alec McCowen) and production values (cinematographer Robert Krasker, composer Joseph Kosma, costumer Cecil Beaton, production designer Paul Sheriff). As it happens, some performers acquit themselves better than others: Bogarde is fun as an impoverished but Machiavellian painter dying of tuberculosis and Sim and Morley are their usual pompous selves as two renowned "quacks" competing to treat him so to earn favors from his lovely wife (an unfortunately out-of-her-league Caron).

For heaven's sake - sparkling and witty actors interpreting brilliant Shavian dialogue with exquisite timing, exploring with the greatest imaginable finesse a huge ethical issue which is as timely now as it was then ....I have not seen or read the unedited play so I cannot indulge in comparisons, but it would seem to me that this was a very professional and refined adaptation of a very funny and wise work, which should stimulate the viewer to explore not only Shaw's original, but also all his other brilliant and fearless sashays...and for that matter why not Oscar Wilde, George Gissing, the whole exquisite corpus of the British fin de siecle....why not accept such a film as a great gift, an invitation to broaden one's literary horizons and become aware of a wonderful, lost world of refinement that will never come again? Down with the philistines!!

Not much about the film itself - just a few wacky observations . . .

A very astute version of Shaw's classic play - director Anthony Asquith, allows the characters to revel in the pathos that The Doctor spills over each scene.

Although Dirk Bogarde has his comedy smirk on, his performance is utterly commanding.

A nice little quote is *when you're as old as I am it doesn't matter how old a man is when he dies* :) In the latter scenes, the high jinks continue with (poor) old Dirk in shot in the background.

The colouring of the film is quite brutal - but lends a hand to the mystery of the plot - IMHO.

A nifty film for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I love this film. Alistair Sim and Robert Morley are marvelous as they advocate the various and absurd treatments they'd used on their patient.

But I'm appalled that this film isn't available for home viewing, especially when you consider how many crummy films have been released on tape or DVD.

Could it be that Shaw's estate has refused to release the distribution rights for home viewing? If so, then someone out there -- perhaps the Criterion Collection -- can convince the copyright holder to relent.

"Dilemma" may not be the best adaptation of a Shaw play (I think top honors go to "Pygmalion"), but it catches the play's flavor. The dialog is sharp and witty, and Dirk Bogarde gives another fine performance as the ailing man.

This would be a fine addition to any collection.

If you want to dislike Dirk Bogarde, watch The Doctor's Dilemma. You could also watch any number of his movies, but perhaps this is the one that started it all. He plays his character so despicably - and while arguable, that was the point of the story, had the role been acted by James Mason, you would have both hated and liked him. The doctor and the audience would have had a dilemma!

In the story, Michael Gwynn is a celebrated doctor who has the resources to cure a certain number of men from tuberculosis (this is a period piece, despite Leslie Caron's strange hairdo). When a beautiful, pleading woman (Leslie) comes to him and begs him to save her husband's life (Dirk), he tells her he doesn't have enough room in his treatment program. How can he, in good conscience, kill one of the men already signed up just to save Dirk's life? Is he really more worthy of living than any of the others? She argues that because he is a talented artist, he is more worthy. When Michael and his associates, Alistair Sim and Robert Morley, spend some time with Dirk to get to know him, there are lots of unpleasant discoveries... I didn't really enjoy this movie. I couldn't stand Dirk, and George Bernard Shaw's script could have used a good edit while translating it from stage to screen. One fun thing, though: if you're wondering why Leslie was always wearing blousy dresses, it's because she was extremely pregnant during filming! In the final few scenes, even her loosest dress and coat couldn't hide her baby bump.