Un homme qui se retrouve

The Man Who Found Himself is the kind of film that is light and enjoyable, but very easy to forget. John Beal, best remembered for his role as The Little Minister (1934), is likeable as a young surgeon disillusioned with his profession after a scandal earns him a suspension. Despite his character's inherent cockiness, Beal manages to maintain our sympathy throughout. This marked the film debut of Joan Fontaine, who is charming, if a little uncertain, as the pretty nurse who helps Beal's doctor "find himself". The rest of the cast is fine, particularly Billy Gilbert as a loquacious hobo and Jimmy Conlin as a "nosey" reporter. It is also interesting to note that the film is a reunion, of sorts, for Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan, who had co-starred several years earlier in Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). [Unfortunately, they don't get a chance to interact and their roles are woefully undernourished.] Despite the basic formulaic nature of the story, the script manages to be surprisingly fresh at times, particularly in the very "grown up" speech Jim's fiance (Jane Walsh) delivers when he asks her to run away with him. ["I'm sorry, Jim, I can't do it. I promised to marry Dr. James Stanton of Park Avenue. I'm not interested in country doctors."] And some of the special effect miniatures, like a train derailment and a hospital plane landing near the wreckage, while primitive by modern standards, are fun nonetheless. A nice little film and a diverting 67 minutes.

This one starts out as a comedic, swashbuckling look at medical doctors. John Beal and Phillip Huston give each other the business, even when one is going under the knife. Beal is Dr. Stanton Junior, who flies around in his own airplane, and was running around with his friend's wife. Things happen pretty abruptly, in this RKO shortie, when things take a turn for the worse, and he decides to move and start over again. Billy Gilbert is in here as a tramp. He made a career out of sneezing and stuttering. Worked with the greats. In this story, Stanton tries to run away from his background and the scandal, but it all catches up with him. Again and again he tries to just work at his plain old day job, but he keeps getting put in situations that make the hero rise to the occasion. A young Joan Fontaine is Nurse Doris, who eggs him on, and forces the issue. Directed by Lew Landers.... story by Alice Curtis. It's predictable, but pretty good. This version does not seem to be related to the two prior versions from 1915 and 1925.

RKO was trying to boost its starlet JOAN FONTAINE when they cast her as a flying nurse who is strong-willed enough to make a doctor (JOHN BEAL) come to terms with running away from responsibilities in this little programmer. TCM aired it as a stepping-stone in the career of Joan Fontaine.

Fontaine is earnest and does an acceptable job, nothing more, and John Beal is okay as her love interest. But it's obvious that PHILIP HUSTON (who has the appearance and cocky manners of a young James Garner) is the actor who should have shared top billing with Fontaine. Whatever happened to this handsome actor? Why didn't RKO promote him, along with Fontaine? He showed skill as a light comedian.

These are the kind of thoughts that went through my head as I watched this rather tepid drama which never quite lives up to the stark promise of its title. The story itself is rather tiresome, only occasionally coming to life because of Fontaine's spirited heroine.

She photographs prettily as the nurse and wears her serious expressions skillfully, suggesting that there was more to be tapped at a future date. Beal never did go on to a distinguished career and his performance here shows why. Strictly lackluster.

But whatever happened to Philip Huston? Evidence here is that he should have had a worthwhile film career.

Trivia note: Watch for Dwight Frye (of "Dracula") as the out of control patient aboard the airplane.

Wow, as I write this, this film is 75 years old, and Joan Fontaine, one of the stars, is still with us! Here she is just at the beginning of her career as a nurse who falls for John Beal.

"The Man Who Found Himself" stars Beal as Dr. James Stanton, Jr., the son of a prominent doctor. He is also an amateur pilot. One night a married woman, a friend of his, begs him to fly her to Pittsburgh. The weather is bad and he hesitates, but relents. The plane crashes and she is killed. People assume the worst, that he and the woman were having an affair. His fiancée (Jane Walsh) breaks up with him because he wants to help poor people. Discouraged with the way his life is going, Stanton does what any man with a doctor's license would do: he hitchhikes to California and becomes a hobo.

Once there, he becomes an airplane mechanic and meets a pretty nurse (Fontaine) who, when an accident occurs, realizes that he's a doctor. She encourages him to turn his life around.

I actually watched this because of John Beal, whom I met over twenty years ago. The mid to late '30s were the high points of his film career. He was young and handsome with a lot of stage experience. He never made it to stardom but continued to work until four years before he died (1997).

This is a short film, fairly predictable, but worth seeing for the cast, which includes Philip Huston and George Irving as well.

A young and rather unwise doctor gets into trouble through no fault of his own. However, considering his past impulsiveness, everyone believes the worst and so the doctor disappears--taking to the road as a hobo. While this is a bit tough to believe since the difference between society doctor and hobo is so extreme, the film is a rather entertaining yarn about his gradual rise to respectability. In many ways, it's reminiscent of LORD JIM, though in Jim's case, he HAD done the dirty deed he was accused of and in this case the doctor really is innocent and oddly chose to become a drop-out.

Anyone looking for sophisticated and believable entertainment should probably look elsewhere, as the plot of this drama is a bit contrived and predictable. Yet, despite this, I found the film to be very watchable and fun--probably because it had rather modest pretensions and was a low-budget (or "B") film. Given its pedigree and cast of unknowns, it was a decent film that is a bit better than just a time-passer. The only big name in the movie is Joan Fontaine--and this was made before she was an established star. You can tell this, by the way, because she speaks with her normal British accent--something you really don't hear in later films. In the films she made just a few years later, she either spoke in perfectly annunciated upper-class English or in an American accent.