La Citadelle

I found the performances of Donat and Russel fascinating so many years after the film was made. A J Cronyn's story is relevant even today and that makes the film entertaining. King Vidor needs to be complimented on getting such wonderful performances out of the leading pair as well as Rex Harrison and Ralph Richardson. Mary Clare as Mrs Orlando was also an interesting though brief performance. Harry Stradling's camerawork is impressive, if taken in perspective of the film's vintage.

What is a shame is that Rosalind Russel was not picked up by good directors for meaty serious roles, after this noteworthy performance.

A morality tale of medicine, this film brilliantly illustrates the plight of a doctor who truly cares for healing the sick -- yet even finds his patients to be dishonest. Robert Donat is superb in his transformation from a good doctor to a money making doctor for the rich. Roselyn Russell compliments his performance with her own emotional struggle, as she watches her husband all but lose his heart. Brilliant direction from early veteran director King Vidor gives this film a worthy place in film history. This is a must see for any doctor -- IMHO.

The Citadel is a fine and inspirational film about a dedicated young doctor and the hardships he has to overcome to see his destiny and move to fulfill it. A lot of the same ground was covered before in Arrowsmith and would be covered again in Not As A Stranger and then in over a dozen or more medical drama shows on television. Stories about medicine and its practice is a genre we will never tire of.

Robert Donat plays the idealistic young doctor who is assigned a number of positions in Great Britain and the story is how he deals with the various situations he encounters. Along the way he picks up a wife in the person of Rosalind Russell.

For an American to review this film probably one should have a knowledge of the British health system and remember this would have been before the days of the current health system of socialized medicine. That system was put in before the post World War II Labour government changed things.

One of his assignments is a coalmining area in Wales and Donat because of his own integrity and commitment manages to make a whole bunch of enemies and has to leave. His assignment is in what might be described as an HMO run by the coal miner's union. He starts doing research in a chronic cough he notices several of the miners have and upsets a whole lot of applecarts both with labor and management. He also isn't so easy with giving sick slips to malingering workers and they don't come to his defense. Not easy at times to be an idealist.

For a while Donat takes an easy road in a wealthy sanitarium that caters to upper class hypochondriacs. Doctors Felix Aylmer and Rex Harrison are getting rich themselves off them. But eventually Donat finds his true calling in research.

Rosalind Russell said that working with Donat was a pleasure, but the film itself wasn't. She and Director King Vidor were the only Americans in this film and she and Vidor took a lot of criticism for taking jobs away from British players. Not like she had anything to say about it, MGM loaned her out there. Still she did her job without a trace of a British accent.

Besides Aylmer and Harrison other noteworthy British players in the cast are Emlyn Williams and Francis L. Sullivan. Williams is one of the local union heads and Sullivan is a blustering boorish lout of a miner who leads the opposition to Donat's research. All of them do fine jobs and Harrison got his first real notice by American audiences in his role.

Because for two generations we Americans have been awash with medical dramas all these situations seem all to familiar to us. That's a jaded point of view. The Citadel is a fine drama and worth seeing.

This film features an excellent cast, ably led by Robert Donat in a performance that is superior to his marvelous performance one year later in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. As a young doctor, he begins with the highest intentions, gradually becoming cynical and disillusioned. He decides it's better to have money than scruples, with predictable results. Outstanding work as well by Rex Harrison and Rosiland Russell and a very good script. Most recommended.

A.J. Cronin's book "The Citadel" was adapted for a 1938 film starring Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, Rex Harrison, and Emlyn Williams, directed by King Vidor.

Donat plays Andrew, a young, idealistic new doctor who goes to work in a small Welsh mining town, where he marries a pretty schoolteacher, Christine (Rosalind Russell). Many of the miners have a persistent cough, and he becomes interested in finding the cause. But the miners have little understanding of the big picture and just want the "pink medicine" the old doctor gave them, which just helped their symptoms.

Thwarted at every turn, Andrew and Christine move to London, where Andrew opens a practice. Then he has a change of fortune when he runs into an old friend (Rex Harrison) who gets him on the society doctor track, where he gets big money for treating hypochondriacal patients and by merely being present while a surgery is being performed, or taking a referral.

A beautiful movie with the underrated Donat turning in a wonderful performance of quiet intensity. Russell's expressions say more than her words - you know exactly how she's feeling. Ralph Richardson -- was he ever bad? - plays Andrew's old friend Denny, who notices the change in Andrew's goals.

A.J. Cronin was one of the authors whose novels were often adapted for film in the old days: "The Spanish Gardener," "The Green Years,", "Keys of the Kingdom," "Bright Victory," "Vigil in the Night," and others. Some of his stories involve medicine/science and sacrifice/dedication. Those books made for some inspiring films in the '30s and '40s.