Les blouses blanches

Watching The Young Doctors again after many years, I was struck by the film's no nonsense approach to the vagaries of medicine. While circumstances-and science have changed in the intervening 47 years since the movies' initial release, the drama of life and death in a hospital, as trite as that sounds, plays out with earnestness and poignancy. Ben Gazarra plays pathologist David Coleman, assigned to a lab headed by the incumbent Doctor Pearson.(Fredric March.) Pearson, (played to perfection by March), resents the younger man's attempts to modernize the antiquated path lab. The push-pull dynamic between the two men is believable,even if it does, at times, creep toward cheesiness. Coleman's budding relationship with nurse Cathy Hunt (Ina Balin), has to hit the right note, as their interaction figures prominently in the climax of the story. Both actors are up to the task, especially Gazarra, who makes his character live and breathe-and be real. The poignant scene of an exhausted Eddie Albert as a doctor trying to give a dying infant a chance at life resonates-even today. I found the film compelling and genuinely moving, just as I did when I saw it for the first time.

The Young Doctors (1961), directed by Phil Karlson from a novel by Arthur Hailey, is one of the few films I've ever seen that highlights the work done by pathologists.

The plot lines are fairly predictable, but they hold your interest. The acting ranges from excellent (Fredric March) to adequate (Ben Gazzara) to barely adequate (Dick Clark) to inadequate (Ina Balin). (Aline MacMahon as Dr. Lucy Grainger does extremely well in a supporting role.)

The medicine that we see has held up pretty well over 43 years. However, the initial case review in which March demonstrates his "take no prisoners" approach actually was not mismanaged.

Despite the weakness of "The Young Doctors," it held our attention and brought out emotional responses.

It's not worth a special trip to find it, but if you see the film offered for rental, you could do much worse.

The Young Doctors is a low-key medical drama involving (among other things) the clash between an older pathologist Dr. Pearson (Frederic March) and a younger doctor Dr. Coleman (Ben Gazarra) who challenges his authority and medical know-how. March is excellent as the crusty, experienced older doctor who is forced to confront his own aging and fading medical competence. Gazarra's youth and rebelliousness provides the perfect foil for him. The film also features one of my favorite character actresses, Aline MacMahon, as a one of the hospital's few female MDs. The weakest acting is by Dick Clark as Dr. Coleman, whose RH positive baby provides a harrowing dramatic moment in the film. This is a slow-moving black and white film, but it's surprisingly engrossing.

As a medical student, I found this film to be enjoyable not because it features a groundbreaking plot but based on the wonderful insight it offers into the practice of medicine in the mid 20th century.

The characters are well developed and the actors do a great job with an average story. Personally, I thought Dick Clark's character was probably the weakest and Ben Gazzara stole the show.

If you are in the field of medicine, I think you will find this an enjoyable watch. You will also be offered a reminder of how far medicine has come, even in the last 50-60 years.

Overall, I rated this title 8/10 as it offers an average, but interesting story with some great acting.

This movie was quite a pleasant surprise. I expected something along the lines of The Interns (which was a piece of trash), however for 1961, it was fairly authentic as to hospital and medical aspects. But but best of all, the relationships of the main characters carried the story, which included portrayals of women with intelligence and independence - a real exception for movies of the time. Talented performances by most of the main actors/actresses deserve mention: Fredric March (for the most part, eschewing his predilection for over-acting), Ben Gazarra, Ina Bilan (who's never gotten the credit she really deserves), Aline McMahon, and Dick Clark (I never even knew he was an actor). I could find nothing in the IMDb database about Oscars, but certainly some of these performers deserved at least to be nominated. I'm glad I caught it on TCM.