OK, just said that to get your attention. Rarely have I seen a 50's movie with so many names. Probably the restrictive contracts actors had with the studios were responsible for that, plus the drive the actors had to be first billed.
But here we go...Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, Gloria Grahame, Lon Chaney Jr., Harry Morgan, and Lee Marvin as well as many great character actors whose faces I know, but have names I don't recall. (except for Jerry Paris of Dick Van Dyke fame) Every one of the names above are of actors who were top billed in one movie or another, with the possible exception of Gloria who I remember most for Its A Wonderful Life. The interesting thing is that they are all mostly either at the end of their career or the beginning, with the exception of Mitchum.
Ones at the beginning are Frank Sinatra, Lee Marvin, and (questionably)Harry Morgan (M.A.S.H. came much later). The ones at the end are Charles Bickford, Lon Chaney Jr., and Broderick Crawford (at least as a leading man). Gloria kind of fizzled out at both ends of the scale.
Olivia won 2 Oscars and was nominated for 3 others prior to this movie. At the age of 39 she was pretty much done at this point for great roles, nevertheless she was as beautiful as ever (notwithstanding her odd hair color), and I think showed even better acting skills and diversity afterwards in movies such as Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte.
Mitchum was probably at the top of his game at the time he did this movie, with great performances on both sides of this role. Some reviewers here did not like him in this movie, but personally I think he carried it.
Some fun things to watch for in this movies are signs of the time. For example, smoking cigarettes is predominant in every scene, even in the classrooms of medical school by both teachers and students. Also, Doctors making house calls with no thought of how it could be otherwise.
I can't say I liked this movie a lot, but there were things about it I did like. I liked the beginning, and I liked parts toward the end, but parts of it were too long (like my review is going to be). I especially did not like the abrupt ending nor the lack of resolution to problems that were so long in the making.
Of particular note is the odd accent that Olivia and Harry Morgan were forced to carry throughout the movie. Also, I suspect that up and comers like Sinatra, Lee Marvin, and Harry Morgan learned much from being paired with veterans like Mitchum, Crawford, and Bickford.
And yes I know, Sinatra already had an Academy Award in 1954 for Here to Eternity, but he was not yet known for acting like he would be later.
The movie could have used better editing, but the actors did their jobs. If nothing else, the movie has the earmarks of being the end of one era and the beginning of another, not only in the movie world, but also within society.
But here we go...Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, Gloria Grahame, Lon Chaney Jr., Harry Morgan, and Lee Marvin as well as many great character actors whose faces I know, but have names I don't recall. (except for Jerry Paris of Dick Van Dyke fame) Every one of the names above are of actors who were top billed in one movie or another, with the possible exception of Gloria who I remember most for Its A Wonderful Life. The interesting thing is that they are all mostly either at the end of their career or the beginning, with the exception of Mitchum.
Ones at the beginning are Frank Sinatra, Lee Marvin, and (questionably)Harry Morgan (M.A.S.H. came much later). The ones at the end are Charles Bickford, Lon Chaney Jr., and Broderick Crawford (at least as a leading man). Gloria kind of fizzled out at both ends of the scale.
Olivia won 2 Oscars and was nominated for 3 others prior to this movie. At the age of 39 she was pretty much done at this point for great roles, nevertheless she was as beautiful as ever (notwithstanding her odd hair color), and I think showed even better acting skills and diversity afterwards in movies such as Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte.
Mitchum was probably at the top of his game at the time he did this movie, with great performances on both sides of this role. Some reviewers here did not like him in this movie, but personally I think he carried it.
Some fun things to watch for in this movies are signs of the time. For example, smoking cigarettes is predominant in every scene, even in the classrooms of medical school by both teachers and students. Also, Doctors making house calls with no thought of how it could be otherwise.
I can't say I liked this movie a lot, but there were things about it I did like. I liked the beginning, and I liked parts toward the end, but parts of it were too long (like my review is going to be). I especially did not like the abrupt ending nor the lack of resolution to problems that were so long in the making.
Of particular note is the odd accent that Olivia and Harry Morgan were forced to carry throughout the movie. Also, I suspect that up and comers like Sinatra, Lee Marvin, and Harry Morgan learned much from being paired with veterans like Mitchum, Crawford, and Bickford.
And yes I know, Sinatra already had an Academy Award in 1954 for Here to Eternity, but he was not yet known for acting like he would be later.
The movie could have used better editing, but the actors did their jobs. If nothing else, the movie has the earmarks of being the end of one era and the beginning of another, not only in the movie world, but also within society.