While there are many movies about medicine (and there have been before this), I loved this one in particular thanks to the direction, the acting and the plot, very unique for a movie set in a hospital. I liked also the black and white cinematography because it truly fits the movie's dramatic moments.
The film is set in an hospital, with Fredric March as Dr. Pearson, the head pathologist that has many years of experience and teaches the job to the young students. Meanwhile arrives the new assistant, Dr. Coleman (played by Ben Gazzara) and tries to convince Pearson to use new and innovative medical strategies. But soon, they have a clash of ideas thanks to two serious cases.
I have to agree with user bkoganbing: medical dramas are sometimes similar to courtroom dramas because they both deal with life and death issues. The uniqueness of the movie is that is set in the Pathology lab, a rarely seen part of the hospital.
The cast is maybe one of the best ensemble cast ever found in a medical drama. Fredric March and Ben Gazzara shine as the two main characters, two doctors that after clashes they turn to be very human, and in the end they respect each other. Ina Balin (in the same year of THE COMANCHEROS) is a young nurse that has also a severe medical condition, and falls for Gazzara's character. Dick Clark stars as a young medic with a pregnant wife that battles to keep the baby alive.
But the real standout in the movie is Eddie Albert in his most underrated performance: as doctor Dornberger, the pediatrician that saves Dick Clark's newborn son. You can see all of Albert's seriousness and dedication in the job by the sweat crawling in his skin. And he succeds in saving the baby and making him take his first steps in the world.
In the cast also Edward Andrews as another doctor, George Segal (in his debut) as March's assistant and Aline McMahon as March's friend.
Still, this is a truly unique and pleasant movie (although forgotten nowadays) that also kept my interest until the end.
