The Doctor and the Girl

1949
Approved
1h 38m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

513

YOUR RATING

Glenn Ford, Janet Leigh, Charles Coburn, and Gloria DeHaven in The Doctor and the Girl (1949)

Dr. Michael Corday, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical School, is the son of Dr. John Corday, an eminent New York City surgeon who has a tendency to continue to direct the lives of his grown children. The daughter, Fabienne, runs away from home and Michael, after first following his father's advice of being callous to the point of cruelty toward patients, changes when he falls in love with a patient, marries her and sets up his practice on the lower East Side in New York. The death of a family member brings most of the family together. A couple of stronger plot incidents than usual for a 1940s film---unwed-pregnancy and botched abortion among them.

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Drama Romance

Dr. Michael Corday, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical School, is the son of Dr. John Corday, an eminent New York City surgeon who has a tendency to continue to direct the lives of his... Read allDr. Michael Corday, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical School, is the son of Dr. John Corday, an eminent New York City surgeon who has a tendency to continue to direct the lives of his grown children. The daughter, Fabienne, runs away from home and Michael, after first foll... Read allDr. Michael Corday, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical School, is the son of Dr. John Corday, an eminent New York City surgeon who has a tendency to continue to direct the lives of his grown children. The daughter, Fabienne, runs away from home and Michael, after first following his father's advice of being callous to the point of cruelty toward patients, change... Read all

Director
- Curtis Bernhardt
Writers
- Maxence Van der Meersch
- Theodore Reeves
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

513

YOUR RATING

Director
- Curtis Bernhardt
Writers
- Maxence Van der Meersch
- Theodore Reeves
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Mariette
(as Nancy Davis)

Arthur Franz

Dr. Harvey L. Kenmore

Lisa Golm

Hetty

Joanne De Bergh

Child's Mother

Mimi Aguglia

Mother of Boy with Diphtheria
(uncredited)

Fernando Alvarado

Boy
(uncredited)

Jessie Arnold

Patient
(uncredited)

David Bond

Father
(uncredited)

Gail Bonney

Nurse
(uncredited)

June Booth

Nurse
(uncredited)

Mildred Boyd

Sexy Girl
(uncredited)

Director
- Curtis Bernhardt
Writers
- Maxence Van der Meersch
- Theodore Reeves
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This was Glenn Ford's first movie for MGM.

Goofs
When Michael is in the outpatient clinic, the chest x-ray on the view-box by his desk is reversed.

Quotes
Dr. Michael Corday: [after waking his superior in the middle of the night] Look, I know you don't like me. I don't blame you. But I had to talk to somebody, that's why I came here...
Dr. Alfred Norton: ...sit down. What's wrong?
Dr. Michael Corday: Thanks.
Dr. Alfred Norton: [seeing the grim look on Corday's face, and trying to break the tension] What, did you kill somebody?
Dr. Michael Corday: [laughs nervously] No.
Dr. Alfred Norton: That's alright. I've heard about the girl. What's the trouble?
Dr. Michael Corday: My father.
Dr. Alfred Norton: Oh, I see.
Dr. Michael Corday: You see, if I get involved with her, I'm on my own. If I toe the line, I can have the residency at Chelsea. It's... well, you know what that means.
Dr. Alfred Norton: Yeah. I'd like to help you out... but nobody can make that decision - you have to make it for yourself.
Dr. Michael Corday: [Dejectedly, as he gets up to leave] You're right, I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry. I'll just...
Dr. Alfred Norton: [takes out a bottle of whiskey] . Sit down, sit down. I'm awake now. Let's have a drink together.
Dr. Michael Corday: [smiles gently] Okay.
Dr. Alfred Norton: You know, somehow you don't seem to qualify as a distress case. A ballplayer who's lost an arm, or a painter who goes blind. Let me tell you how I feel about it. Men like your father are tops. We had them in China. But the war kind of jumbles up things. You see a chest specialist doing eye surgery in an emergency station. An endocrine man, handling an amputation. That's when I discovered something. That whether you're doing a decompression on a man's head, or removing a splinter from his finger, you're part of the greatest fraternity in the world. There's nothing like it. Why, I'd be happy in your father's shoes, or as... as a country doctor. Just as long as I was on the team.
Dr. Michael Corday: [after staring into his drink, he looks up] That's what I wanted to hear. Something like that.
Dr. Alfred Norton: Now, don't get oversold. You see, what's right for me may be wrong for you. Ask yourself honestly, what it is that you want. And what you're willing to pay for it.
Dr. Michael Corday: [smiles as he get he gets up to leave] Thanks.
Dr. Alfred Norton: [smiles] You know, every day I convert doctors to the practice of medicine.

Connections
References Query (1945)

User reviews15

Review

Featured review

8/10

Curtis Bernhardt's masterful direction makes this a superior movie

Other reviewers of The Doctor and the Girl have rightfully praised its excellent treatment of a plot-line that at first glance seems familiar, even hackneyed. Of course, the sterling performances of everybody on screen are a huge asset to the picture. But for me, the gold medal has to be given to Curtis Bernhardt's expert handling of Theodore Reeves' adroit screenplay.

It's a tightly-paced film, with very few exteriors. But Bernhardt's brilliant interiors give superb depth to each scene and each character, from stern Charles Coburn to sylphlike Janet Leigh to earnest Bruce Bennett (in a great supporting role as an unassuming ENT specialist). The director keeps everybody's performance low-key and believable. In her first scenes, sickly Janet Leigh seems to be wearing no makeup at all. And even Charles Coburn isn't allowed to milk his scenes to the limit.

A master of lighting and camera angles, Bernhardt was one of the numerous excellent filmmakers in exile from Nazi Germany. His filmography is a strong one, studded with many entertaining films of the forties and fifties. Conflict, starring a quintessential Humphrey Bogart, and My Reputation with Barbara Stanwyck at her best, are two goodies that come to mind. And let's not forget Possessed, highlighted by Joan Crawford's hallucinatory performance.

But unlike some other exiled directors - such as Wilder, Lubitsch, Lang and Sirk - Curtis Bernhardt hasn't got any universally acclaimed masterpieces on his résumé, so he is often neglected by movie historians. But he was certainly a talent to reckon with, and any of his pictures deserve a careful look.

P.S. I totally concur with EliotTempleton's comments about Hollywood having a very long history of movies with medical themes. In fact Theodore Reeves, the main writer for this film, was the author of many medical screenplays dating back to the 1930s.