Post by rmichaelpyle on Apr 10, 2009 4:26:03 GMT -6
1939 was THE year for Hollywood in the Golden Age. I watched another film from that year yesterday that simply solidifies that notion even more. It was the year of "Gone With The Wind", "The Wizard of Oz", "Stagecoach", "The Four Feathers", "Destry Rides Again", "Dark Victory", and so many others. That year "Gone With The Wind" took most of the Oscars, but Clark Gable didn't win the Oscar for Best Actor; Robert Donat did. He won it for "Goodby, Mr. Chips". But that same year he also had at the theaters in America a film that had been released the previous November, "The Citadel". Worldwide it was released mostly in 1939. "The Citadel" is exquisite entertainment from the get-go. The story, from the well-known novel by A. J. Cronin, is about a very idealistic medical student who becomes a doctor and wants to use his medical knowledge to help those who need it most, and in stricken and somewhat unwelcome areas. He becomes a doctor first in an anthracite coal community in Wales. Here he runs up against ignorance and hardship and all the things that actually happen in real life (the story is based on a factual place, by the way, even though the author denied it in print). Tiring of the ignorance and other hardships, among other things, he moves to London to pursue his practice. A year goes by with little success. Finally, he meets up with an ex-classmate, Rex Harrison (very young Rex Harrison!), and through his direction becomes a success among the very, very rich, the very, very spoiled, the very, very hypochondriacal, disregarding his wife, his friends, and his affection for the genuine medical profession. I won't give away how that changes. It is one of the most moving scenes in all of film - but it does change! Besides Robert Donat and Rex Harrison, this film is studded with American Rosiland Russell and a host of great British actors and actresses, from Ralph Richardson (the same year he made "The Four Feathers") and Emlyn Williams to Francis L. Sullivan, Mary Clare, and Cecil Parker. Felix Aylmer and Nora Swinburne are among several other great ones here, too. This is an outstanding film, one that seems to fall through the cracks when great films are mentioned, but one which stands up very well, and it should be seen by all who may. My print is from the new release by Warner Brothers from their Archive Selection.
