The Doctor and the Girl


1h 38m 1949
The Doctor and the Girl

Brief Synopsis

A doctor leaves his wealthy family to work in the slums.

Film Details

Also Known As
Bodies and Souls
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Sep 29, 1949
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Location
New York City, New York, United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the book Bodies and Souls by Maxence van der Meersch, as translated from the French by Eithne Wilkins (New York, 1948).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 38m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8,767ft (10 reels)

Synopsis

Having just completed his medical schooling at Harvard, Michael Corday arrives at the Department of Neurology at New York City's Bellevue Hospital to begin his internship. Michael's snobbish father, John Corday, is also a physician, as is his sister Mariette's fiancé, George Esmond. When Michael accuses George of being an opportunist and wanting to marry Mariette only to be associated with a prominent family of doctors, George denies the accusation. At the hospital, Michael's emergency room internship gets off to a bad start when he is accused by another physician, Dr. Granville, of being brusque with his patients. As rumors of Michael's poor bedside manners spread throughout the department, Michael begins to take notice of the criticism and decides to change his ways.

When one of his patients, a penniless candy store employee named Evelyn Heldon, complains about being placed in a crowded room for the "moribund," Michael has her transferred to another room. Michael eventually befriends Evelyn and sees to it that her complicated lung abscess operation is performed by Dr. Francis I. Garard, the best surgeon in the department. Meanwhile, Michael's young sister Fabienne decides to defy her father's wishes and leaves home to live on her own in Greenwich Village. The Corday family is thrown into further turmoil when Michael falls in love with Evelyn, and Michael's father asks Frank to pay Evelyn to leave him. Michael is devastated when he learns of the pay-off, and wanders the streets in search of her.

After seeking the advice of Dr. Alfred Norton, who suggests that he follow his heart, Michael finds Evelyn working hard at her taffy machine. Noticing that she does not have enough money to buy food, Michael decides to postpone his marriage plans until he can help her regain her strength. Back at the Corday home, Michael's father falls ill, and because Fabienne refuses to return home to care for him, Mariette is forced to call off her wedding to do so. With Evelyn's help, Michael opens a private practice on Third Avenue, in a poorer neighborhood, but he eventually starts to long for an apprenticeship under a skilled doctor. Late one night, Fabienne, whose boyfriend has deserted her, collapses at Michael's doorstep. Hemorrhaging from a botched abortion, Fabienne is rushed to a doctor, but dies in surgery. After caring for a young boy who has injured his hand, Michael decides to continue practicing medicine on Third Avenue, and he and Evelyn look forward to running a successful practice together.

Cast

Glenn Ford

Dr. Michael Corday

Charles Coburn

Dr. John Corday

Gloria De Haven

Fabienne [Corday]

Janet Leigh

Evelyn Heldon

Bruce Bennett

Dr. Alfred Norton

Warner Anderson

Dr. George Esmond

Basil Ruysdael

Dr. Francis I. Garard

Nancy Reagan

Mariette

Arthur Franz

Dr. Harvey L. Kenmore

Lisa Golm

Hetty

Joanne De Bergh

Child's mother

Irving Smith

Chauffeur

Ottola Nesmith

Receptionist

June Booth

Nurse

Lucille Curtis

Nurse

Lisl Valetti

Nurse

Cecil Weston

Nurse

Gail Bonney

Nurse

Kay Deslys

Nurse

Hazel Keener

Nurse

Marion Gray

Society matron

Frank Mills

Bowery bum

Tom Dillon

Policeman

Larry Thompson

Shelby

Clark Howatt

Intern

Wilson Wood

Intern

Edward Emerson

Assistant resident

Alex Gerry

Dr. Granville

Alvin Hammer

Patient

Garry Owen

Patient

Bernard Gorcey

Patient

Ben Weldon

Patient

Ben Hall

Patient

Paul Kreibich

Patient

Sarah Padden

Chief clerk

Virginia Mullen

Supervisor

Frank Wilcox

House surgeon

Steve Pendleton

Technician

David Bond

Father

Ken Tobey

Assistant

Angela Clarke

Miss Rourke

William H. Vedder

Mr. Rourke

Jody Gilbert

Mrs. Vlacsek

Sid Tomack

Mr. Cohen

Edward Rose

Simon Cohen

Robert Dominguez

Boy

Fernando Alvarado

Boy

Peter Roman

Boy

Mimi Aguglia

Mother of boy with diphtheria

Felipe Turich

Father of boy with diphtheria

Harlan Warde

Anesthetist

James Lombardo

Tony

Renata Vanni

Tony's mother

Mario Seletti

Tony's father

Toby Green

Dying patient

Bessie Wade

Dying patient

Mildred Boyd

Sexy girl

Joe Dominguez

Mexican patient

Carlotta Monti

Mexican patient

Jessie Arnold

Esther Michelson

Film Details

Also Known As
Bodies and Souls
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Sep 29, 1949
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Location
New York City, New York, United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the book Bodies and Souls by Maxence van der Meersch, as translated from the French by Eithne Wilkins (New York, 1948).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 38m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8,767ft (10 reels)

Articles

The Doctor and the Girl


In the blandly but straightforwardly titled The Doctor and the Girl (1949), Glenn Ford plays the son of an upper crust New York surgeon (Charles Coburn) who returns to Manhattan from Harvard Medical School to start interning at a hospital. When he falls for and marries a lower-class patient (Janet Leigh), Coburn disowns him and Ford sets up shop on the lower east side; more family and medical dramas ensue, including plot threads involving unwed pregnancy and abortion. This being the Production Code era, it should come as no surprise how those issues are resolved.

This was one of two movies (along with High Wall, 1947) that Curtis Bernhardt directed for MGM after seven years at Warner Brothers, where he had made such films as Conflict (1945), My Reputation (1946) and Possessed (1947). The German-born director later said, "MGM was like a big, big opera house, where you had to please this star and that prima donna." Ironically, The Doctor and the Girl was a bit more like a Warner Brothers film than a typical MGM concoction; MGM production chief Dore Schary was making a conscious effort to produce grittier movies. Doctor is still a glossy soap opera, but it has more grit than is usual for MGM. One effect of the new push for realism was more MGM movies shot on location, with such disparate titles as Adam's Rib (1949), a comedy, On the Town (1949), a musical, and Side Street (1950), a film noir, following The Doctor and the Girl with prominent Manhattan locations.

The Doctor and the Girl shot all over the city, and Bernhardt later recalled hiding his camera in a special camera car so he could shoot among New Yorkers surreptitiously. He also remembered filming "some scenes on 42nd Street, I think, from the inside of a milk parlor. We shot through the window outside and people couldn't tell we were putting them on film." Other times, the camera unit roped off large areas for filming, including much of Times Square.

Doctor opened in September 1949 to respectable, if not overwhelming, reviews. The New York Times called it "a nice little bedside tearjerker" and praised the cast: "Glenn Ford does a satisfactory job... Janet Leigh is winsome and bewitching." The Times and Variety also sung the praises of supporting player Charles Coburn, who was one of Hollywood's greatest character actors.

Janet Leigh had so much fun making this film it was embarrassing. As she wrote in her memoir, "In one scene, Glenn had to carry me up two flights of stairs; it was supposed to be our wedding night. We were in high spirits, with much ad-libbing and giddiness. Glenn kept whispering, 'I don't think I can make it.' And the more he struggled, the harder we laughed, until finally I passed the threshold of restraint and wet my pants, which only made me laugh harder...I swear I could see a spot on my skirt in the actual film."

The Doctor and the Girl was the first credited, released film for Nancy Davis -- the future Nancy Reagan -- although she had previously filmed a speaking part in Shadow on the Wall, which would be released in 1950.

Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Director: Curtis Bernhardt
Screenplay: Theodore Reeves; Maxence van der Meersch (story "Bodies and Souls")
Cinematography: Robert H. Planck
Art Direction: Preston Ames, Cedric Gibbons
Music: Edward Ward
Film Editing: Ferris Webster
Cast: Glenn Ford (Dr. Michael Corday), Charles Coburn (Dr. John Corday), Gloria DeHaven (Fabienne Corday), Janet Leigh (Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon), Bruce Bennett (Dr. Alfred Norton), Warner Anderson (Dr. George Esmond), Basil Ruysdael (Dr. Francis I. Garard), Nancy Davis (Mariette Esmond), Arthur Franz (Dr. Harvey L. Kenmore), Lisa Golm (Hetty), Joanne De Bergh (Child's mother).
BW-98m.

by Jeremy Arnold

Sources:

Mary Kiersch (interviewer), Curtis Bernhardt: A Directors Guild of America Oral History
Janet Leigh, There Really Was a Hollywood
William R. Meyer, Warner Brothers Directors

The Doctor And The Girl

The Doctor and the Girl

In the blandly but straightforwardly titled The Doctor and the Girl (1949), Glenn Ford plays the son of an upper crust New York surgeon (Charles Coburn) who returns to Manhattan from Harvard Medical School to start interning at a hospital. When he falls for and marries a lower-class patient (Janet Leigh), Coburn disowns him and Ford sets up shop on the lower east side; more family and medical dramas ensue, including plot threads involving unwed pregnancy and abortion. This being the Production Code era, it should come as no surprise how those issues are resolved. This was one of two movies (along with High Wall, 1947) that Curtis Bernhardt directed for MGM after seven years at Warner Brothers, where he had made such films as Conflict (1945), My Reputation (1946) and Possessed (1947). The German-born director later said, "MGM was like a big, big opera house, where you had to please this star and that prima donna." Ironically, The Doctor and the Girl was a bit more like a Warner Brothers film than a typical MGM concoction; MGM production chief Dore Schary was making a conscious effort to produce grittier movies. Doctor is still a glossy soap opera, but it has more grit than is usual for MGM. One effect of the new push for realism was more MGM movies shot on location, with such disparate titles as Adam's Rib (1949), a comedy, On the Town (1949), a musical, and Side Street (1950), a film noir, following The Doctor and the Girl with prominent Manhattan locations. The Doctor and the Girl shot all over the city, and Bernhardt later recalled hiding his camera in a special camera car so he could shoot among New Yorkers surreptitiously. He also remembered filming "some scenes on 42nd Street, I think, from the inside of a milk parlor. We shot through the window outside and people couldn't tell we were putting them on film." Other times, the camera unit roped off large areas for filming, including much of Times Square. Doctor opened in September 1949 to respectable, if not overwhelming, reviews. The New York Times called it "a nice little bedside tearjerker" and praised the cast: "Glenn Ford does a satisfactory job... Janet Leigh is winsome and bewitching." The Times and Variety also sung the praises of supporting player Charles Coburn, who was one of Hollywood's greatest character actors. Janet Leigh had so much fun making this film it was embarrassing. As she wrote in her memoir, "In one scene, Glenn had to carry me up two flights of stairs; it was supposed to be our wedding night. We were in high spirits, with much ad-libbing and giddiness. Glenn kept whispering, 'I don't think I can make it.' And the more he struggled, the harder we laughed, until finally I passed the threshold of restraint and wet my pants, which only made me laugh harder...I swear I could see a spot on my skirt in the actual film." The Doctor and the Girl was the first credited, released film for Nancy Davis -- the future Nancy Reagan -- although she had previously filmed a speaking part in Shadow on the Wall, which would be released in 1950. Producer: Pandro S. Berman Director: Curtis Bernhardt Screenplay: Theodore Reeves; Maxence van der Meersch (story "Bodies and Souls") Cinematography: Robert H. Planck Art Direction: Preston Ames, Cedric Gibbons Music: Edward Ward Film Editing: Ferris Webster Cast: Glenn Ford (Dr. Michael Corday), Charles Coburn (Dr. John Corday), Gloria DeHaven (Fabienne Corday), Janet Leigh (Evelyn 'Taffy' Heldon), Bruce Bennett (Dr. Alfred Norton), Warner Anderson (Dr. George Esmond), Basil Ruysdael (Dr. Francis I. Garard), Nancy Davis (Mariette Esmond), Arthur Franz (Dr. Harvey L. Kenmore), Lisa Golm (Hetty), Joanne De Bergh (Child's mother). BW-98m. by Jeremy Arnold Sources: Mary Kiersch (interviewer), Curtis Bernhardt: A Directors Guild of America Oral History Janet Leigh, There Really Was a Hollywood William R. Meyer, Warner Brothers Directors

Kenneth Tobey (1917-2003)


Kenneth Tobey, the sandy-haired, tough-looking American character actor who appeared in over 100 films, but is best remembered as Captain Patrick Hendry in the Sci-Fi classic, The Thing From Another World (1951), died on December 22nd of natural causes at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 86.

Born in Oakland, California on March 23, 1917, Tobey originally intended to be a lawyer before a stint with the University of California Little Theater changed his mind. From there, he went straight to New York and spent nearly two years studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach and Tony Randall. Throughout the '40s, Tobey acted on Broadway and in stock before relocating to Hollywood. Once there, Tobey soon found himself playing a tough soldier in films like I Was a Male War Bride and Twelve O' Clock High (both 1949); or a tough police officer in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye and Three Secrets (both 1950). Such roles were hardly surprising, given Tobey's craggy features, unsmiling countenance and rough voice.

Needless to say, no-nonsense, authority figures would be Tobey's calling for the remainder of his career; yet given the right role, he had the talent to make it memorable: the smart, likeable Captain Hendrey in The Thing From Another World (1951); the gallant Colonel Jack Evans in the "prehistoric dinosaur attacks an urban center" genre chiller The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953, a must-see film for fans of special effects wizard, Ray Harryhausen; and as Bat Masterson, holding his own against Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

Television would also offer Tobey much work: he had his own action series as chopper pilot Chuck Martin in Whirlybirds (1957-59); and had a recurring role as Assistant District Attorney Alvin in Perry Mason (1957-66). He would also be kept busy with guest appearances in countless westerns (Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Virginian) and cop shows (The Rockford Files, Barnaby Jones, Ironside) for the next two decades. Most amusingly, the tail end of Tobey's career saw some self-deprecating cameo spots in such contemporary shockers as The Howling (1981); Strange Invaders (1983) and his role reprisal of Captain Hendry in The Attack of the B-Movie Monsters (2002). Tobey is survived by a daughter, two stepchildren, and two grandchildren.

by Michael T. Toole

Kenneth Tobey (1917-2003)

Kenneth Tobey, the sandy-haired, tough-looking American character actor who appeared in over 100 films, but is best remembered as Captain Patrick Hendry in the Sci-Fi classic, The Thing From Another World (1951), died on December 22nd of natural causes at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 86. Born in Oakland, California on March 23, 1917, Tobey originally intended to be a lawyer before a stint with the University of California Little Theater changed his mind. From there, he went straight to New York and spent nearly two years studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach and Tony Randall. Throughout the '40s, Tobey acted on Broadway and in stock before relocating to Hollywood. Once there, Tobey soon found himself playing a tough soldier in films like I Was a Male War Bride and Twelve O' Clock High (both 1949); or a tough police officer in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye and Three Secrets (both 1950). Such roles were hardly surprising, given Tobey's craggy features, unsmiling countenance and rough voice. Needless to say, no-nonsense, authority figures would be Tobey's calling for the remainder of his career; yet given the right role, he had the talent to make it memorable: the smart, likeable Captain Hendrey in The Thing From Another World (1951); the gallant Colonel Jack Evans in the "prehistoric dinosaur attacks an urban center" genre chiller The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953, a must-see film for fans of special effects wizard, Ray Harryhausen; and as Bat Masterson, holding his own against Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Television would also offer Tobey much work: he had his own action series as chopper pilot Chuck Martin in Whirlybirds (1957-59); and had a recurring role as Assistant District Attorney Alvin in Perry Mason (1957-66). He would also be kept busy with guest appearances in countless westerns (Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Virginian) and cop shows (The Rockford Files, Barnaby Jones, Ironside) for the next two decades. Most amusingly, the tail end of Tobey's career saw some self-deprecating cameo spots in such contemporary shockers as The Howling (1981); Strange Invaders (1983) and his role reprisal of Captain Hendry in The Attack of the B-Movie Monsters (2002). Tobey is survived by a daughter, two stepchildren, and two grandchildren. by Michael T. Toole

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

The working title of this film was Bodies and Souls. A March 1948 Variety news item noted that M-G-M paid $50,000 for the film rights to Maxence Van der Meersch's novel. According to M-G-M studio publicity materials contained in the AMPAS Library file for the film, much of the picture was filmed on location in New York City. Among the various Manhattan location sites used for film were: Patchin Place in Greenwich Village, Third Avenue, Forty-Second Street, Times Square, Bellevue Hospital and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. According to publicity materials, director Curtis Bernhardt used a camoflaged camera, hidden in a truck, to film location scenes on Forty-Second Street. Bernhardt also used a camera hidden in a fake wall in a coffee shop to film people undetected.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Fall September 1949

Released in United States Fall September 1949