Disputed Passage
Cast & Crew
Frank Borzage
Dorothy Lamour
Akim Tamiroff
John Howard
Judith Barrett
William Collier Sr.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Medical student John Wesley Beaven is devoted to his professor, Dr. "Tubby" Forster, a man renowned for his surgical skill as well as his cold heart. After completing his degree, John works diligently as Forster's assistant, adopting his mentor's ideal that science is pure fact and that the soul of man never enters into its practice. When he performs a successful operation on Audrey Hilton to heal a bullet wound she had suffered in the Japanese- Chinese war, John falls in love with her, and thereby renews his belief in the human spirit. Audrey, also known as Lan Ying, is an American reared by a Chinese family in Shanghai, and has dedicated her life to China. When John proposes marriage, she does not respond until she completes her personal mission, to repay her personal debt to her Chinese father, who was killed in Shanghai. Upon fulfilling her duty, she returns to John to marry him, but Forster interferes and convinces her that she would ruin John's life. Audrey returns to China, and John continues his work, severely depressed by Audrey's rejection. When he discovers Forster's interference, he travels to China to find Audrey, but stops at a war-torn hospital in Shen Tin to help a French surgeon, Dr. La Ferrierre, tend the wounded. John receives a serious head injury during an air raid, and when Forster hears this news, he travels to Shen Tin to operate on John. Despite primitive conditions, the operation is successful, but John remains in a coma. Finally, Audrey is found and brought to John's bedside, and her presence inspires his complete rehabilitation. Having witnessed a miracle and triumph of the spirit, Forster asks Audrey's forgiveness.
Director
Frank Borzage
Cast
Dorothy Lamour
Akim Tamiroff
John Howard
Judith Barrett
William Collier Sr.
Victor Varconi
Gordon Jones
Keye Luke
Elisabeth Risdon
Gaylord Pendleton
Billy Cook
William Pawley
Renie Riano
Z. T. Nyi
Philson Ahn
Dr. E. Y. Chung
Philip Ahn
Lee Ya-ching
Jack Chapin
Mary Skalek
Alma Eidsaa
Paul Macwilliams
Dorothy Adams
Joleen King
Henriette Kaye
Edith Gagnon
Hortense Arbogast
Fay Mckenzie
Gloria Williams
Patsy Mace
Harry Depp
David Alison
Phillip Warren
Kitty Mchugh
Charles Trowbridge
Fern Emmett
Richard Denning
James B. Carson
Roger Gray
James F. Hogan
Paul England
Lilly Mu
Aida Sue
Crew
Roland Anderson
Frank Borzage
Hans Dreier
A. E. Freudeman
Sheridan Gibney
Stanley Goldsmith
Hugo Grenzbach
Edith Head
Frederick Hollander
William Lebaron
John Leipold
William C. Mellor
Richard Olson
James Smith
Sidney Street
Harlan Thompson
Anthony Veiller
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film opens with the following quotation from Walt Whitman: "Have you not learned great lessons from those who brace themselves against you, and disputed the passage with you?" The opening credits also include the following message from Lloyd C. Douglas, the writer of the novel on which the film was based: "Dear Paramount, thank you so much for preserving the full flavor of Disputed Passage in this beautiful picture. Those who liked the characters in the book will be glad to see them come to life here." According to an article in Los Angeles Times, Robert Preston was originally to have portrayed the role of "John Wesley Beaven." Although the film credits Dr. E. Y. Chung with the role of "Dr. Ling" and Philip Ahn with the role of "Dr. Fung," the copyright records reverse those roles. News items in Hollywood Reporter add that Gordon Jones, an ex-UCLA gridiron star, won a contract for his work on this film. The picture also marked the acting debut of Lee Ya-Ching, an activist for Chinese relief. On 25 March 1940,Lux Radio Theatre presented a radio version of this story starring Alan Ladd. According to modern sources, director Frank Borzage was loaned from M-G-M, and location shooting was done in the San Fernando Valley and at the UCLA campus.
