vincentlynch-moonoi The good -- a fine performance by Clark Gable. I wasn't sure Gable would be convincing as a dedicated medical doctor, but his acting here was a pleasant surprise.The bad -- this is not the film's fault, but the print shown on TCM that I watched was quite poor.The ugly -- among all the talk of hard work and dedication, most of the doctors in the film acted like pathetic children.Overall, this was an interesting film (interesting does not equal good). Several of the sets were interesting in that they made the hospital look like the jewel of modernity, although patient rooms were "bare". Another plus here is the performance of Jean Hersholt ("grandfather" in "Heidi") as the wise old doctor and mentor to Gable.However, this film would make you wonder if anyone lived through a hospital visit back in the 1930s! In terms of acting, the biggest surprise...and for the negative...was that of Otto Kruger. I liked Kruger very much in later films, but here he was TERRIBLE! The female lead here was Myrna Loy, and she does just fine...nothing special...just good...although like another film I watched her in a few days ago, here she is not a very likable person.Should you watch this film. Yes, if you are a fan of Gables. Or if you are interested one perspective on medicine in the 1930s. Otherwise, I'd pass it by.Otto Kruger as Dr. Levine

Robert Gold This was an interesting Clark Gable film, which showed off the actor's more vulnerable side, especially in the scenes with sick children.The hospital itself was rather ultra modern. I got a kick out of the art deco staircase in this rather glamorous hospital.As for the actual plot, I, too, was a bit confused by the nurse's supposed illness. I thought maybe she had poisoned herself since Dr. Ferguson was set to marry Myrna Loy's character. True, the nurse does sit on Gable's bed (when he is not there), but the implication that they were intimate together wasn't made clear. I had to look it up in a book of films on Gable to get the whole picture made clear. It presents little information to the viewer. I knew she did something to herself, but a botched abortion wasn't clearly shown.It was an enjoyable look at a time when doctors were really thought of as gods.

Neil Doyle CLARK GABLE is a dedicated doctor conflicted by feelings involving the workplace and romance--almost the forerunner of the character ROBERT MITCHUM would play twenty years later (Luke) in NOT AS A STRANGER. The film deals with medicine much the way Stanley Kramer's film did, but it's based on a stage play and the static quality owes something to that and the lack of background music on the soundtrack.Of course it's all very dated--a giveaway is interns supposedly making $20 a week!! MYRNA LOY is a selfish, wealthy young woman who wishes Gable would give her his undivided attention instead of dedicating himself to work. Gable has to assert himself at the hospital when an older physician overrules his instructions on insulin and puts a patient into shock. Gable's character here is reminiscent of Lucas Marsh in Morton Thompson's best-seller NOT AS A STRANGER as he pulls the syringe from the doctor's hand and takes charge of the procedure.There are weak moments of comedy relief, mostly from WALLACE FORD, and a maudlin performance from OTTO KRUGER that is painfully overplayed. The dialog too, tends to be preachy about the medical profession.Self-doubting and lonely, Gable shares some romantic scenes with pretty nurse ELIZABETH ALLAN who confides in him about her own uneasy feelings as a nurse dealing daily with life and death situations. The love scene is handled with such discretion it's hard to determine the plot developments that come swiftly afterwards, but after Allan's tragic death Gable resumes his romance with Loy, who realizes his work will always come first in his life.Nothing deep here, just a routine medical drama with all of its stage bound ingredients intact. Music is only used once for a restaurant scene where violins are playing a Viennese waltz, which leaves a lot of the drama feeling flat and one-dimensional.JEAN HERSHOLT has his usual role of an avuncular medical man under whom Gable intends to study abroad, but the focal point is the Gable/Loy/Allan romantic triangle.Summing up: From any standpoint, a trifle in Gable's career and notable only in that he plays a more sensitive role than usual.

lhat As mentioned in Moe Howard's book MOE HOWARD & THE 3 STOOGES (Citadel Press, 1977), MEN IN BLACK (1934) an early Three Stooges short made at Columbia Pictures was a take off on MEN IN WHITE. "For duty and humanity" is a phrase used numerous times throughout this twenty minute comedy and is a central theme in the Clark Gable film which was released earlier that same year. MEN IN BLACK, which contains another reoccurring phrase (which many Three Stooges fans will remember immediately) "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard", was nominated for the Academy Award in 1934 for best short. An abbreviated version of this short was reenactment in the ABC-TV movie THE THREE STOOGES (1999) which was produced by Mel Gibson, a well know Stooges enthusiast.