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This movie is best known in film history as the inspiration for the Three Stooges' comedy short "Men in Black", although there is really no comparison between the two. This is a well-paced little hospital drama made right before the production code began to be enforced. Dr. George Forrest (Clark Gable) is an intern at a busy hospital and Laura Hudson (Myrna Loy) is his socialite fiancée. Forrest wants to study under Dr. Hochberg (Jean Hersholt) when his time is up as an intern, but it means only twenty dollars a week and long indefinite hours. Laura wants her fiancée to go into private practice so that they can have a normal life together after their marriage. Laura may be a bit of a spoiled brat, but she knows it, so it makes her more likable. Forrest is torn between wanting to please Laura and wanting the great chance to work with Hochberg. A fight between the couple one night sets up the scene for a scandal that has the opportunity to derail both Forrest's career and personal life. That is pretty much the crux of the movie.

What keeps it interesting is the pacing and the performances. I found it to be the most believable of the Gable/Loy pairings I've seen. Plus, unlike so many MGM dramas of the 30's, there is no unreasonable bad guy in sight - only the fight to advance medicine. Another matter of interest is the art deco interior design of the hospital. For example, there is a staircase in the main lobby of the hospital that is out of this world.

Although this treatment of Sidney Kingsley's first Broadway play tends to be melodramatic in spots, Men In White holds up very well for a work almost 80 years old. Men In White ran during the 1933-34 season on Broadway for 351 performances and made Sidney Kingsley a force to be reckoned with. His next play was Dead End, destined to be another screen classic.

A year later Clark Gable would not have gotten this part. His fellow MGM star Robert Taylor got his first big break playing a doctor in Magnificent Obsession and shortly afterward Taylor could not get out of hospital whites as Louis B. Mayer kept casting him as an idealistic young physician that Gable is in this film.

Gable is considered to have a brilliant future as world respected doctor Jean Hersholt has taken him under his wing. His long hours and low pay at this point is cramping the style of his society girl friend Myrna Loy. When he's forced to stay at the hospital on a case one time too many for her they quarrel and Gable is attracted to Elizabeth Allan a nurse who just worships the ground he walks on. One quick evening and she's pregnant. That leads to tragedy.

Although Gable and Loy are good, this film belongs to Elizabeth Allan who came over from the United Kingdom and would be going back in a few years as well. Her most famous role was as the mother of David Copperfield over at MGM. Although it gets melodramatic at times, I guarantee her predicament and how she handles it will moisten many an eye when you see Men In White.

With her pregnancy out of wedlock as it were the Code now in place gave MGM some strict parameters. Nevertheless this film still is a reminder of what women faced in dealing with back alley abortionists, not a subject often dealt with in films. Sidney Kingsley would return again to it when he wrote The Detective Story.

Jean Hersholt gave film fans a preview of what to expect when he played the brilliant Dr. Hochberg. Later on he would be the movies Dr. Christian and while Christian was a simple country physician and Hochberg one of medicine's elite, Hersholt was simple, unaffected, and dedicated.

Men In White probably could use a remake as the Code is now lifted and certain subjects can be discussed more freely. But it would be hard to get a cast as good, especially Elizabeth Allan.

Two things are surprising about this film: Clark Gable could really act and Richard Boleslawski knew what to do with a camera. There's a muted fantasy aspect about this film, and there are cinematic statements, made through symbols, that remind one of "Citizen Kane". "Men in White" is a filmed play, done so convincingly that even a cynical viewer can be persuaded to judge the medical profession as one of honor. Richard Boleslawski has been greatly overlooked as a stylist, and Gable as a real actor, before he became crusted over. There's a scene, where he rips a hypodermic needle from the hands of an incompetent doctor, that really works well.

"Men in White" is a 1934 film starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Jean Hersholt, Elizabeth Allan, and Otto Kruger. Gable plays a promising young doctor, George Ferguson, who is planning on studying in Vienna and then returning and working closely with Dr. Hochberg (Hersholt), apparently in scientific research. He's engaged to a society woman, Laura Hudson (Loy) who is already upset about the lack of time she and George have together. She would rather he go into private practice and work regular hours. This becomes a subject of argument, and the situation goes from bad to worse, particularly one night when an angry Laura stops speaking to George.

This film is based on a Pulitzer Prize winning play by Sidney Kingsley, which, in addition to what is shown in the film, also dealt with anti-Semitism. The idea of going to Vienna in 1934, with the Loy character rhapsodizing over it - guess MGM was out of touch with what was happening, or chose to ignore it.

The acting in this film is very good, if by today's standards, a little melodramatic in parts. Otto Kruger has a very sympathetic role in this - later on he always played someone truly nasty.

The real star of the film is the absolutely incredible art deco hospital set that has to be seen - stunning, with a circular staircase, and huge windows that overlook the George Washington Bridge. The photography is marvelous, particularly an operating room scene where we see doctors observing in a top area reflected through a light.

The other things you'll notice, if you've been alive more than a few years, are the nurses' uniforms and caps and the glass straws, items we don't see any longer. And a little girl's parents who would be cast as her great-grandparents today.

The story isn't spelled out for us - in fact, I can tell you my mother, as an adult, could have sat through it and had no idea what happened. Talk about subtle.

Definitely worth seeing, with Gable and Loy an effective team.

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.

Interesting sets, blending high tech and art deco with an almost expressionist feel, are the highlight of 'Men in White'. Director Ryszard Boleslawski also uses shadows and some interesting framing to create a film that is often beautiful to watch.

It's also interesting to see Clark Gable in the role of an up and coming doctor who finds himself pulled between his personal life (a fiancé, played by Myrna Loy) and his professional life (the desire to someday work for a renowned doctor, played by Jean Hersholt). The film spends quite a bit of time establishing the fact that he takes the job seriously, cares for his patients, and that the job requires a lot of sacrifice.

Therein lies its main problem - it's more than a little heavy-handed in its "job or career" theme. It's based on a Pulitzer Prize winning play, but almost as if it were written as propaganda by someone in the medical field. When Myrna Loy dramatically proclaims "It's bigger than any of us...humanity" as she contemplates the importance of being a doctor, I laughed out loud, and not in a good way. I've seen Myrna in a lot of films, and that moment is the worst I've ever seen for her. It's not all bad, and the best line in the script is when Hersholt puts things in perspective, saying that doctors are still groping around with respect to their knowledge of the human body, but they're doing so more intelligently than twenty years ago, and in twenty more years their understanding will be better still.

A very interesting part of the plot is when a young nurse (Elizabeth Allan) suddenly needs an operation herself - and we realize, without it being explicitly mentioned, that she attempted an abortion on her own. The restraint heightens the shock and drama, and I couldn't help but wonder how many women this happened to prior to abortion being legal. The Catholic Legion of Decency didn't want viewers to think about that, and put the film on their no-watch list. Unfortunately, it's handled melodramatically, including Loy ludicrously appearing in the operating room. The film appears to have just made it in just before the Hays Code was enforced, but the fact that it was looming also appears to have affected the story line in the adaptation of the play, which is unfortunate.

There are some moments of levity in an otherwise heavy film. Young interns pursue women, scamper about in towels, and quip things like "That's the trouble with being in love - it kills your sex life!" I smirked as several times a characters says someone else needs a spanking when they're not cooperating, e.g. Loy to her father, the doctor to Loy, etc. Perhaps the funniest inappropriate line was from the lab technician, who raves in the presence of a man grieving over his wife's cancer, "Say, George, you know that Simpson gal down in X-ray? She was over at Fleischer's, table next to mine. Oh, she's luscious. Had on one of those dark tight silk things. Does she dress close to the skin. Boy, what a chassis. What a chassis."

It's interesting to see "state of the art" medicine in 1934, the sets are very nice, and the film deserves a look for its star power and the reference to abortion. Just guard your expectations, as the plot is not very well developed, and the script is preachy.

I stumbled across this and TIVOed it -- curious to see a young Clarke Gable, with Myrna Loy.

The thing that grabbed me most was the cinematography. The use of shadows was very evocative, almost Citizen Kane-like. Beautifully framed shots, sometimes looking slightly up or down, slightly angled. Very poetic. A few crane shots. Worth seeing for the cinematography alone.

All the early 30s doctors in their white robes look like they exist and work in some idealized, futuristic art deco spaceport. Very odd and interesting to look at.

The other reviewer here pointed out that there was no music. Without the sappy over the top music to help tell the story, we instead experience the evocative camera-work in it's splendor.

Definitely worth a watch.

Can't picture Clark Gable as a doctor? Then check him out in Men in White. The King takes on a very different role in this movie, and it's a wonder he was cast at all since he usually played the relatable everyman. In this role, he plays an ethical doctor who puts his patients and his integrity above everything else.

Myrna Loy plays Clark's socialite girlfriend. They don't share the same values, and she frequently complains that he's always working instead going to parties with her. Clark turns to his colleagues and mentors, Jean Hersholt, Otto Kruger, and Samuel S. Hinds for advice in balancing his personal and private life. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Allan is a nurse who values hard work as much as he does.

This is a pretty dramatic movie that ended up being banned by the Legion of Decency. There's a lot of subject matter that skirts around the Production Code (or doesn't skirt around it, as it turns out) and shows real people making tough decisions. For something lighter, try one of the Dr. Kildare movies, but if you want a real meaty hospital movie, rent this one or Vigil in the Night.

This is one darn good movie. Clark Gable (pre-GWTW) gives a super performance, and Myrna Loy never looked lovelier (and puts in a good performance herself). The story is compelling without being maudlin, and the comic relief doesn't get in the way (as it usually does). Hospital chaos is well depicted, and not everything turns out rosey. We of our era didn't invent "realistic" hospital drama -- we just think we did. Dated? Of course it's dated -- it was made over 60 years ago. However, sixty years from now, they'll be laughing at the stuff we're putting on TV, but they'll still be riveted to "Men in White."

First, I MUST mention that I LOVE Clark Gable and Myrna Loy flicks and I adore the films of Hollywood's Golden Age. So, my mediocre review is not the result of some prejudice against the actors or type of film being produced at the time. The problem is that the story is just too earnest and preachy to be of much interest. Sure, we can see that Gable is a dedicated young doctor and a heck of a guy--but so what? Most will probably find the film boring and hokey at times. Those who are real film buffs will probably be able to look past this, though most teens and the cynical will want to avoid this film. That's because these viewers MIGHT tend to discount older films or these great actors based only on this turgid experience.

this is one of the few gable movies that i like. i was surprised by gable's acting, it was so unlike his macho man roles. his humanity came out in this performance. loy was a little irritating to me, which is rare, i so love her movies with William Powell. she seemed like a spoiled rich girl, unaware and uncaring of the plights of the sick and ailing, so unlike her Nora Charles rich girl. in it's own way it is a forerunner of er, not quite so fast-paced, but intense all the same. i was a little confused about the ailing nurse, it wasn't clear to me whether she had an abortion or if she had tried to commit suicide. perhaps some parts had been cut out that better explained it, although i watched it on tcm, they usually show movies in their entirety. i did have to chuckle at loy's serious line about "humanity", and her look away. it seemed a little overdone. a very good movie, ahead of it's time.

Have always had a thing about wanting to see any film with any actor(s) or actress(es) that strike me as immensely talented and having given at least one great performance that made a big impression on me. Clark Gable is one such actor, likewise with Myrna Loy. Their partnering at its best being legendary. When somebody, actor, actress, director etc does a film or performance that is quite special, it has been enough to make want to see what has not yet been seen of their work (so completest sake somewhat).

Certainly, that was the case with Gable for me recently. By all means, 'Men in White' is not one of Gable's best films or one of his best performances. The same applies with Loy. Then again considering that both did a lot of fine work (films and performances) in their careers together and especially individually that is quite a big ask. Have not seen enough of director Richard Boleslawski's work, the film of his most familiar to me being the very good 1935 'Les Miserables' with Fredric March and Charles Laughton and my first of his being the entertaining 1935 'Metropolitan' starring the great American baritone Lawrence Tibbett, this and those films being enough to make me want to see more of his work.

The best things about 'Men in White' are the photography and the acting. The photography is very atmospheric and really quite exquisite, managing to enhance the production design and doing a rare feat of making austere look beautiful. Boleslawski's direction keeps the momentum moving along, does a more than credible job balancing everything and gets the best out of his actors. The script is not perfect but is mostly intelligent and well-intentioned, with poignancy and some welcome levity here and there that didn't feel too misplaced. The story moves along nicely generally and did bring a lump to the throat, it opened up just about enough to not betray its play origins.

Gable is in a softer role compared to the usual ones he played, which is quite a big interest point here, and comes over as quite charming and sympathetic. Loy brings a lot of heart and steel to her role, which is not one of her most relatable ones. My favourite performance came from Elizabeth Allan though, she really moved me and her chemistry with Gable was touching.

'Men in White' is not without its debits though. It does veer too much into overdone melodrama at times, especially in the latter stages of the Gable and Allan subplot. While its good intentions are noted and laudable, it can also feel a bit preachy.

In a way that felt shoehorned in with not much regard as to whether it would have gelled with everything else (it doesn't and dates the film a little). Otto Kruger for my liking over-compensates in an atypical role, a far cry from the deceptively charming but nasty roles he specialised and instead quite the opposite and it didn't really suit him.

Summing up, interesting and well done on the whole. 7/10

Dr. George Ferguson (Clark Gable) is a promising young surgeon dedicated to his profession. His socialite girlfriend Laura Hudson (Myrna Loy) is less than happy when he prioritizes his job over her. Nurse Barbara Denham (Elizabeth Allan) is more supportive of his work.

As a medical drama, it's not the most dramatic. It's very bland compared to modern medical TV dramas. As a love triangle, I really wish they switch Myrna Loy and Elizabeth Allan. Allan is doing a very melodramatic job and the characters turns extremely melodramatic. Loy would probably do a better job. I would switch the actresses and also the ending with the two characters. It's not as compelling to end it this way. It's easier to keep the rich girl a cold-hearted itch than to switch her around. In the end, George is let off the hook since he doesn't have to choose. Whatever the case, there are Clark Gable and Myrna Loy. That's two star performers in their prime.

Firstoff, I wonder if these comments will ever be read! I never even heard of it until it was shown on TCM tonight. I almost changed the channel but went ahead an stayed with it because it had this black and white quality like Citizen Kane and the lack of a single note of music made it seem like a stage play. As obscure a movie as this is, it is a very relevant movie because it was probably the first big city hospital drama about the lives of the doctors " Men in White", ever put on celluloid! I kept saying as I watched this black&white masterpiece of film, directing and acting, that this show was just like the modern 2000's TV series ER! Right down to Clark Gables character "Dr. George" who played a character just like George Clooneys! He was a young goodlooking idealistic doctor educated in the new medicine and he was rufffling the feathers of the old school practitioners and thier outdated methods! He was loved by his patients and fellow workers and had an uncommon softness towards his child patients, just like Clooney in ER! Although he wanted a social life, it kept getting in the way of his first love, medicine. It was uncannily like ER! It deserves to be seen by anyone who likes good moviemaking because this flick was ahead

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.

MEN IN WHITE (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1934), directed by Richard Boleslavsky, stars Clark Gable in this movie adaptation taken from the popular play by Sidney Kingsley. With Gable playing one of the men in white, he portrays a young intern dedicated to his work and unable to find free time with his fiancee. As much that this portion covers the soap-opera elements naturally found in medical stories, the most interesting aspect is the behind the scenes look in a doctor's daily routines, hard work and struggles that go with it.

Of the many men in white, the story focuses mostly on Doctor George Ferguson (Clark Gable), a protegee of Doctor Hochberg (Jean Hersholt), a famous European-born surgeon who sees plenty of potential in this young intern whom he wants to go to further Vienna, Austria, at the end of his internship. Aside from being a dedicated doctor, he is most admired by his patients. When he discovers a child in a coma, he goes against his superior, Doctor Cunningham's (C. Henry Gordon) for his diagnosis to save his patient. Engaged to Laura Hudson (Myrna Loy), whose wealthy father, John (Berton Churchill), a patient with enough money to finance funds for the hospital. Though in love with Laura, Ferguson finds it difficult to get her to understand his job to his patients come first. Unable to keep his date, she refuses to speak to him. Feeling lonely, Ferguson finds comfort with Barbara Dennin (Elizabeth Allan), a student nurse. Back together again with Laura, Hochberg finds Ferguson failing in his duties, and advises Laura come to the hospital to witness first hand the importance of Ferguson's work. She gets to understand more than his work when Laura finds the girl on the operating table to be Miss Dennin, who, before going under ether, expresses her love to Ferguson. Featuring Otto Kruger (Doctor Levine); Wallace Ford (Shorty); Russell Hopton (Doctor Pete Bradley); and Henry B. Walthall (Doctor McCabe). Look for familiar faces of Samuel S. Hinds, Wallis Clark, Dorothy Peterson and Frank Puglia in smaller roles.

As much as MEN IN WHITE pre-dates MGM's own medical series of "Doctor Kildare" starring Lew Ayres (1938-1942), and later countless medical television shows dating back to the 1950s, it should be known that there have been earlier medical dramas prior to this, such as the long unseen and forgotten DOCTORS WIVES (Fox, 1931) starring Warner Baxter. Clocked at 74 minutes, it seems MEN IN WHITE was or should have been longer. There are certain scenes left unexplained along with others suggestive rather than discussed about point blank to get past the censors. The one scene where Gable's Ferguson stand up to his superior (C. Henry Gordon) should have been followed up at the board of directors in tense manner explaining his purpose for what he did being much more important than following superior's orders that may prove fatal to his patient. Otto Kruger's scenes are limited while Elizabeth Allan's role, though somewhat brief, is substantial to the plot.

With the exception of a scene set in a restaurant, MEN IN WHITE is virtually scoreless having no mood music to pattern its dramatics. Interestingly, aside from being Gable's only 1934 release minus his famous mustache, it's hard to image his good doctor performance here being played by the same actor playing the frightful and mean character of Nick the Chauffeur in another hospital based story of NIGHT NURSE (Warner Brothers, 1931) starring Barbara Stanwyck, By this point, Gable's villain/bad guy roles were behind him. He performs well with Myrna Loy, though one wishes Hersholt's character would have given her a "good slap" to come to her senses for her selfishness manner. Later that year (1934), MEN IN WHITE would be parodied title only as the comedy short of MEN IN BLACK (Columbia, 1934) starring the Three Stooges.

Never distributed on video cassette, but found on DVD, MEN IN WHITE, and other medical movies, can be found on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (**** scalpels)