Men in White

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.

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doctor educated in the new medicine and he was rufffling the feathers of the old school practitioners and thier outdated methods!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.

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.

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."