The Flame Within

Dr. Mary White (Ann Harding) and Dr. Gordon Phillips (Herbert Marshall) have been dating for a very long time and although Gordon clearly loves her, she seems a bit cold about their getting married. Some of this is because of the common expectation in the 1930s that a woman give up her career when she marries--and she worked her butt off to be a psychiatrist. Into this atmosphere of ambivalence comes a suicidal and very neurotic woman (Maureen O'Sullivan). The lady has repeatedly attempted suicide because the relationship with her boyfriend is so dysfunctional and she deals with his alcoholism by these wild suicide attempts. Her new doctor, Mary, decides that unless she also treats the boyfriend (Louis Hayward) then the suicidal woman will eventually succeed in trying to off herself.

Despite some hiccups, Mary is able to work with the boyfriend and get him to stop drinking and become productive. This is good news and now he and his girlfriend can marry. But there is bad news--he and Mary are struggling with feelings towards each other...and they sure ain't professional feelings!!

The notion of a psychiatrist and patient having romantic feelings towards each other is an interesting topic...especially since it's the biggest reason a psychotherapist would lose their license today. It's completely taboo for a therapist to have such a relationship and it's 100% unprofessional. However, back in the early days of the field, the rules weren't so clear--and here both entertain the notion of having a relationship even though he's married and she's been engaged forever. Investigating how his transference and her counter-transference (the commonly used terms for this sort of thing) takes place and is professionally handled would have been interesting. Unfortunately, the film isn't sure what to do about this and makes it all very sappy and romantic...and utterly ridiculous. Especially ridiculous is Gordon who feels the best thing to do is give Mary to her patient and walk away. This is unprofessional, unethical and, frankly, no one is THAT noble. So how does it all work out? Well, unfortunately, in a very silly and Hollywood way...hence my score of only 3. The film brings up interesting topics...it just doesn't handle them very well!

A female psychiatrist in the 1930's eschews marriage for the indefinite present to the male doctor that she is in love with, a man of great character who waits only for her and who courts her constantly. She fears that marriage will mean no career (1930's women's issue)and she is excited about the newness of psychiatry and her potential. He refers to her the case of a suicidal social lite who is in love with an alcoholic. She succeeds with them both, only for an imperceptible attachment to the alcoholic to emerge full blown, to her embarrassment. The young alcoholic openly professes his love for the one who healed him, and the suicidal social lite, now wife to the alcoholic, expresses her venom. In a classic scene of timeless relevance, the psychiatrist does not reciprocate her obvious feelings, but dies to them, pressing the now sober young man not to relapse, and pressing him to be the strong one for his new bride as she, the doctor, has been the strong one for him as her patient. She tells him that "doing what is right" has its own "greater ecstasy." The young couple reunite happily, and the psychiatrist finds that the steady, true love of her doctor friend holds up through the obviously painful ordeal. 1930's culture and women's issues should not blur the impact and powerful relevance of the theme of dying to self interest to find fulfillment on a higher level.

If one can get over the initially dated mores that this film begins with (a woman giving up her career on marriage) this is actually a very moving drama with much modern relevance.

Doctor Mary (Ann Harding) rejects marriage with Doctor Gordon (Herbert Marshall) because he expects her to give it all up on marriage. I wonder frankly if this seemed partly as silly in the 1930s as it does now. Either way, try to stomach your way through this first part because it gets very interesting as the plot progresses.

Doctor Mary helps Linda (Maureen O'Sullivan) who is suicidal over her not-very-much-requited love for Jack (Louis Hayward), an alcoholic. Doctor Mary's treatment is to send Jack away to dry out and get a job. Unfortunately, as is not uncommon with doctors/counsellors and patients, Jack falls in love with Mary. As is also not completely unknown, though hopefully considerably more rare, Mary also falls in love with Jack.

Fortunately choosing to follow professional ethics and common sense, she does the right thing, and rejects him. While this may have been for Hays Code reasons at the time, it reflects modern ethics pretty well. The denouement would have been far less palatable if she had ended up giving up her profession for a younger, alcoholic, former patient.

Doctor Gordon is sufficiently handsome, noble and intelligent throughout most of the rest of the film, that it's not a bad consolation that Doctor Mary ends up with him.

Linda, on the other hand, is the last person you'd encourage an alcoholic to marry or vice versa. One can't help but regard her marriage with Jack with a sadly cynical eye. She's a pretty awful person (a convincing performance by O'Sullivan).

This is a poignant film that has a lot of relevance for today. It has been described as a melodrama, but it's really simply a rather elegant and restrained drama. Highly recommended if you can find a copy or catch a viewing. I bought a DVD from a company that specialises in rare films.

I'm confused by the TCM production notes which refer to PCA concerns over "indication of effeminacy in the portrayal of Ramos". I'm not sure what character this refers to but there is no character or actor named Ramos in this film, nor any theme of "effeminacy" (by which I assume they refer to homosexuality). The quote comes from a book about the Catholic Church and Hollywood, and I suspect it has been taken out of context in some way, or the book errs.

Yikes, what a mess.

"The Flame Within" is from 1935 and stars Ann Harding, Herbert Marshall, Louis Hayward, Maureen O'Sullivan, and C. Aubrey Smith.

Harding is Dr. Mary White, a hard-working psychiatrist. Herbert Marshall plays Dr. Gordon Phillips, her good friend. He's in love with her and wants to marry her, but she resists. She would rather concentrate on her work. In those days, when a woman married, she stayed home. Mary isn't sure how that would work out for her.

Phillips has a suicidal patient, Linda (O'Sullivan) whom he convinces to see White. The problem is Linda's boyfriend, Jack (Hayward),is an alcoholic. Mary suggests that she counsel Jack and perhaps help him.

Jack manages to both stop drinking and fall in love with his doctor and vice versa - I mean, way to go, fall for the suicidal patient's love of her life. Mary and Jack find some happiness, but Linda picks up on the situation and becomes jealous.

Dated and muddled, this isn't the best film that these people have made though they all do their best to overcome the script. Maureen O'Sullivan is beautiful, and one thing about her -- she was always very earnest. Harding is stiff upper lip.

I'm not sure I liked the way this film ended. I loved all the actors but this script was pretty bad.

Lillian Belton (Maureen O'Sullivan) is suicidal. Psychiatrist Dr. Mary White (Ann Harding) saves her and learns that her troubles stem from the alcoholic Jack Kerry (Louis Hayward). Dr. Gordon Phillips (Herbert Marshall) falls for Dr. White. He wants to marry her, but also wants her to abandon her work.

This movie has so many red flags... modern flags. I don't know if these red flags flew back in the day. I don't think modern psychiatrists would do what she does. Also, the ending is very tough in the modern sense. These are complicated relationships and I'm not comfortable with them. I feel like none of these people should be together, but times were different.