''Arrowsmith'' is a 1931 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film directed by
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
and starring
Ronald Colman,
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...
,
Richard Bennett, and
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...
. It was adapted from
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...
's 1925 novel ''
Arrowsmith'' by
Sidney Howard
Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for ''Gone with the Wind''. ...
, departing substantially from the book regarding Arrowsmith's womanizing and other key plot elements. The
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...
film received four
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
nominations, including the
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...
,
Best Writing, Adaptation (Howard),
Best Cinematography (
Ray June
Ray June, A.S.C. (March 27, 1895 – May 26, 1958) was an American cinematographer during the early and classical Hollywood cinema. His best-known films are ''Babes in Arms'' and ''Funny Face''. June attended Columbia University but did not grad ...
), and
Best Art Direction (
Richard Day).
Plot
An idealistic young medical student, Martin Arrowsmith, introduces himself assertively to Dr. Max Gottlieb, a noted bacteriologist. Though Gottlieb deems Arrowsmith not yet ready to study with him, he is impressed by the young man's determination and honest self-appraisal, and encourages him to take the standard course of study first. When Arrowsmith graduates, Gottlieb offers him a position as his research assistant, but the young man reluctantly turns him down, having fallen in love with a nurse, Leora. He would be unable to support her on a research assistant's meager salary. He marries, and the couple sets off for Leora's rural home town in South Dakota.
Unhappy with the vicissitudes of his medical practice there, he is drawn by a former client across the boundary into veterinary medicine when the man's cows are dying - even faster when given injections by the local state health official. Determined to find a cure of his own, he carries out scientific research in his kitchen, eventually developing a successful serum. Reinvigorated, he decides to abandon his practice and join Gottlieb as a research scientist at the renowned and extremely well-funded McGurk Institute in New York. Meanwhile, Leora miscarries and cannot have any more children, so she devotes herself to her husband's career.
After two fallow years at McGurk, Arrowsmith stumbles onto an antibiotic serum that he does not understand (and is unsure how he produced), yet has demonstrated the ability to kill at least one type of germ. He shortly is able to replicate it, and in order to study its efficacy on other microbes is sent to the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
, where a virulent outbreak of
bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...
has arisen. He is coincidentally teamed with a popular Swedish lecturer on "Heroes of Health" he once met while still in South Dakota, Dr. Gustav Sondelius, who is extremely enthusiastic over both the team and the serum's prospects to help cure the disease. Leora accompanies her husband, despite his fear for her safety.
Arrowsmith has strict instructions from Gottlieb to employ the
scientific method
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...
in his efforts, conducting a
blind study
In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...
by administering the serum to one-half his patients and a placebo injection to the other. Upon learning of this, the West Indies governor, Sir Robert Fairland, refuses to allow him to proceed. Seeking to break the impasse, black Dr. Oliver Marchand suggests Arrowsmith conduct his experiment in a backwater community on a neighboring island where the infection is rampant. Arrowsmith agrees, insisting Leona stay behind for her own protection. The study begins. Among those seeking an inoculation of Arrowsmith's serum is Mrs. Joyce Lanyon, a New York socialite stranded on the island. They are attracted to each other, though their subsequent affair is only hinted at obliquely.
Sondelius contracts the disease. In his death throes, he pleads with Arrowsmith to abandon scientific protocol and save as many lives as possible. Concerned about his wife's welfare, Arrowsmith asks Marchand to check on her upon his return to the main island, only to have his colleague die while on the phone before he can give his report. Arrowsmith races home, but Leora is dead. In a drunken delirium, he gives the serum to all, saving the Indies from the plague. Upon his return to New York, he is hailed by the press and feted by McGurk Institute head Dr. Tubbs, who seeks to take advantage of Arrowsmith's glory. Arrowsmith instead rushes directly to Gottlieb.
Desperate to explain his abandonment of research principles and his mentor's specific mandate to advance science rather than practice medicine, Arrowsmith discovers that Gottlieb has had a stroke, is insensible, and near death. Disgusted with all that is transpiring, friend and colleague Terry Wickett, a prominent chemist at the Institute, announces abruptly that he is quitting to set up his own "shoestring" laboratory to pursue science. Turning his back on public adulation, a promotion, and a big raise, Arrowsmith resigns to join forces with Wickett. Joyce Lanyon appears, seeking to rekindle their relationship, but he spurns her, committing himself to his career.
Cast
*
Ronald Colman as Dr Martin Arrowsmith
*
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...
as Leora Arrowsmith
*
Richard Bennett as Gustav Sondelius
*
A.E. Anson as Professor Max Gottlieb
*
Clarence Brooks as Oliver Marchand
*
Alec B. Francis as Twyford
*
Claude King
Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, "Wolverton Mountain".
Biography
King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish south ...
as Dr. Tubbs
*
Bert Roach
Egbert "Bert" Roach (August 21, 1891 – February 16, 1971) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 320 films between 1914 and 1951. He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in Los Angeles, California, age 79.
Selected filmogr ...
as Bert Tozer
*
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...
as Mrs Joyce Lanyon
*
Russell Hopton
Harry Russell Hopton (February 18, 1900 – April 7, 1945) was an American film actor and director.
Biography
Hopton was born in New York City, New York. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945, often playing streetwise characters f ...
as Terry Wickett
*
David Landau as State Veterinarian
*
Lumsden Hare
Francis Lumsden Hare (17 October 1874 – 28 August 1964) was an Irish-born film and theatre actor. He was also a theatre director and theatrical producer.
Early years
Hare studied at St. Dunstan's College in London.
Career
Hare appeare ...
as Sir Robert Fairland – Governor
*
Ward Bond as Cop (uncredited)
*
John Qualen
John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was an American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles.
Early years
Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son ...
as Henry Novak (uncredited)
Production
The film is only somewhat faithful to the novel, among other significant changes omitting Arrowsmith's serial womanizing, and completely skipping all mention of Arrowsmith's wealthy, self-centered second wife. Myrna Loy has only a few scenes with Colman, and their relationship is undeveloped to the point of being indecipherable. According to
Robert Osborne
Robert Jolin Osborne (; May 3, 1932 – March 6, 2017) was an American film historian, television presenter, author, actor and the primary host for more than 20 years of the cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Prior to hosting at TCM, Os ...
, host of
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
, Helen Hayes claimed that as filming went on various scenes were dropped from the script without explanation. It is claimed that
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor a ...
had hired director John Ford on condition that he not drink during the production. Allegedly Ford sped up filming at the expense of plot and continuity to get to a bottle.
Reaction
The film was a financial and critical success. It was nominated for four
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, including for
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
Best Writing, Adaptation (Howard),
Best Art Direction (
Richard Day) and
Best Cinematography (
Ray June
Ray June, A.S.C. (March 27, 1895 – May 26, 1958) was an American cinematographer during the early and classical Hollywood cinema. His best-known films are ''Babes in Arms'' and ''Funny Face''. June attended Columbia University but did not grad ...
).
References
External links
*
*
* Tom Paulus, "The View Across the Courtyard: Bazin and the Evolution of Depth Style" in the Andre Bazin special issue, Jeffrey Crouse (ed.), ''Film International'', Issue 30, Vol. 5, No. 6, 2007, pp. 62–73.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrowsmith (Film)
1931 films
1931 drama films
American drama films
American black-and-white films
Films scored by Alfred Newman
Films based on American novels
Films based on works by Sinclair Lewis
Films directed by John Ford
Films set in the Caribbean
Samuel Goldwyn Productions films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films