People Will Talk (1951) is a romantic comedy/drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck from a screenplay by Mankiewicz, based on the German play by Curt Goetz, which had been made into a movie in Germany (Frauenarzt Dr. Prätorius, 1950). Released by Twentieth Century Fox, the film stars Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain, with supporting performances by Hume Cronyn, Finlay Currie, Walter Slezak, and Sidney Blackmer.
The film was nominated for the Writers Guild of America screen Award for Best Written American Comedy (Joseph L. Mankiewicz).
Plot
People Will Talk describes an episode in the life of Dr. Noah Praetorius (Grant), a physician who teaches in a medical school and founded a clinic dedicated to treating patients humanely and holistically. The plot contains two parallel story lines: a professional-misconduct challenge brought against Praetorius by his more conventional colleage Dr. Rodney Elwell (Cronyn), who dislikes Praetorius's unorthodox but effective methods; and the struggle of a distressed young woman named Deborah Higgins (Crain), who falls in love with Praetorius while dealing with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. The film also highlights Praetorius's close friend and confidant, physics professor Lyonel Barker (Slezak), who plays bass viol in the student/faculty orchestra conducted by Praetorius.
Elwell's misconduct suit
At the start of the film, Ewell has hired a detective to investigate Praetorius. A housemaid who once worked for Praetorius reacts visibly when Elwell asks her about Praetorius's mysterious friend Mr. Shunderson, who rarely leaves Praetorius's side and has a deep, intuitive understanding of human and animal nature.
Elwell's detective discovers that Shunderson was once tried for murder, and Elwell calls for a misconduct hearing against Praetorius. At the hearing, Praetorius explains that he started his career in a small town by opening a butcher shop as a front for his undeclared medical practice, because the people of the town didn't trust doctors. Elwell tries to discredit Praetorius's methods, but Praetorius defends his use of faith in healing, describing how he was forced to leave town after his maid discovered his medical degree.
Praetorius refuses to answer questions about Shunderson, but Shunderson himself breaks into the hearing and describes how he was tried twice for the same murder, serving 15 years in prison for the first conviction. After the second trial, he was sentenced to death and hanged, but somehow survived. When he woke up, he was lying on a table in front of Praetorius, who was at that time a medical student examining what he believed was a corpse. Praetorius kept Shunderson's survival a secret, and Shunderson became Praetorius's devoted friend. After this story is told, the chairman concludes the hearing in Praetorius's favor, and Elwell walks away alone and discredited.
Deborah Higgins
Meanwhile, Deborah enters Praetorius's life, displaying signs of emotional distress. After she faints during a lecture, Praetorius examines her and informs her that she's pregnant. Upset by this news, "Mrs. Higgins" admits that she's not really married. The unborn child's father is dead, and knowing about her condition would be too much for her own father to bear. In a hallway near Praetorius's office, she shoots herself.
After successfully operating on Deborah, Praetorius tries to calm her by telling her there was a mistake in her pregnancy test, but she has fallen in love with him, and becomes upset at her own embarrassing behavior. She runs away from the clinic, forcing him to find her so he can tell her she really is pregnant.
Praetorius and Shunderson drive out to where Deborah and her father Arthur live, a farm owned by Arthur's brother John. Deborah and Praetorius hide Deborah's shooting incident from her father, who is a failure in life and lives unhappily as a dependent of his stingy brother. Deborah is his only pride in life, which might become intolerable for him with a baby to take care of and his daughter's reputation ruined.
While showing Praetorius the farm, Deborah admits her love for him. After she seductively interrogates him about his reasons for visiting her, the two of them share a passionate kiss. They soon get married, and Arthur comes to live with them. A few weeks later, Deborah suggests to Noah that she may be pregnant, and he admits that she was pregnant all along. She ruefully concludes that he married her out of pity, but he convinces her that he really did fall in love with her.
For some reason, Praetorius's misconduct hearing was scheduled for the same time as the student/faculty orchestra's concert. After the hearing, the film ends with Deborah, Shunderson, and Barker in the audience watching Praetorius conduct the orchestra in the finale of Brahms's Academic Festival Overture.
Cast
Cary Grant ... Dr. Noah Praetorius
Jeanne Crain ... Deborah Higgins
Finlay Currie ... Shunderson
Hume Cronyn ... Prof. Rodney Elwell
Walter Slezak ... Prof. Barker
Sidney Blackmer ... Arthur Higgins
Basil Ruysdael ... Dean Lyman Brockwell
Katherine Locke ... Miss James
Parley Baer ... Toy Store Salesman (uncredited)
Bess Flowers ... Concert audience member (uncredited)
Margaret Hamilton ... Housekeeper (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes ... Board member (uncredited)
Jack Kelly ... Student in classroom (uncredited)
Will Wright ... John Higgins (uncredited)
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