Themes: Race Against Time, Doctors and Patients, Underdogs
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, Dennis O'Keefe, Carol Thurston
Release Year: 1944
Country: US
Run Time: 140 minutes
Plot
The genesis of The Story of Dr. Wassell is said to have been a story told by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to director Cecil B. DeMille. Gary Cooper stars as Corydon M. Wassell, a real-life country doctor from Arkansas who worked as a medical missionary in China in the years prior to WWII. When America enters the war, Dr. Wassell joins the Navy and is shipped to Java. As the Japanese overtake the island, Wassell is placed in charge of the wounded evacuated marines. Ordered to leave the area immediately, the doctor disobeys his commands, staying behind to care for ten seriously wounded men from the USS Marblehead, even as Japanese bombs rain down upon his staff. With the help of other stranded allied troops, Wassell and his wounded make it to Australia, where despite his insubordination he is lauded as a hero. Not as much of a spectacular as earlier DeMille films, The Story of Dr. Wassell concentrates on personalities, with mixed results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although based on a true incident, The Story of Dr. Wassell might better have been titled "The Story of How Hollywood Sees Dr. Wassell. The basic premise of the movie -- that a dedicated doctor in the Army disobeys orders to stirringly and courageously evacuate a group of wounded soldiers -- is there, but Cecil B. DeMille and his writers have tricked it out with cliché after cliché, including an entirely extraneous volcano explosion (included only because a volcano actually erupted in Mexico while they were filming there). It's a shame that the creators didn't just stick to the original story, or barring that, that they didn't come up with more original elements to add to it. Still, Wassell ends up being a good enough movie, thanks to the underlying idea, DeMille's adept way of handling over-the-top action plots and Gary Cooper's contrasting customary underplaying. Indeed, Cooper's performance is essential to Wassell's success. It's not just that he turns in a good, solid performance; it's that with Cooper in the part, we're willing to overlook a lot of the mush and nonsense that surrounds him. Cooper is well supported by a fine cast, but he's the one that keeps us engaged. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Roland Anderson - Art Director, Hans Dreier - Art Director, Sidney Biddell - Associate Producer, Natalie Visart - Costume Designer, Oscar Rudolph - First Assistant Director, Cecil B. DeMille - Director, Anne Bauchens - Editor, Victor Young - Composer (Music Score), Victor Milner - Cinematographer, William Snyder - Cinematographer, Cecil B. DeMille - Producer, George Sawley - Set Designer, Farciot Edouart - Special Effects, Gordon Jennings - Special Effects, W. Wallace Kelley - Special Effects, Farciot Deouart - Special Effects, Hugo Grenzbach - Sound/Sound Designer, James Hilton - Screenwriter, Alan LeMay - Screenwriter, Charles Bennett - Screenwriter, James Hilton - Book Author, Corydon M. Wassell - Short Story Author
