Jeanskynebu
the audience applauded
Tayloriona
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
SimonJack
"The Story of Dr. Wassell" is an excellent film non-combatant war film. But there's still plenty of wartime action. It takes places in the Asian theater and South Pacific. It's the story of an Arkansas country doctor, Corydon Wassell, who went to China as a medical missionary in 1913. In 1936, he went on active duty with the U.S. Navy reserves, serving in the Far East. When World War II broke out, he was serving as medical officer for two destroyers that were lost off the coast of Java.This is a wonderful story of a different type of hero than the one who charges enemy positions. Wassell stays behind when the American forces on Java are ordered to evacuate. That is, all except the wounded who can't walk. So he's a hero of self-sacrifice and great love for his fellow man that he wouldn't leave his wounded men behind to be captured by the Japanese.This is a harrowing film at times, and at others times it has humor. It was based on interviews and recollections of many of the men, and of Dr. Wassell himself. His decision to stay behind with his men goes against his direct orders. Yet he finds one situation after another of being able to move his men to a port where they can be evacuated. Obviously, it has a happy ending. And when he is called to meet the admiral in Australia, he expects to get a lecture and maybe face a court marital. Instead, brass of all kinds are in the room waiting as they listen to a radio broadcast in which President Franklin Roosevelt tells of examples of American heroism, and the story he tells is that of Dr. Wassell.In the introduction to the film, Cecil B. DeMille is listening to that very broadcast. He says that that inspired him to make the movie about Dr. Wassell and his heroism. American author James Hilton wrote a novel shortly after Wassell's efforts made the news. Wassell served as an adviser for the movie.Wassell earned the Navy Cross for his actions. There is a gratuitous romance aspect in the film, but it's OK and fictitious. Wassell didn't mind it because his wife was back home during this time.The film was released on July 4, 1944, in theaters across the U.S. It was an obvious morale-builder. But before that, it had a premier showing on April 29, 1944 in Wassell's home time of Little Rock, AR.All of the roles are done well. As with some other war movies of the time, this one has one character who is over-the-top silly, clowning, etc. After a while that can grate on a person. It's OK to have someone like that — if there was in fact such a person. If not, I question his inclusion because it seems that he's pushing or forcing a lighter side in the film. I thought just one short scene was quite hokey and hard to believe. That was Wassell's standing before a huge Buddha in the jungle and asking Buddha to make the distant convoy sounds anything other than Japanese. If he was a medical missionary, he more likely might have said the Lord's Prayer, or prayed to God in some other way. Well, it may have happened that way, or it might have been a Hollywood insert with some specific intent in mind.This is a fine film about sacrifice and caring for one's fellow man in terrible times. And an excellent film for any war collection.
malcolmgsw
Looking for something to watch over Christmas i found a VHS that i had bought of this film 8 years ago which i hadnt gotten around to seeing.Well all i can say is that after watching it it will be at least another 8 years before it gets another viewing.It is difficult to understand how this film cost so much to produce when the sets at times look as cheap as those you would expect to see in an early TV production.The film plods on aimlessly for well over 2 hours which induced me to nod off from time to time.Coopers is the only worthwhile acting performance the rest are quite awful,matching script and direction.Also given the fact that they are supposed to be in Java where it is rather hot don't they ever sweat?De Mille is his usual overblown self in the prologue and also in the directors chair.Given the reprehensible way Hoppy acted towards the nurse i couldn't have cared less whether he survived.
blanche-2
Gary Cooper has the title role in "The Story of Dr. Wassell," a fact-based 1944 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and also starring Laraine Day, Dennis O'Keefe, Signe Hasso, and Elliott Reid. During World War II, a naval doctor tries to evacuate soldiers from the East Indies as the Japanese are approaching. He insists upon taking the wounded on a transport ship, the Pecos, even though it is against orders. In the end, he is not able to do it. Wassell stays with his soldiers, all of whom assume they will die on Java. But the doctor won't give up. Along the way, we learn of his life in China and the woman (Day) that he loved."The Story of Dr. Wassell" is a little long and gets off to a slow start, but holds up thanks to Gary Cooper and the audience's involvement with some of the well-drawn supporting characters. By the time the movie is over, you feel like you've been in the war with them. I'm not sure if that's due to the length of the film or what the soldiers went through.Cooper was about 43 years old when this film was made, yet he still retained that boyish smile of his. I've never figured out if he was a great actor or not; he was so outrageously handsome, I just can't stop staring at him. He didn't have James Stewart's range, Bogart's timing or Wayne's biting voice, but there was something very solid about him, as well as virile, likable, and magnetic. He also has a no-nonsense way of portraying a character, kind of cutting to the chase, and his performance really carries this film. Laraine Day doesn't have a very big role - in fact, she's wasted. The movie does provide a showy role for Dennis O'Keefe (who replaced Alan Ladd) and Signe Hasso, a very good actress often relegated to B films. O'Keefe plays a wounded soldier named Hoppy - and if you see this film, don't turn it off when you see "The End" because Mr. DeMille actually has an update about him.The script could have been tighter, but "The Story of Dr. Wassell" is good entertainment, maybe a little dated, but nevertheless the story of a real-life hero who deservedly won the Purple Heart.
David Diamond
As WWII becomes part of 20th Century History, we now look back upon the Hollywood films depicting WWII as over-sentimental and patriotic. But this film is different, it was not about a great Allied victory but an Allied defeat and how one man, an American doctor single-handedly risked his life to save American sailors too injured to be moved during the pending invasion of Java by the advancing Japanese fleet. It is these real-life stories that are absent of any propaganda that will make this film survive. Although a bit glamourized for WWII moviegoing audiences, this film holds up well and it covers a part of WWII with respect to the Dutch involvement rarely discussed. Finally, Cecille B. DeMille, Gary Cooper and Technicolor still make this film an engaging experience.
