Movie ScheduleEach film showing will be prefaced with a brief historical and cultural introduction by Susan Lawrence. Students enrolled in the course will participate in a discussion after the film. Others are welcome to stay to listen and participate. |
January 23 |
Frankenstein, 1931 This is the first of the Hollywood films (Universal Studios) depicting Dr. Frankenstein delving into "the secrets of life and death" to create one of the world's most famous monsters. It is loosely based on the book by Mary Shelley, first published in 1818. A classic not to be missed. James Whales directed this film. It stars Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, Mae Clarke as his fiance, and Boris Karloff as the monster. Black and white. 71 minutes.
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January 30 |
Arrowsmith, 1931
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February 6 |
No film: M1/M2 semester break |
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February 13 |
Young Dr.
Kildare, 1938
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February 20 |
No Way Out, 1950 Sidney Poitier had his first film role in this movie, playing Dr. Luther Brooks, a resident in racially mixed hospital. Richard Widmark plays the racist white patient determined to provoke violence over Dr. Brooks' care of his dead brother. Black and white, 106 minutes.
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February 27 |
Magnificent Obsession,
1954
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March 6 |
The Interns, 1962 Richard Frede wrote the novel that inspired this film, which sets out to reveal the seamy underside of hospital life. David Swift directed the movie. The cast includes Stephanie Powers, Buddy Ebsen and Telly Savalas. The movie spawned a sequel and a TV series. Black and white, 120 minutes
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March 13 |
No film -- Spring Break |
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March 20 |
M*A*S*H*, 1970. Richard Hooker, the pseudonym for Richard Hornberger, M.D., wrote the novel published in 1968. The film was directed by Robert Altman, and became widely known as the movie set during the Korean War that was "really about" Vietnam. Donald Sutherlan, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman and Robert Duvall starred in roles re-created by other actors in the long-running TV series. Color, 116 minutes. Rated R.
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March 27 |
The Hospital, 1971.
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April 3 |
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975 Ken Kesey wrote the novel that inspired this film adaptation. Jack Nicholson plays the sane man who tries to get out of prison work by feigning mental illness and ends up in a secure psychiatric hospital. Once in the hospital, he disrupts the system; his major nemesis is Nurse Ratched, played by Louis Harding. Kesey's book and this film were part of the cultural manifestations of a growing anti-psychiatry and anti-institution movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. While this film does not fit well into the course theme of the "doctor as hero," it is one of the major classics of medical movies and so I included it anyway. Color, 133 minutes
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April 10 |
Gross Anatomy, 1989 Medical students are the focus of this movie directed by Thom Eberhart and starring Matthew Modine, Daphne Zuniga and Christine Lahti. Competition, stress and deteriorating relationships also have major roles. Color, 109 minutes.
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April 17 |
The Doctor, 1991
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April 24 |
The Patriot, 1998 William Heine wrote the novel, The Last Canadian, that provided the basis for this film. Steven Seagal is Dr. Wesley McLaren, physician, researcher, rancher and martial arts expert, who confronts a bioweapon let loose in his town. This is doctor as action-hero, the new sensitive macho-man of the 1990s.
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