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The Doctors Dilemma

George Bernard Shaw's stringent wit still shines in this film but, staged in 1903, his comments on Harley Street (London's medical row) and the doctoring profession have lost much of their impact. Dilemma remains, relentlessly, an easy-on-the-eye filmed version of an out-of-date play.

George Bernard Shaw’s stringent wit still shines in this film but, staged in 1903, his comments on Harley Street (London’s medical row) and the doctoring profession have lost much of their impact. Dilemma remains, relentlessly, an easy-on-the-eye filmed version of an out-of-date play.

It concerns a young woman married to an artist who is a complete bounder – a sponger, a potential blackmailer and a man who can’t resist other women. But she is blinded by hero-worship. He suffers from consumption, she pleads with a doctor to save his life. He thinks that he would do better to use his limited serum on a more worthwhile case.

Dirk Bogarde gives a stimulating performance as the selfish young artist and is particularly convincing in his final, highly theatrical death sequence. Leslie Caron is often moving in her blind belief in her man, but never suggests the strength necessary to fight the cynical doctors. These are played as caricatures.

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The Doctor’s Dilemma

UK

  • Production: M-G-M/Comet. Director Anthony Asquith; Producer Anatole de Grunwald; Screenplay Anatole de Grunwald; Camera Robert Krasker; Editor Gordon Hales; Music Joseph Kosma; Art Director Paul Sheriff
  • Crew: (Color) Extract of a review from 1959. Running time: 98 MIN.
  • With: Leslie Caron Dirk Bogarde Alastair Sim Robert Morley Felix Aylmer Michael Gwynn

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Update: 2024-09-21

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