Green Light (1937)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Errol Flynn stars as idealistic young doctor who takes the blame for a botched operation that costs a woman her life. Why he does this is supposed to be noble but seems stupid to me. After he's dismissed by the hospital, he joins a friend (Walter Abel) researching a cure for spotted fever. Abel has lots to say about ticks and spotted fever, so have a pencil and paper handy.An odd movie, especially for Flynn. What makes it odd isn't the medical melodrama I summarized above. Those types of movies were a dime a dozen back then. No, what makes it odd and also fascinating is the inclusion of spiritual themes. In particular Cedric Hardwicke's character. Hardwicke plays a perspicacious reverend, equal parts Mr. Miyagi and Gandalf. His scenes are some of the movie's most interesting. Errol's love interest choices are Anita Louise and Margaret Lindsay. I won't spoil which he picks but it wasn't the one I was rooting for. The cinematography and score are excellent, as is Frank Borzage's direction. It's a very good-looking movie. Not always successful but intriguing in many ways. Definitely worth recommending.

This one is marked for a disc-on-demand DVD release by Warner Brothers, though I don't think it will have many takers, aside from avid fans of Errol Flynn (whose co-stars, Anita Louise, Margaret Lindsay, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Walter Abel don't exactly shine in the same kindly light). Adapted from the 1935 bestseller by Lloyd Douglas, the film could aptly be described as a Clayton's film noir, namely it's the film noir you have when you're not having a film noir. All the noirish elements are here – respected doctor who inadvertently murders a patient, idealistic colleague who takes the blame and not only sacrifices his own career, but is renounced by the murdered woman's daughter whom he had planned to marry – but they are handled in Douglas' usual disappointing lavender and lollipops style. Douglas can think up meaty, dramatic situations, but he handles them in a cop-out fashion and seems to go out of his way to avoid any real drama or suspense. He's an expert at pointing the finger, but failing to follow through. Instead, the heroic, self-sacrificing victim redeems himself not by telling the truth, but by expiating his nobility in some other fashion – in this case by allowing himself to be used a a guinea pig for an experimental vaccine that will supposedly counteract spotted fever. It does – in the book! It doesn't – in the movie! But our hero recovers anyway and is re-united with his ex-fiancée. Errol Flynn emerges creditably from this charade, whereas the girls are not only unable to disguise the rubbish that passes for dialogue, but are unflatteringly photographed to boot. In fact, Flynn is the only player who manages to emerge from Green Light with a degree of credibility. The other players, especially the young ladies in the drama, Anita Louise and Margaret Lindsay, are also unflatteringly photographed by Byron Haskin, and in addition to his shaky philosophy, Sir Cedric Hardwicke is further burdened with a ridiculous white wig.

This might just be the strangest Errol Flynn film other than the truly odd Cuban movies he made at the very end of his career. It has many strange plot elements and a convoluted religious element that just left me dazed! But, despite the very strange writing, the overall effort is still pretty good--mostly because it's hard to imagine Errol Flynn making a bad film! Heck, drunk and disinterested, he was still a heck of an actor--and here he is young and vigorous and engaging.The film begins with a strange Norman Vincent Peale sort of sermon by Cedric Hardwicke. In fact, whenever this odd preacher talks, he sounds very mystical...but never seems to mention God or the Bible! And you also wonder what the heck he has to do with the rest of the film. Well, honestly, he DOESN'T have much to do with the film--he seems more like a wacky social gospel-spouting plot device--but a pleasant one.The film actually has to do with a bizarre doctor (Flynn) who inexplicably covers for his boss when the boss-man botches an operation and kills a patient. I say inexplicable because his reasons for covering for the elder doctor seemed convoluted to say the least. As a result of taking the blame for something he DIDN'T do (and, by the way, possibly allowed an inept surgeon to keep practicing), agnostic Flynn goes to see Hardwicke--who pulls some strings and manipulates him into meeting the daughter of the woman (Anita Louise) killed by the other doctor. She falls for him but when she discovers that Flynn is the one blamed the death, she despises him and he runs off to a life of self-sacrifice working on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever! This culminates with him injecting himself with an experimental vaccine--and Louis comes running to him! Does the amazingly self-sacrificing Flynn pull through?! Well, don't expect any surprises! If the plot I described sounds convoluted and weird, that's because it is--and it's actually a bit worse, but I omitted a bit of the plot due to space. The bottom line is that the film STILL manages to be enjoyable even though it is never the least bit believable. A very minor Flynn outing to say the least. At least it IS original!

Because Green Light was done under the banner of Cosmopolitan Pictures for Warner Brothers, I've got a feeling that William Randolph Hearst might have originally intended Anita Louise's part for his amour Marion Davies. The thought of Marion Davies and Errol Flynn together in a film boggles the mind, but I'll bet Hearst would not have wanted Flynn opposite Davies for personal reasons as Errol was just starting to acquire his reputation as a rake.W.R. provided Flynn with a change of pace that he requested. After doing adventure films Captain Blood and Charge Of The Light Brigade, Flynn wanted something different. Green Light is based on a Lloyd C. Douglas novel of spiritual values and Universal had just had a smash hit in Magnificent Obsession that made Robert Taylor a major star. No doubt Hearst persuaded Jack Warner to get the film rights for Davies, but then Marion couldn't go through with it. The story does center on the man however and that was never something you would see in a Davies film.Errol Flynn plays an idealistic young surgeon who takes the rap for a botched operation that his mentor Henry O'Neill performed. Resigning the hospital he goes to work for research scientist Walter Abel who is looking for a cure for spotted fever in the west which is deadly to humans and livestock. Along the way he meets and falls for Anita Louise who is the daughter of the woman who died on the operating table, Spring Byington. Presiding over all of this is an Episcopal bishop played by Cedric Hardwicke. In her last hours Byington is heard listening to a broadcast by radio of one of Cedric Hardwicke's inspirational sermons. Hardwicke functions as the author's voice, he shares with the other characters and the audience the philosophy of self sacrifice and good works that Lloyd C. Douglas had. With all these people being so noble and self sacrificing, you know it has to turn out all right.Flynn never quite nails down the character which would have been ideal for Tyrone Power over at 20th Century Fox. Still he gives it a good try and the audience did respond. But it would be a long time before Jack Warner would cast him in a modern drama.For me the character I remember best is that of Margaret Lindsay who plays a nurse who really has it bad for Errol, but who loyally steps aside and even helps Louise get together with Flynn. Now THAT'S a sacrifice.