The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) User Reviews

DeMille World War II story of real-life Doctor

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 12 March 2007]

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.

DeMille, Technicolor, Cooper and Laraine Day...nice combo...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 14 December 2006]

GARY COOPER is a dedicated Naval doctor during World War II tending to the wounded in Java where a shipload of men are wounded and expecting an attack by the Japanese. LARAINE DAY is the lovely woman he loves and who stands by him when the going gets rough.

The Technicolor photography is a big asset in making the war scenes more realistic and the men really look like damaged goods in their bandages and splints--two of whom are played by PAUL KELLY and DENNIS O'KEEFE. O'Keefe shares a wobbly, artificial sub-plot romance with a nurse (CAROL THURSTON) who looks after him. Ditto for SIGNE HASSO and ELLIOT REID. However, all of the scenes in the infirmary have an authentic look, thanks to DeMille's eye for detail.

The wounded men are full of high spirits and hi-jinks but Cooper is told that 60,000 Japs have landed in Java nearby and none of the wounded would have a chance to escape. It's up to him to devise a plan where he can help some of the wounded escape.

The action scenes are fine but there's too many lulls in between with clumsy use of flashbacks involving Wassell's romance with Laraine Day and some tediously repetitious scenes of wounded men suffering further wounds when the men try to make an escape with the aid of British troops.

Certainly not a typical Cecil B. DeMille vehicle, but Cooper gives a decent performance.

The running time is too long because the flabby screenplay is sidetracked by poorly handled flashback segments. The sub-plot with Dennis O'Keefe's character just doesn't work and the whole story takes too long to tell.

Hoppy Survived

[chisum · 29 August 2001]

This is an entertaining movie if somewhat dated ,still worth an occassional veiwing. Gary Cooper carries the film with a great performance showing him for the star he was. The cast is packed with good character actors and actresses,and is filmed in colour,based on a true story that De Mille heard on the radio as told by FDR. The story of how the doctor rescues some badly injured sailors in the Phillipines is told in a flagwaving way,with humor and tragedy side by side. One reveiwer asks about Hoppy a badly wounded soldier who is left stranded on the wrong side of a demolished bridge,the film shows the Japanese closing in on him and a nurse then they disapear. In C.B,deMILLES BIOGRAPHY he reveals that Hoppy did survive and at the end of the credits he told the film audience this fact.

Smile, boys, we're almost home.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 15 December 2006]

This is a good role for Gary Cooper. He's tall, sun-tanned, speaks with what is supposed to be an Arkansas accent although it doesn't approach the saturation level of his Sergeant York, and is a humanitarian doctor with an inventive streak. He's also nattily dressed, but that's hardly worth mentioning since just about everyone in the movie is dressed in clean, pressed clothes. Combat has no effect on their grooming.

Basically, Dr. Wassell, formerly an investigator of snail-vectored diseases in China, joins the Navy and is voluntarily left behind with a few nurses and a dozen or so patients too disabled to walk about the last ship departing the island of Java, threatened by the Japanese in 1941.

The wounded are all sailors from the USS Marblehead and Houston, which were sunk in the battle of the Java Sea. The Japanese blew the American-British-Dutch-Australian force out of the water. That is to say, we lost, which is to say you will see multiple movies about the battle of Midway (we won) but absolutely none about the battle of the Java Sea.

There are two scenes of violence. In the first, the hospital housing the wounded is bombed by Japanese planes. It's quite well handled. The ordinary war flick of the time would have multiple bombs falling at once, lots of outdoor models with paper-machie palms trees doing flips, and heroic Allies pumping machine guns up in the air. But DeMille doesn't do it that way. Everything is seen from inside a single hospital ward, the men and staff hiding under mattresses. There are only three or four bombs, with intervals between them, and they're nothing more than a long and eerie whistle before they hit. The first lands far away. The second and third are more of a jolt, and the last one blows in the windows, upends some of the hospital beds, and kills a patient. Instead of mindless action we get a scene full of suspense.

The middle part of the movie involves a long and painful journey by trucks and other British vehicles across Java to another port. One man -- and his devoted native girlfriend -- run off the road in their jeep and find themselves surrounded by Japanese soldiers. "They no take prisoners -- in jungle." "I got an idea. Hand me that Tommy gun," he tells her, eyes blazing, and there is a fade out on Hoppy spraying lead around in the general direction of the camera. Sure, it's a cliché, but again DeMille spares us the shots of a thousand barbaric monkeys tumbling over as they charge the doomed couple.

Gary Cooper, as I say, is neat. He manages to save the remaining wounded and link up again with his lost love, Lorraine Day. He's awarded the Navy Cross (I think) for his efforts.

A long movie, but not a bad one for its time.

I agree with "chisum" from Hartlepool England - An enjoyable show

[lspaiser · 7/10 · 15 December 2006]

The movie is quite dated and a bit silly - on the other hand it is based on a true story as shown in the movie, and is well done - if not somewhat camp, certainly by current movie standards.

My biggest problem with it was the treatment of the lack of realistic emotion in a movie that contains so much tragedy.

The end is not particularly surprising. This is a Hollywood movie from the forties.

Again it falls into the category of "camp."

I agree with "chisim,"

The performances were very good particularly Gary Cooper.

A war-time morale film

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 22 September 2023]

"It's really a wonderful picture." - My grandmother, in a letter dated November 11, 1944, to her brother who was stationed on a destroyer in the Pacific Theater. It was returned to her unopened, because one month later he was killed in action. Consider that her one-line IMDb review for The Story of Dr. Wassell, submitted 79 years later.

You probably have to put yourself in 1944 mode to truly enjoy this film, as at 140 minutes it feels rather bloated, and contains an often corny mix of comedy and romance on top of its harrowing wartime tale.

It was meant to honor a hero, Dr. Corydon Wassell (Gary Cooper), to keep morale on the home front up, and to entertain - certainly not to portray the horror of war in a realistic way. With that said, the sobering elements in the story of brave men and women in harm's way, of not knowing a loved one's fate, and of knowing death could come at any time, must have been profoundly poignant. De Mille may have padded everything out in trying to create an epic, but he knew a good story when he saw it (or heard it, from an FDR radio broadcast), and made sure to verbally update viewers about the fate of one of the soldiers, "Hoppy," after the end of the film, so don't turn it off immediately.

Gary Cooper plays Dr. Wassell reasonably well, and it's an inspiring true story, his staying with and then saving 12 severely wounded seamen from capture by the Japanese on Java in 1942. The flashbacks to flesh out his life story were probably unnecessary, but perhaps in there to lighten up the film. We see him as a young doctor in Arkansas getting paid by patients in pigs, ala Doc Hollywood. We see him in what's close to 'White Savior' mode in China, working to figure out the source of a snail-borne plague amidst the superstitious villagers. This allows a love interest to be brought into the story (Laraine Day), based on his real-life wife, though De Mille adds a little melodrama by not having him marry her in 1926 as the real Dr. Wassell did after his first wife died.

As soldiers and audience members clung to faith in one form another during this terrible time, we see Dr. Wassell pray to God, and in another moment, to an austere statue of Buddha on Java. He tells the wounded seamen to have faith that their friends were picked up out of the sea when they learn that the transport carrying them, the Pecos, was sunk. Of course it's not questioned why one would have faith in an Almighty intervening in that case, and yet allowing the war and hundreds of millions of other people to die. In real life, the Pecos was indeed sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft, and there was heavy loss of life, which obviously isn't disclosed. This detail comes from Mike Stankovich's article from February 2021 for Naval History Magazine.

Not surprisingly, the film depicts American soldiers glowingly. We see heroic actions aboard their damaged ship, the Marblehead, the wounded wanting to stay at sea to continue the fight, and the near-dying displaying a stoic acceptance of death. They display little fear and crack jokes while being moved under beds while under attack, though one, Murdock (Paul Kelly) is an outlier relative to his attitude, needing guidance from the rest. They're generally in high spirits, not suffering, nor in pain. Why would they be? The war was still on, and audience members were already worried enough.

We also see virility and randiness towards the nursing staff, which gets to be a little much by today's standards. To be honest, the men seem surrounded by beautiful nurses, like Three Martini (note not "Tremartini", see James Hilton's book). She's played by Carol Thurston, who was often cast as an "exotic native," and unfortunately affects an accent. She slips the shoulder of her blouse down to give blood in what she (almost like a child) views as an intimate exchange, and takes her blouse off entirely to dance around in a tight sarong for the smiling sailors. There was nothing childlike about that. Meanwhile, two men vie for the same nurse (Signe Hasso) but chivalrously, because as one acknowledges, you never know what will happen in war, and the survivor can "win her." It's quite old-fashioned and you can also guess where that story line is going to go.

I didn't mind all these romantic elements too much early on, but De Mille got carried away, showing, for example, one of the seamen flirting with a woman while her shapely leg was being bandaged late in the film, while an attack was happening. Worse yet was how "Hoppy" (Dennis O'Keefe) treated Three Martini. She will do anything to be with him, but out of frustration over his fate, he says "I'd trade you and a thousand like you for a handful of Arkansas dirt." I mean, just wow, literally telling her (and the audience) that she was worth less than dirt. He apologizes, but this is the feeling the audience is left with, that she's "just a native."

Counterbalancing at least some of that was the character of Ping (Philip Ahn), a Chinese national who worked with Dr. Wassell in China, and is still with him. He's more philosophical than jocular and "manly" by the period's definition, but he does show off his muscular arms in one scene, and is certainly brave. He doesn't speak with a stereotypical accent, but the evenness of his serene wisdom probably betrays a stereotype. All in all, though, it's a positive character, and it was wonderful to see Ahn, a person of color in the hospital room, as there were no others among the seamen. There is another Chinese doctor (Richard Loo) though, who warns "We Chinese understand this enemy. He is more dangerous than the world knows." It's a small moment, but rings true to the Chinese experience of the Japanese invasion.

De Mille gets in some terrific action moments, including a car crashing down an embankment while attempting to flee, a bridge being blown up, and the terrifying moment when the ship is strafed by Japanese Zeros, killing a mother right in front of her child. That last bit was unfortunately undercut by the seamen smiling and playing with the child afterwards, while the attack was still going on. The moment the "Flying Fortress" B-17 bombers arrive, as the music swells, is suitably stirring however.

Had the film been streamlined these moments would have popped even more, and the film would undoubtedly be better received by modern eyes. I try to put myself in that theater in 1944, however, enjoying the rousing story while praying for an end to the war and the safe return of loved ones. It makes me overlook some of the flaws and round my review score up a little bit.

Courageous true story about a brave doctor who evacuates wounded soldiers in the Japanese invasion of the island of Java.

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 5 December 2023]

An attractive and engaging picture about U. S. Navy doctor Corydon M. Wassell, stationed in Java when the Japanese overun the island. The Story of Dr. Wassell is a 1944 American World War II film set in the Dutch East Indies, competently directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Dr. Wassell is a missionary doctor from Arkansas, who had in the past worked in China (which is shown in the first half of the film as a series of flashback) and after the Japanese invasion of Batavia finds himself (now as a doctor in the US Navy) caring for twelve American soldiers badly wounded during Japanese strafing of some cruisers. Wassell's placed in charge of evacuating the wounded. When he learns that stretcher cases must be left behind, and ignoring advice to abandon his patients, Wassell manages to care for them while leading them through the jungle until they can be evacuated by boat to Australia. So he disobeys orders to rescue some badly injured soldiers and get them to safety. He coordinates the remaining injured servicemen and leads them to safety towards the last Allied evacuation points. Drama of Loyalty and Love! The Story the Whole World Has Heard About!. Have You seen Tremartini? She's from the Pacific-And she's terrific!. He had three loves...and all were great!. Incredible Adventures of a Country Doctor Who Became the Country's Hero!

A patriotic and sensitive film dealing with a valiant person as starring, when the Japanese sweep through the East Indies during World War II, Dr. Wassell is determined to escape from Java with some crewmen of the cruiser Marblehead, that's why the U. S. forces withdraw from Java, ahead of the Japanese invasion. Based on a true story of how Dr. Wassell saved a dozen or so injured sailors who were left behind when able bodied men were evacuated to Australia. Starring the great and always sympathetic Gary Cooper, along with Laraine Day, Signe Hasso and Dennis O'Keefe. Naturally, there has to be some romance, so Gary Cooper's paired with Laraine Day as a Red Cross nurse. And adding other nice secondaries, such as: Stanley Ridges, Carol Thurston, Carl Esmond, Paul Kelly, Elliott Reid, Philip Ahn, Barbara Britton . The film was based on a book of the same name by novelist and screenwriter James Hilton. The book and film were inspired by the wartime activities of U. S. Navy Doctor Corydon M. Wassell which were referred to by President Roosevelt in a radio broadcast made in April 1942, the appropriate section of this broadcast appears toward the end of the film, as a result Wassell won the Navy Cross for humanitarianism in WWII. For their work on this film, Farciot Edouart, Gordon Jennings and George Dutton received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Effects.

It displays a colorful cinemagraphy in brilliant Technicolor from directors of photography William E. Snyder and Victor Milner. Shot on location in Tapachula, Metapa, Chiapas, México and Paramount Studios, Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Placerita Canyon State Park, Condado de Los Ángeles, San Diego, California, Estados Unidos. Adding the emotive and thrilling musical score by the classic composer Victor Young. This vigorous motion picture was well realized in Cecil B DeMille's ordinary style, supported by a magnificent second unit by Harold Rosson; both of them made some greatest spectacles of all time. Although a nimbler action filmmaker than Cecil might have made even more of the Oscar-winning effects work. Cecil produced and directed 70 films and was involved in many more. Many of his films were romantic sexual comedies, as he is supposed to have believed that Americans were curious only about money and sex. His best-known were biblical and religious epics that further established him as the symbol of Hollywood, such a: King of Kings (1927), The ten Commandments (1923) , The Crusades (1935) and , of course , Charlton Heston's Ten commandments (1956) and he made two versions about The Buccaneer : 1938 and 1958, the latter was ended by Anthony Quinn and Arthur Rosson due to his death. The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) rating: 6.5/10. Better than average. The flick will appeal to Gary Cooper fans.

C.B. DeMille's World War II epic.

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 8 August 2004]

Gary Cooper did four films with Cecil B. DeMille and this is easily the best of them. Although World War II is now history at the time this film was made, the incidents described were two years old. The attack sequences were brilliantly staged in the best DeMille manner, a kind of preview of 3-D.

DeMille in his autobiography admitted that the romantic flashbacks concerning Dr. Wassell were completely made up. The real Corydon Wassell and his wife were married all the time the action of the film took place. He described as a white lie, I think one's marital status is a bit more than that. Having said that the teaming of Cooper and Laraine Day was worked well and the romance fits in nicely.

Dr. Corydon Wassell was an early hero of World War II who was a doctor in the US Navy having been previously a medical missionary in China. He was ordered to abandon his stretcher cases as the Allies were evacuating Java in 1942 before the Japanese advance. He stayed and got themsafely evacuated with a few adventures along the way. He was decorated by President Roosevelt and FDR's radio message concerning Wassell's courage inspired DeMille to make this film.

DeMille said he could only envision Gary Cooper for the part. I'm sure that was the case because of DeMille's past success with Coop, but also because the Arkansas born and bred Wassell was similar to Cooper's own Oscar winning character of Tennessee native Sergeant York.

The rest of the cast performs admirably. The most poignant scene in the film involves a woman being shot during the Japanese aerial attack on the Dutch freighter Janssen in front of her little boy. As she urges the kid to go on and not look back, if a tear doesn't come to your eye you are made of stone. DeMille's films, especially his costume pictures sometimes have some stilted Victorian dialog, but in this one there is none.

Also I'd like to single out from the supporting cast Paul Kelly who plays one of the stretcher cases. He's a griper and a complainer all the way through, but when that kid's mother is shot as I previously described, he takes charge of the little boy in a scene that is the best in the film. Also Philip Ahn who plays Cooper's oriental confidante does it with strength and dignity which were his hallmarks as an actor when so many Asian players were stereotyped.

Even if you don't like DeMille, you'll like this film.

A Minor Point About the Story.

[unwashed_brain · 6/10 · 12 September 2020]

When watching this film, I did notice one thing about the plot that surprised me (I am only referring to the film plot, I do not mean to say that this actually happened in this way).

In this movie, Dr. Wassell gets evacuation orders for his US NAVY patients, but only the "ambulatory patients" (walking wounded) are to be taken; anyone that cannot walk is to be left there. Wassell takes all the patients to the harbor dock anyway, hoping for the best, but the captain of the departing ship USS Pecos refuses to allow the non-walking patients aboard, as he anticipates an enemy attack. Realizing that his non-ambulatory patients face capture or death if left behind, Wassell insists on remaining with them, and thereby becomes the only high-ranking American officer left on the island. They are all left sitting on the dock as the ship leaves port.

What??? It was only 12 men, you could fit them in somewhere on the ship. If you leave them, they will be taken prisoner or killed. Anyone would prefer to take their chances on the departing ship. How did that get past the propaganda censors? The US NAVY leaves its wounded sailors on the dock when withdrawing from danger?

The movie puts them right on the dock and ready to go. If the patients had been in hospitalized in intensive care and they couldn't have been moved, that would have been understandable. The plot would have at least made sense that way.

What A Trek

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 24 December 2011]

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.

An amazingly "un-DeMille" picture

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 12 February 2007]

If I hadn't paid attention to the opening credits, I never would have guessed that this was directed by Cecil B. DeMille. For years, I have disliked his films (particularly those made in the sound era)--mostly because his epics all seem to have cool special effects but also lag way behind the average film when it comes to characterizations. In other words, the films look good but often the dialog is silly and the characters very under-developed. However, unlike films such as THE TEN COMMANDMENTS or REAP THE WILD WIND, this one had a lot of heart and was an excellent picture in all respects. Sure, the special effects and cinematography were great (really great), but it didn't surprise me that the sets looked like Java--after all, it's DeMille. But for once, the supporting characters were rather three-dimensional and the only complaint I have about any of them is Loraine Day. Her character and how it was integrated into the plot didn't seem to work very well--but this is a very, very minor quibble.

Gary Cooper plays the title character. He also starred in two other DeMille films, THE UNCONQUERED and NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE, though I think he was best in this film because his part was a little more subdued--creating a quiet strength instead of the usual macho hero (probably because Dr. Wassell was a real person). This doctor was one of the last to try to vacate Java when the Japanese invaded in 1942 and the film was intended as a propaganda piece to encourage Americans at home and abroad due to the heroism in the story. Along with Cooper is a fine ensemble cast of supporting characters. And, thankfully, these supporting characters generally were not just cardboard stereotypes--a definite plus over some other similar films from the period.

All in all, it's an interesting film that's worth your time and an excellent example of the type of films DeMille could do had he chosen to focus more on people than special effects and spectacle.

Needed to be told as an action-adventure rather than a would-be epic

[JamesHitchcock · 6/10 · 8 September 2023]

Cecil B. DeMille is today best remembered for spectacular Biblical or Classical epics like "Samson and Delilah" or adventure films based upon American history like "The Plainsman" or "Reap the Wild Wind", but "The Story of Doctor Wassell" falls into neither category. It is a World War II propaganda film, made while the war was still being fought. It dramatises the exploits of Doctor Corydon M. Wassell who saved twelve badly wounded American servicemen from capture during the Japanese invasion of Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Wassell not only cared for the men, he also led them through the jungle until they could be evacuated by boat to Australia.

As I stated, this is not an epic, at least as far as its subject-matter is concerned, but I felt that DeMille was doing his utmost to shoehorn it into the epic style. At 2 hours 20 minutes, it is actually longer than a genuine epic like "Samson and Delilah", and I felt that its excessive length was its main drawback. Too often the story is slowed down by flashbacks telling us about Wassell's past as a country doctor in Arkansas and as a medical missionary and researcher in China. Vague hints are dropped that Wassell may have left China under something of a cloud and that he is trying to redeem himself by his military service, but nothing really comes of this and we never learn exactly why he left China. There is also a fictitious love-triangle involving Wassell, a pretty nurse named Madeleine and his superior Dr Wayne; in reality Wassell's wife was indeed named Madeline, but they were married in 1926, long before the events narrated in this film. Perhaps DeMille felt that any film starring a big-name star like Gary Cooper, who was considerably younger than the historical Wassell, ought to provide him with a love interest.

I felt that the film could have been improved by removing these flashbacks and concentrating on what Wassell did in Java. Even this part of the film could have been made more concise; too much time is taken up with semi-comic scenes in which the men joke and flirt with two other pretty nurses, one of them a Javanese girl. (She had to be played by a white actress to keep the censors happy). Cooper plays his part well and the action sequences are well handled- the film received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Effects- but I felt that Wassell's story really needed to be told as a wartime adventure rather than as a would-be epic. 6/10.

Third Time Is Not The Charm...

[xerses13 · 4/10 · 19 August 2007]

For his third TechniColor extravaganza Cecil B. DeMille (CB) took on World War II (WWII). Yes, THE BIG ONE, THE BIGGEST ONE and hopefully never to be repeated. Now what would you expect from CB master of the BIG. Some tide changing battle like MIDWAY were the fate of Empires hang in the balance. An aerial epic with our boys and their bombers up against the flying hordes of Nazi Germany. NO, we get some obscure incident in an early war debacle centered around Java. Listening to one of Franklin Delano Roosevelts (President U.S.A.) fire side chats (ie radio) CB picked up on the story of Dr. Corydon M. Wassell and how he evacuated wounded soldiers and seaman from the approaching Japanese invaders. Of course if made today by Michael Moore, Steven Spielberg or Oliver Stone the Japanese would be liberators of the Javanese from their evil colonial overlords, the Dutch. Funny though the Japanese liberation also included enslavement of their little brown brothers. Must have been some sort of 'Greater East Asian CoProsperty Sphere' bonus, full employment under duress.

Maybe we should not been that surprised by CBs choice of subject. He did have a habit of picking up on obscure historical incidents and blowing them up for the big screen. Examples of this are in his first two (2) color features THE NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE and REAP THE WILD WIND. The thing though this is a big, long production, filmed in color with a first rate cast which means it was very expensive and we get back very little. Think we could have at least started off with a the naval battle showing the defeat of the ABDA Fleet (American, British, Dutch, Australian) then the air attack on the Marblehead (CL12). That would of given us a clue why we were in such desperate straits. This film is largely a lost opportunity. A lot more could have been done even with keeping the story focused around Dr. Wassell. The alternative would have been to hand the project over to another director, shorten the film to ninety (90) minutes which is about what the story deserved. Sorry CB, your lowest rating yet. CB to us means CERTIFIED BIGNESS and this film is just small.

A Different Kind of WWII flick

[Maestro-15 · 16 May 1999]

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.

Cooper at his best!

[BogieFan · 10/10 · 23 January 1999]

True-story of WWII at its best. Cooper shows his versatility as both dramatic and comedic actor. Knowing it's a true story helps to make the story-line more believable, bearing in mind the Hollywood touches. Nice to see a movie with less "career-army" attitude and more of the "we're all in this together" from other walks of life. Shows the comaraderie of both different countries jointly in the war, as well as people from all aspects of life. Wassell also depicts the vulnerability of us all and allows us to hope that when times get tough that we, too, will use the right/best judgement when it counts.[Did Hoppy make it?]

Lumpy gravy

[AAdaSC · 5/10 · 12 April 2011]

This film is based on the true story of Dr Wassell (Gary Cooper) who stood by his stretchered patients who could not walk and guided them to safety from Java in the face of certain Japanese capture.

The film isn't exciting enough. There is never any tension and the story just phuts along and never moves up a gear. It is too long and we have a rather lame love story told in flashback that adds nothing to the proceedings. The reason for the five stars is the performance of Gary Cooper who keeps you watching. Other cast members are irritating, eg, Dennis O'Keefe who plays "Hoppy" and is plain horrible to the nurse that takes a shine to him, who in turn is completely stupid and an obsessive psycho. However, the most disturbing case of idol worship comes from Philip Ahn who plays "Ping" and has a very gay thing going on with his admiration for Cooper - he even helps to dress Cooper - what a homo!

Overall, it's a disappointing film with some laughably bad scenes and Cooper has a catchphrase - "Good gravy!" - like most comedians.

Surprisingly great

[HotToastyRag · 8/10 · 20 July 2020]

With a title of The Story of Dr. Wassell, and a leading man of Gary Cooper, it's no wonder I blew this movie off as a silly comedy not worth watching. But, as it was Gary Cooper's time as Star of the Week, I decided to give it a chance. After five minutes, I knew it was good quality. This is a fantastic war movie about a real Navy doctor, not some random Hollywood creation with a funny name. Had the leading man been James Stewart or Spencer Tracy, it would have been a real A-tier picture. Gary just doesn't have the acting chops, but he tries his best. He's given great lines to deliver, and I can imagine either of the other two Hollywood greats doing more with them. As he prepares his wounded men for an air raid, he tells them there's nothing to worry about. Then, in an aside to one of his nurses, he asks, "Are you as scared as I am?"

Back to the story: Stuck in Java with a charge of a dozen severely wounded sailors, he finds out there's a boat sailing that can take them to safety in Allied territory. He's anxious to get his men out of danger of a Japanese invasion, but the orders say only men who can walk can come aboard. Gary doesn't have the heart to tell the dozen men on stretchers that they can't go, so he decides to disobey the orders and smuggle them aboard. Will it work? Or will the self-sacrificing doctor give even more to his patients?

In the supporting cast are Laraine Day as Gary's former love interest and Philip Ahn, his assistant during his research days before the war. The dozen soldiers and handful of nurses are also given unique characters and reasons to keep them going. One nurse (Carol Thurston) gives a sailor (Dennis O'Keefe) a blood transfusion, and she believes that they are connected forever because of their bond. One man (Elliott Reid) falls in love with his nurse (Signe Hasso), only to find out she's already in love with a Dutch soldier (Carl Esmond). The screenplay is full of great lines, interesting characters, and compelling plot points. I humbly apologize to this movie for thinking it wouldn't be any good. It's very good!

American, British

[scottblaze · 4/10 · 12 February 2007]

With at least a little historical correctness, in it's time, the silly and jerky script was probably well worth the price of admission. If you are a fan of "classic" movies, Gary Cooper for the most part in this presentation is worth suffering through the balance of mindless drivel that appears to be little more than filler needed to make a 137 minute movie. Whew!!!... Dutch nurses with tight tops and well exposed cleavages are entertaining to say the least, but was that stuff historically correct? Was there a beauty shop at every corner?....Even n the jungle? It would be nice if so, but given the times, that sort of expose' seems unlikely. The men, with the exception of Cory Wassell, are depicted as nasty, dirty, uneducated, ignorant but highly patriotic pawns in a war of of someone else's doing's.

Watch this movie, just don't expect greatness in any way shape form or fashion. Is it worth repeating?....maybe not.

Engaging story of a quiet hero well-played by Cooper.

[THMUR · 13 January 1999]

Although the movie is slow-moving at times and crying out for tighter editing, Gary Cooper's Dr. Wassell is appealing and the story line compelling enough to make watching this film time well spent. The story of a Doctor, who after being second to discover the source of a major epidemic in China, joins the Navy and ends up caring for a group of injured American sailors stranded on JAVA during WWII. I learned a lot from this film that I didn't know about the war in the Pacific and the Dutch involvement. This and the quiet heroics of Wassell and other characters makes for a fascinating watch. "The Story of Dr. Wassell" is a solid period film with a number of surprisingly good actors.

Long-Lost Cecil B de Mille World War II Epic worth a 10!

[vitaleralphlouis · 10/10 · 17 July 2007]

I never heard of this movie until I spotted the title via a CECIL B de MILLE search on this site yesterday. DeMILLE made few movies in the 1940's and 1950's and this was the only one I hadn't seen.

Two years in production, this dreadfully-dull-titled movie is a big screen epic Technicolor production depicts a seemingly small act of heroism --- a Navy doctor from Arkansas rescues 12 survivors of the USS Marblehead who are trapped on Java with the Japanese closing in on all sides, during the early part of World War II when America was still losing badly. DeMille brings the story together with a first rate mix of spectacular action, human drama, romance, and typical GI humor.

This is a REAL World War II movie, made during an era when Hollywood had neither Sean Penn, nor George Clooney, nor Steven Spielberg; and all of Hollywood was solidly behind America (not Japan)--- this era produced numerous real life war heroes who were also screen actors, directors, writers. More recently we have the revisionist history guys, such as Jerry Bruckheimer's PEARL HARBOR which "justified" the attack by the Japanese for the clearly stated reason of grabbing up bigger Japanese box office. Like most Americans (I think) I'd never have seen that movie if I'd known they'd stick a knife in the back of America and re-write the war against us.

Warning to girlie-man liberals: Dr Wassell is loaded with 2007-style Political Incorrectness. The GI's flirt with nurses, smoke cigarettes like mad, call their cigarettes "fags," call the Japanese enemy Japs; worse still they reflect patriotic attitudes and carry religion so far as to pray. Ohmygawd! This movie is difficult but not impossible to find. It was released by MCA/Universal in VHS many years ago. Specialty video shops like Video Vault in Alexandria, VA have it for rent. No listings on eBay right now, but it's worth a shot. Seek and you shall find!

too long

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 11 September 2020]

Country doctor Dr. Wassell (Gary Cooper) is working on the island of Java as Japanese forces sweep across the Pacific. He boards a train with wounded sailors from the damaged cruiser Marblehead. He joins local nurse Tremartini "Three Martini". He and his charges are picked up by retreating British troops to be evacuated to Australia.

Cecil B. DeMille could have simplified this to a shorter movie about the evacuation. Apparently, he got the idea for the film after hearing about Dr. Wassell from one of President Roosevelt's radio broadcasts which is shown at the end of the movie. He can't help but make a movie that is way too long. The last hour almost works as a long escape road movie. It's rather static for an action thriller. It needs more intensity. That's after an hour and a half of really static story telling. It was released while the war is still raging and that is very heartwarming in a heart-wrenching time. In fact, the radio broadcast is probably the most compelling part of the movie.

Excellent non-combat but action-packed war hero movie

[SimonJack · 9/10 · 23 April 2016]

"The Story of Dr. Wassell" is an excellent non-combat war film. But there's still plenty of wartime action. It takes place 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.

The problem with the Japanese invading Indonesia and bombing hospitals with already crippled casualties

[clanciai · 9/10 · 30 August 2022]

The mere title is deterring, and since it is a true story you expect something like a documentary of poor drama, dry romance if any, flat characters and hardly any action since it is all about a doctor and his crippled patients. Well, you are in for a surprise, because it's all the contrary. It's true that the doctor is quite ordinary, no real character at all, and his patients are just ordinary wounded war casualties, it begins as a rather poor show in a dreary hospital and the patients making hard efforts to make the best of it, but gradually the drama increases - it's after all a Cecil B. DeMille film, and he always knew his business. The drama then keeps increasing steadily all the way to the end, with some interesting flashbacks in between, showing the doctor's previous experiences of both hard luck, great breakthroughs, a busted romance and a tragic but stalwart resignation, while you are still in for some surprises in the end. This is one of Gary Cooper's best films, but keep an eye on the young Dennis O'Keefe as well, as he plays an impressing character with a nice sweetheart. It's an unusual war film dealing so much with sorely wounded patients, many heartbreaks and tragedies, many individual fates but also with plenty of good humour, and the cinematography and colours are brilliant. The film is worth watching and enjoying just for the splendid imagery. Everything happens in Indonesia, and that's not a very common country in American films, adding some exotic flavour especially by the native nurses. Add to this the script by James Hilton, the writer behind "Lost Horizon", "Random Harvest", "Mrs Miniver" and other classics - he enjoyed writing for the cinema, and one of his last novels is actually all about film making - "Morning Journey", which never made a film. But there are so many others.

horrible film with poor screenplay, directing and performance

[rightwingisevil · 8 February 2013]

sorry, i just couldn't finish it. this film sucks big time. the screenplay was so bad, the dialog so pretentious and boring, the sound track that tried so hard to make this film look patriotic, only turned it into a formulaic farce. the directing was just as terrible as there was nobody even gave a darn. why most of such movies involved American nurses would always cast beautiful nurses? did the casting agencies ever realize that these stupid arrangements only made them look more phony? this badly scripted film was a loosely knitted structure as a broken fish net that gave almost every one who played a role some crappy uninteresting dialog. i was bored and became so impatient to sit tight to let this film run its course. so many unnecessary dialog, unnecessary roles, unnecessary dialog, lousy scene after scene. this film was like directed by an old granny who just jabbered and blabbered uncontrollably. what a tiresome WWII film. yes, this film is so rare that only the couch potatoes would find it interesting and great.