Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Micitype Pretty Good

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

vincentlynch-moonoi This is a rather uneven production, but still very good. Some of the dialog early on in the film occasionally seems a tad awkward, but on the other hand the scenes in surgery seem far more realistic (in terms of equipment, etc.) than would be typical, particularly for 1937. I will say that after watching part of the film, and then looking up the date, I was surprised it was filmed as late as 1937; I was thinking more like 1935 or earlier.As to the story, I noticed one of our reviewers said it was corny. If he/she means good-versus-bad, then yes, it's corny. Although I would prefer to use the term "old-fashioned". There are actually several stories here -- the botched surgery and who does/should take the responsibility; two women in love with the same man; the search for a vaccine for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever; the guilt felt by one surgeon. It's a good story, and I enjoyed it.As to the performances, this film was made just as Errol Flynn was first moving into his prime movie years. His performance here is excellent, and quite a change from the two films which preceded this one -- "Captain Blood" and "Charge Of The Light Brigade".Two women are cast here as the female leads. Anita Louise does very nicely here as the daughter of the woman who dies on the operating table. She alternates her feelings for the doctor she thinks is responsible (Flynn) from hate to love...and that's love before she learns he was not responsible for her mother's death. It's a very good performance. Margaret Lindsay as the nurse who loses Flynn but gains a cause is very, very good, as well.Sir Cedric Hardwicke is excellent here as the wise minister...in an interestingly broad portrayal as a man of God. Walter Abel is a fellow doctor who moves west and attempts to track down a cure for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Abel always interested me in films...I always like him, even though sometimes he just seems not quite right in a role...as here...yet, he does add to the enjoyment of this film. Spring Byington -- who actually was once middle-aged! -- is the mother who dies on the operating table; a good role, but brief.It you enjoy old-fashioned right versus wrong films, then you'll like this one. I did.

calvinnme ... the result is total confusion at best, and that best sums up how I felt watching this film. What saves it and makes it worth watching? First there's the cast, most of all the always charming Errol Flynn in a most unusual role along with the often overlooked Margaret Lindsay, feisty and loyal in her role here. Next there is Frank Borzage's direction. With his love of humanity shining through he makes something that seems weird taken plot point by plot point and makes it a warm enjoyable experience.Now for the confusing part - the entire plot. Errol Flynn plays a brilliant young surgeon, Dr. Newell Paige. Warm to everyone he meets, always with a smile, plus he likes dogs - his dog is a constant companion. The day comes for the operation of a prominent older woman in the community, Mrs. Dexter. The situation is urgent, but the surgeon that is to perform the operation is nowhere to be found (Henry O'Neill as Doctor Endicott). It turns out he's in a broker's office trying to save his portfolio from ruin. Paige starts the operation, but Endicott shows up in the middle and takes over. He cuts an artery too short for it to be clamped and Mrs. Dexter, dies. In private, Endicott admits his blame to Paige, but he refuses to blame himself when the hospital board brings up the whole matter at a hearing that is there for only one reason - to find someone to blame and fire for this incident. Paige doesn't show up at the hearing either, leaving the board to reach the conclusion that Paige is at fault and ask for his resignation - he gives it. Now, we're not talking about some 25 year old retail clerk covering for the mistake of a 60 year old retail clerk and taking the blame so the older less employable person won't be fired. We're talking about a trusted surgeon who made a fatal error because he was distracted. Do you think he's less distracted and therefore less dangerous the next time he's in the operating room with the guilt of the destruction of Paige's career on his conscience in addition to the worries over his personal finances? In spite of this obvious injustice, everyone in the know about what really happened digs their heels in about covering for Endicott even using "professional ethics" as an excuse. The only voice of reason here is Margaret Lindsay as Frances, Paige's nurse and obviously more than a little in love with him, but right just the same. She's about to blow the whole thing wide open when she's directed to Dean Harcourt, the minister that has counseled Paige and made him believe he was right to take the blame. Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the sublime old cleric is quite likable in his role, again owing to his own talent and probably to that of Frank Borzage, but if you listen to his words like you are reading a court transcript they are like so many fortune cookie sayings stitched together into some kind of psycho-babble. Worse, this minister seems to think it is a good idea to put people into embarrassing situations by introducing them to one another without them knowing the prominent part they play in each other's dilemmas. He does this to Mrs. Dexter's daughter (Phyllis played by Anita Louise) and Dr. Paige. They fall for one another. That is, until Phyllis finds out Dr. Paige was blamed for her mother's death, then she'll have nothing to do with him.How does Paige deal with this? He goes to the site of the North American plague of the time - Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - where intense medical research is going on for a cure. He tests a vaccine on himself by injecting himself with the possible antidote and then deliberately allows himself to be bitten by a tick carrying the disease. If he lives, the antidote works. His reason? He somehow feels like he has to make amends and have his life - or death - mean something. What?? He is the guy who allowed himself to be unjustly accused and fired for something he didn't do, lost the girl he loved - Phyllis - to maintain the ruse, and he thinks he's anything but a prince of a guy? Then there's the whole matter of Frances, working side by side with Paige for years, beautiful, smart, and loyal, yet Paige skips over her entirely and falls for a girl he barely knows. In spite of what I've written here I really like this film and watch it periodically - it is a positive experience to watch a film full of characters with the best of intentions even if their reasoning skills are a bit off kilter. You really can't miss with Flynn starring and Borzage directing, but just don't expect for a minute to understand the motivations of any of the characters involved.

bkoganbing 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.

dbdumonteil If I should choose one American director for the twenties/thirties,I would take Frank Borzage any day.This is a film of a believer ,but a believer who never falls into the trap of bigotry:the "green light" of the title is the light that comes from the sky,the light of hope which should enlighten everyone.His early silent movies (particularly "Humoresque" ) displays a strong faith in a divine intervention provided that you are worthy of it."Seventh Heaven" ,"Little man what now" ,to name but two,featured characters who had nothing,nothing but their love for each other and their faith in providence.It would culminate in 1940 with Borzage's masterpieces,"the mortal storm" and "Strange cargo",particularly the latter where Cambreau becomes some kind of messiah.Eroll Flynn,cast against type ,-but portraying a physician who predates his role in Walsh's "Uncertain Glory" where he finally sacrifices everything- ,gave all:first he took the blame for an operation which cost a patient her life;then he acted as his own guinea pig for his vaccine.It often recalls "magnificent obsession" (the first version by J.Stahl was released two years before):both works feature a man of God : the man who tells the hero of "obsession" a man died on the cross for man's salvation,the priest in "green light".The choir in the church which we heard at the beginning returns for a canticle which climaxes the movie .Be prepared to sacrifice anything and do not ask anything in return,there will be a reward anyway.