One Man's Journey (1933)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John S. Robertson

Writers:

Katharine Havilland-Taylor (story)
Lester Cohen (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

8 September 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Father Daughter Relationship | New England | Banker | Disease | Father Son Relationship

Cast

Lionel Barrymore	...	Dr. Eli Watt
May Robson	...	Sarah
Dorothy Jordan	...	Letty McGinnis
Joel McCrea	...	Jimmy Watt
Frances Dee	...	Joan Stockton
David Landau	...	McGinnis
Buster Phelps	...	Jimmy Watt - Age 6
June Filmer	...	May Radford
James Bush	...	Bill Radford
Oscar Apfel	...	John Radford
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Dr. Roger Babcock (as Sam Hinds)
Hale Hamilton	...	Dr. Tillinghast
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Colin Kenny	...	Doctor at Banquet

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1459-R: 4 September 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Early in the film, Lionel Barrymore's character bends to pick up the contents of his medical bag which have fallen to the ground. During the close-up of those contents, a voice can clearly be heard saying "camera" from offscreen.

Movie Connections:

Version of A Man to Remember (1938)

Soundtrack:

Rock-a-Bye Baby

Tales of a Country Doctor

Soap opera spanning from the horse and buggy through to the current day, 1933, following the career of Eli Watt (played by Lionel Barrymore), a widower who has come back to his rural hometown where he fixes up "the old place" and sets himself up as town doctor (and mostly gets paid by the locals with sacks of potatoes). On his very first doctoring job, a mother giving birth dies, the angry, heartbroken dad wants nothing to do with his new baby daughter, so Doctor takes the baby home to raise along with his own young son. After four years the angry dad now regrets his decision and takes the girl back - then the years progress as Eli's son grows up and is training to be a doctor himself, and Eli becomes a hero during a local smallpox epidemic.

This is a warmhearted, interesting film boosted up by a very well done performance given by Lionel Barrymore who plays the kindly doctor with a lot of charm. May Robson is appealing here playing a plucky local woman who comes to live with the doctor and help care for the household and baby alike. Joel McCrea also appears in this as the doctor's son - he gives a nice performance but isn't really given that much to do. All in all, a quite entertaining film.