Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 3-April-11
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Arrowsmith (1931)

It may be foolish to use Arrowsmith to open a series about movies based on Pulitzer Prize-winning novels* since the author, Sinclair Lewis, refused to accept the honor. On the other hand, this is as good an introduction as any to the challenges of translating a book into a movie, e.g., the need to cut scenes and characters, the difficulty of conveying complex relationships, and the risk of disappointing the book's fans. Arrowsmith has its particular challenges as well, like the fact that its protagonist inhabits grey areas and that it revolves around the arcane pursuit of medicine.

That said, few things are more attractive (or enviable) than people who love their work, so one of Arrowsmith's strengths is how passionately Martin Arrowsmith goes about his business. He is played by Ronald Colman, no stranger to literary adaptations. As a Midwestern boy Martin dreams of becoming a doctor, and his dream comes to rest on laboratory research after he meets his mentor, Dr. Gottlieb (A. E. Anson), at university. Throughout the story Martin and Gottlieb wrestle with the choices inherent in their profession. For example, Martin decides he must abandon research and put out a shingle as a country doctor when he marries, and later he weighs the chance for saving people's lives against the opportunity for conducting an important experiment with human guinea pigs.

His wife Leora is essential to Martin's story, yet although Helen Hayes vibrantly fills this role, she feels incidental to the film. The couple's meeting, courtship, and wedding occupy less than five minutes, leaving the viewer uncertain why he pursued her. He implies, while arguing with his in-laws, that he was merely tired of being alone, but later scenes suggest that he loves her. (Martin struggles with fidelity in the novel, which the movie touches upon only briefly.) For her part, Leora's entire life revolves around her husband, particularly as she is unable to have children. Beginning in her home state of South Dakota, where he hangs his shingle, she makes him a home and bolsters his morale when it dips low. This happens fairly often during Martin's yo-yoish journey through life.

Having confirmed that he isn't cut out to be a practicing physician, Martin takes a job at a big research firm in New York City where he is reunited with his mentor. There he confronts the fame- and money-grubbing aspects of science. A fellow researcher stands in for all the colleagues and acquaintances who didn't make it to the screen from the book, and also sets up Martin's final career choice. A discovery about bacteria sends him to the West Indies to battle the bubonic plague in company with a medical missionary (Richard Bennett). This leads to Martin's greatest triumph and most bitter loss. The story of Martin Arrowsmith, laid out but not fleshed out in the film, concerns not only the rocky shoals within his beloved world of medicine, but also the frequent incompatibility of his personal and professional lives.

*See the Index by date for a list of other films in this month's series.

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