Not As A Stranger (1955)

An idealistic but struggling medical student (Robert Mitchum) faces being kicked out of medical school because he can't afford the tuition. When he meets an older and dowdy, lonely nurse (Olivia De Havilland) with a small nest egg, he marries her in order to be able to finish medical school. The first feature film directed by Stanley Kramer, this soapy melodrama (based on a now obscure best seller by Morton Thompson) is more enjoyable than his preachy, heavy-handed efforts like THE DEFIANT ONES and INHERIT THE WIND. That doesn't mean it's any good, mind you, just free of the civics lessons mentality and though the film flirts with medical ethics as a plot point, it's just a "juicy" melodrama inflated with just enough self importance to come in over the two hour mark. Mitchum, along with Frank Sinatra and Lee Marvin, all look a bit mature to play medical students and interns. Mitchum gives a decent performance however. There is a priceless moment of unintentional humor, however. Just before Mitchum succumbs to the allure of the other woman (Gloria Grahame), he lets her raging stallion out of the barn who promptly leaps over the fence to satisfy himself with a mare! The score is by George Antheil. The large cast includes Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, Harry Morgan (who has a terrible Swedish accent), Virginia Christine, Whit Bissell, Mae Clarke and Lon Chaney Jr.