Green Light (1937)

When an esteemed but aging surgeon (Henry O'Neill) makes a fatal mistake in the operating room, an idealistic young surgeon (Errol Flynn) takes the blame. It is a decision that will change his life forever. Based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas (THE ROBE) and directed by Frank Borzage (HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT). After establishing himself as a dashing action hero in such movies as CAPTAIN BLOOD and CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, someone at Warners thought it was a good idea to cast Errol Flynn as a doctor struggling with faith in this sanctimonious potboiler. Wrong! Lloyd C. Douglas was a minister turned best selling author but his books today with their heavy spiritual bent are leaden in their self satisfied smugness. This effort is quite similar thematically to Douglas's MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION but the 1954 film version of that one had direction by Douglas Sirk whose lush style and sense of irony compensated for Douglas's pious pontificating. With Anita Louise, Margaret Lindsay, Spring Byington and Walter Abel.