Cecil B. DeMille is today best remembered for spectacular Biblical or Classical epics like "Samson and Delilah" or adventure films based upon American history like "The Plainsman" or "Reap the Wild Wind", but "The Story of Doctor Wassell" falls into neither category. It is a World War II propaganda film, made while the war was still being fought. It dramatises the exploits of Doctor Corydon M. Wassell who saved twelve badly wounded American servicemen from capture during the Japanese invasion of Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Wassell not only cared for the men, he also led them through the jungle until they could be evacuated by boat to Australia.
As I stated, this is not an epic, at least as far as its subject-matter is concerned, but I felt that DeMille was doing his utmost to shoehorn it into the epic style. At 2 hours 20 minutes, it is actually longer than a genuine epic like "Samson and Delilah", and I felt that its excessive length was its main drawback. Too often the story is slowed down by flashbacks telling us about Wassell's past as a country doctor in Arkansas and as a medical missionary and researcher in China. Vague hints are dropped that Wassell may have left China under something of a cloud and that he is trying to redeem himself by his military service, but nothing really comes of this and we never learn exactly why he left China. There is also a fictitious love-triangle involving Wassell, a pretty nurse named Madeleine and his superior Dr Wayne; in reality Wassell's wife was indeed named Madeline, but they were married in 1926, long before the events narrated in this film. Perhaps DeMille felt that any film starring a big-name star like Gary Cooper, who was considerably younger than the historical Wassell, ought to provide him with a love interest.
I felt that the film could have been improved by removing these flashbacks and concentrating on what Wassell did in Java. Even this part of the film could have been made more concise; too much time is taken up with semi-comic scenes in which the men joke and flirt with two other pretty nurses, one of them a Javanese girl. (She had to be played by a white actress to keep the censors happy). Cooper plays his part well and the action sequences are well handled- the film received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Effects- but I felt that Wassell's story really needed to be told as a wartime adventure rather than as a would-be epic. 6/10.
As I stated, this is not an epic, at least as far as its subject-matter is concerned, but I felt that DeMille was doing his utmost to shoehorn it into the epic style. At 2 hours 20 minutes, it is actually longer than a genuine epic like "Samson and Delilah", and I felt that its excessive length was its main drawback. Too often the story is slowed down by flashbacks telling us about Wassell's past as a country doctor in Arkansas and as a medical missionary and researcher in China. Vague hints are dropped that Wassell may have left China under something of a cloud and that he is trying to redeem himself by his military service, but nothing really comes of this and we never learn exactly why he left China. There is also a fictitious love-triangle involving Wassell, a pretty nurse named Madeleine and his superior Dr Wayne; in reality Wassell's wife was indeed named Madeline, but they were married in 1926, long before the events narrated in this film. Perhaps DeMille felt that any film starring a big-name star like Gary Cooper, who was considerably younger than the historical Wassell, ought to provide him with a love interest.
I felt that the film could have been improved by removing these flashbacks and concentrating on what Wassell did in Java. Even this part of the film could have been made more concise; too much time is taken up with semi-comic scenes in which the men joke and flirt with two other pretty nurses, one of them a Javanese girl. (She had to be played by a white actress to keep the censors happy). Cooper plays his part well and the action sequences are well handled- the film received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Effects- but I felt that Wassell's story really needed to be told as a wartime adventure rather than as a would-be epic. 6/10.