AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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Green Light
Director: Frank Borzage (Dir)
Release Date:   20 Feb 1937
Production Date:   began mid-Jul 1936
Duration (in mins):   85
Duration (in reels):   9
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Cast:   Errol Flynn (Dr. Newell Paige)  
    Anita Louise (Phyllis Dexter)  
    Margaret Lindsay (Frances Ogilvie)  
    Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Dean [George] Harcourt)  
    Walter Abel ([Dr.] John Stafford)  
    Henry O'Neill (Dr. Endicott)  
    Spring Byington (Mrs. Dexter)  
    Erin O'Brien-Moore (Pat Arien)  
    Henry Kolker (Dr. Lane)  
    Pierre Watkin (Dr. Booth)  
    Granville Bates (Sheriff)  
    Russell Simpson (Sheep man)  
    Myrtle Stedman (A nurse)  
    St. Luke's Choristers    
    Wade Boteler (Traffic cop)  
    John Butler (Driver)  
    Jim Pierce (Harcourt's chauffeur)  
    Bess Flowers (Mrs. Dexter's nurse)  
    Noel Kennedy (English messenger boy)  
    Louise Stanley (Switchboard girl)  
    Douglas Weed (Chairman)  
    Miki Morita (Japanese boy)  
    Shirley Lloyd (Nurse)  
    Lillian Elliott (Mrs. Crandall)  
    Lyle Maraine (Chauffeur)  
    Jim Thorpe (Indian)  
    Sibyl Harris (Mrs. Crowder)  
    Sam Rice (Storekeeper)  
    Lowden Adams (Butler)  
    Ed Chandler (Policeman)  
    James Farley    
    Milt Kibbee    
    Harvey Clark    

Summary: When Newell Paige, a young surgeon at an urban hospital, takes the blame for a patient's death caused by his mentor, Dr. Endicott, Paige is asked to tender his resignation. Before leaving for western Montana to work on a cure for Rocky Mountain spotted fever with his friend, bacteriologist John Stafford, Paige meets and falls in love with Phyllis Dexter, the dead patient's daughter, who is attracted to him until she learns that he is the man considered responsible for her mother's death. In Montana, Paige tries to find meaning in life by working to discover a serum to combat the fever, using himself as a guinea pig for his experiments. Phyllis journeys to Montana on a mission of forgiveness just as Paige falls ill. Endicott, finally overcome by remorse, and Frances Ogilvie, a nurse who loves Paige, support Phyllis and Stafford in their vigil by Paige's bedside. Paige recovers and under the counsel of Rev. Dean Harcourt, has a religious experience. Stafford and Ogilvie stay in Montana to administer the new vaccine, while Paige is restored to the staff of his hospital, where he joins Phyllis in Harcourt's congregation. 

Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.  
Production Text: A Cosmopolitan Production; A First National Picture; A Frank Borzage Production
Distribution Company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.  
  The Vitaphone Corp.  
Director: Frank Borzage (Dir)
  Lew Borzage (Asst dir)
  Frank Heath (2d asst dir)
Producer: Jack L. Warner (Exec prod)
  Hal B. Wallis (Exec prod)
  Henry Blanke (Supv)
Writer: Milton Krims (Scr)
  Paul Green (Contr to trmt)
Photography: Byron Haskin (Photog)
  Al Roberts (2d cam)
  Jack Koffman (Asst cam)
Art Direction: Max Parker (Art dir)
Film Editor: James Gibbons (Film ed)
Costumes: Orry-Kelly (Gowns)
  Burrell Kring (Ward)
  Kathrine Grams (Ward)
Music: Leo F. Forbstein (Mus dir)
  Max Steiner (Mus)
  Hugo Friedhofer (Orch)
Sound: Robert B. Lee (Sd)
Special Effects: Fred Jackman Jr. (Spec eff)
  H. F. Koenekamp (Spec eff)
  Willard Van Enger (Spec eff)
Make Up: Patricia Eckford (Hair)
Production Misc: Robert Fellows (Unit mgr)
  Jean McNaughton (Scr clerk)
  Owen Crompton (Grip)
  Oren Haglund (Props)
  John Ellis (Still photog)
Country: United States
Language: English

Source Text: Based on the novel Green Light by Lloyd C. Douglas (Boston, 1935).
Authors: Lloyd C. Douglas

Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. & The Vitaphone Corp. 25/1/1937 dd/mm/yyyy LP6874

PCA NO: 2450
Physical Properties: Sd: Vitaphone
  b&w:

 
Genre: Drama
Sub-Genre: Medical
 
Subjects (Major): Conversion (Religious)
  Medicine--Research
  Rocky Mountain spotted fever
  Self-sacrifice
 
Subjects (Minor): Bacteriologists
  Hospitals
  Medical ethics
  Ministers
  Montana
  Nurses
  Physicians
  Surgeons
  Vaccines

Note: According to Warner Bros.' records, Leslie Howard and Robert Montgomery were candidates for the part of Dr. Paige. The files also indicate that Technicolor scenes were planned for the picture. Dr. Stimpert acted as an uncredited consultant. Radio Lux Theater broadcast a production of Green Light on 31 Jan 1938, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Modern sources add the following information: Olivia de Havilland was considered for the part of "Phyllis Dexter." Warner Bros. planned a Technicolor remake in 1951 to be directed by Henry Blanke and written by Harold Medford. Modern sources add the following credit: Contr trmt Mary C. McCall, Jr. 

Bibliographic Sources:   Date   Page
Daily Variety   20 Jul 36   p. 4.
Daily Variety   31 Dec 36   p. 3.
Film Daily   5 Jan 37   p. 4.
Hollywood Reporter   31 Dec 36   p. 2.
Motion Picture Daily   4 Jan 37   p. 6.
Motion Picture Herald   9 Aug 36   p. 52.
Motion Picture Herald   9 Jan 37   p. 44, 46
New York Times   13 Feb 37   p. 9.
Variety   17 Feb 37   p. 14.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.
 
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