Detail view of Movies Page

Movie Detail

Name Occurs Before Title

Offscreen Credit

Print Viewed By AFI

Arrowsmith

Director: John Ford (Dir) Release Date: 26 Dec 1931 Premiere Information: New York opening: 7 Dec 1931 Production Date: began early Sep 1931 Duration (in mins): 108 Duration (in reels): 11			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:		Ronald Colman	(Dr. Martin Arrowsmith)
	with	Helen Hayes	(Leora Tozer Arrowsmith)
		Richard Bennett	(Gustav Sondelius)
		A. E. Anson	(Professor Max Gottlieb)
		Clarence Brooks	(Oliver Marchand)
		Alec Francis	(Twyford)
		Claude King	(Dr. Tubbs)
		Bert Roach	(Bert Tozer)
		Myrna Loy	(Joyce Lanyon)
		Russell Hopton	(Terry Wickett)
		David Landau	(State Veterinarian)
		Lumsden Hare	(Sir Robert Fairland, the governor)
		DeWitt Jennings	(Mr. Tozer)
		Beulah Bondi	(Mrs. Tozer)
		John M. Qualen	(Henry Novak)
		Florence Britton	(Miss Twyford)
		Adele Watson	(Mrs. Novak)
		Charlotte Henry	(The pioneer girl)
		Ward Bond	(Cop)
		Theresa Harris	(Native woman)
		Raymond Hatton	(Drunk)

Summary:

In a prologue, a young pioneer women drives a wagon West. In the main story, her great grandson, Martin Arrowsmith, is inspired by her pioneering spirit to become a medical student. As a young doctor, he desires to become a researcher, but his marriage to nurse Leora Tozer prevents his attaining the position he would like with Professor Max Gottlieb. Instead he goes with Lee to her small home town in Minnesota, where he becomes a country doctor. Despite the dull routine, Martin's brilliant mind keeps working and in a few years he discovers a serum to cure cows of Black Leg disease. His findings eventually lead to a position with Dr. Gottlieb at the McGurk Institute in New York. Lee has had a miscarriage and devotes herself to Martin, although his research keeps him away for long hours. When Gustav Sondelius, a scientist and friend of Martin and Dr. Gottlieb's announces that plague is raging in the West Indies, Martin goes to test a new serum he has developed, promising Gottlieb that he will only innoculate half of his patients in order to test his results scientifically. Lee accompanies him, despite Martin's concerns. On the island, the white citizens will not submit to his tests, but the natives, led by a Howard University-educated black doctor named Oliver Marchand, willingly cooperate with him. Martin must go to one of the other islands, leaving Lee alone. There he meets plantation-owner Lanyon and his daughter Joyce, who help him. After Sondelius dies from plague, Martin and Joyce go to bed together. The next morning he recives a call from Marchand, who has returned to the main island. When Marchand collapses from the plague, Martin hurries home, worried that Lee may also be infected. When he returns, she is dead, having contracted the disease through a cigarette carelessly placed in Martin's lab. Distraught, Martin drunkenly allows everyone to have the serum, destroying his scientific research. When he returns to New York, Gottlieb suffers a stroke and Martin decides to go with his co-worker, Terry Wickett, to Vermont to open a lab. Joyce offers her friendship to him, but he leaves, wanting to re-new his committment to pure research with Lee spiritually with him.

Production Company:	Howard Productions, Inc.
Production Text:	A John Ford Production
Distribution Company:	United Artists Corp.
Director:	John Ford	(Dir)
	Bert Sutch	(Asst dir)
Producer:	Samuel Goldwyn	(Pres)
	Samuel Goldwyn	(Prod)
	Arthur Hornblow Jr.	(Exec prod)
Writer:	Sidney Howard	(Adpt)
Photography:	Ray June	(Photog)
Art Direction:	Richard Day	(Settings)
Film Editor:	Hugh Bennett	(Film edited by)
Music:	Alfred Newman	(Mus score)
Sound:	Jack Noyes	(Sd tech)
	Charles Noyes	(Sd)
Country:	United States

Music:
Songs:
Source Text:	Based on the novel Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (New York, 1925).
Authors:	Sinclair Lewis

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number	Passed By NBR:
Samuel Goldwyn	16/1/1932 dd/mm/yyyy	LP2812	Yes

Physical Properties:	b&w:
	Sd:	Western Electric Sound System


Genre:	Drama
Sub-Genre:	Medical

Subjects (Major):	African Americans
	Disease
	Infidelity
	Marriage
	Physicians
	Scientists
	Vocational obsession

Subjects (Minor):	Cigarettes
	Cattle
	Miscarriage
	New York City
	Plantations
	Small town life
	West Indies

Note:	According to information contained in the MPAA/PCA file on the film in the AMPAS Library, the picture was approved in Nov 1931 without eliminations, even though the words "hell" and "damn" were included in the dialogue. A memo in the file from Col. Jason Joy of the Hays Office notes that the word "hell" was allowed three times in the picture because of its proper use within context, even though its use was "probably" in violation of the letter of the Production Code. Exception was taken to the line "It's hell on bugs," but the line was allowed. The picture was issued a certificate for re-issue on 5 Jul 1935. According to a letter in the file dated 24 Jul 1945, written by PCA director Joseph I. Breen to Gordon S. White of the New York office, Breen advised that when the certificate was issued in 1935, the words "hell" and "damn" were not in the print submitted by Samuel Goldwyn. Some time in Jul 1945, Nat Sanders of English Films, Inc. had complained to White that he had recently seen the film in New York at the Criterion Theatre and it "had more hells than I have hairs on the top of my head." Breen explained in the letter that the Criterion had most likely gotten an original print of the film and that Goldwyn had not recently re-issued the picture. He also indicated that Sanders, who represented English films which frequently had words such as "damn" and "hell" removed before certification, was probably annoyed at finding those words in an American film. Arrowsmith , which was based on Sinclair Lewis' Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel of the same name, received several Academy Award nominations, one for Sidney Howard for Best Adapted Screenplay, one for Ray June for Best Photography, one for Richard Day for Best Art Direction, and one for the film for Best Picture. Modern sources mention that H. Bruce Humberstone assisted John Ford on the picture and that Ford worked off the production briefly when he and Humbertsone had an argument about staging one of the scenes and producer Samuel Goldwyn sided with Humberstone. Modern sources also include James Marcus, Sydney de Grey, Pat Somerset, Eric Wilton, Erville Alderson, George Humbert, Walter Downing and Bobby Watson in the cast. Spencer Tracy and Fay Wray portrayed "Martin" and "Leora Arrowsmith" on a Lux Radio Theatre Broadcast on 25 Oct 1937.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Film Daily	13 Dec 31	p. 10.
HF	5 Sep 31	p. 5.
Hollywood Reporter	26 Oct 31	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	13 Feb 32	p. 5.
Motion Picture Herald	21 Nov 31	pp. 48-49.
New York Times	8 Dec 31	p. 36.
New York Times	13 Dec 31	p. 6.
Variety	15 Dec 31	p. 14.

	Display Movie Summary
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.



Advanced Search