82: The CITADEL
(Year refers to British release)
Running Time: 110 minutes
Black/White
Estimated Attendance: 8.5 million
What they said at the time...
Synopsis
Drama, founded on the well-known novel by A. J. Cronin. Andrew Manson, an enthusiastic young doctor, begins work in a Welsh mining village, where his researches into the cause of tuberculosis among the miners arouses intense opposition. Eventually he and his wife are driven from the locality and they seek their fortune in London. Here, after a year of struggle, he is accidentally introduced into "fashionable circles" and his idealism fades before the lure of easy money obtained from wealthy women with imaginary complaints. It is only when his best friend is killed, through the incompetence of one of his "specialist" colleagues, that Manson realises that he has betrayed his profession. His subsequent work, in co-operation with a non-qualified doctor, to save the life of a child, brings him into conflict with the General Medical Council, and it is his moving appeal to this body which closes the film. The picture, which follows reasonably closely the main lines of the novel, is a forceful - although at times intensely emotional - attack on certain abuses which, it is claimed, exist in medical life today. In spite of this, however, it never loses its interest as a story, and some of the passages, notably when Manson is fighting for the life of a new-born child in the Welsh village, and the last scene before the council of doctors, are probably among the most moving which have yet been seen on the screen.
Review
Robert Donat, although a little too suave as Manson in his "fashionable" period, gives a magnificent performance as the young doctor, and also, at the end, as the man who has recovered his self-respect. Rosalind Russell is perfect as the young wife and enthusiastic helper, while Ralph Richardson is his usual competent, good-humoured self as Manson's friend - the drunken doctor with ideals. The settings, particularly those of Welsh life and scenery, are convincing, while the direction has skillfully maintained a balance between the pitfalls of a too obvious emotionalism on the one hand and dry-as-dust propaganda on the other.
Synopsis and Review from Monthly Film Bulletin Vol.5 No.60 1938 p.276
The Monthly Film Bulletin was published by the BFI between 1934 and 1991. Initially aimed at distributors and exhibitors as well as filmgoers, it carried reviews and details of all UK film releases. In 1991, the Bulletin was incoporated into Sight and Sound magazine.
