FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Executscan Expected more

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

blanche-2 This is a lovely film with a beautiful performance by Edward Ellis as John Abbott, a doctor who practices among the poor and down in their luck in his home town. The film has an interesting pedigree. It's directed by Garson Kanin and written by Dalton Trumbo. It was made in 15 days for $84,000, in less time than scheduled and under its $100,000 budget.The only print of this that could be found was in the Netherlands, so the subtitles are in Dutch, as are any handwritten notes. Abbott is a widower with a young son, Dick. They settle in Westport, Connecticut. There is no hospital there, and Abbott works sometimes for pigs, potatoes, whatever he can get. After he delivers a baby girl to a man whose wife dies while giving birth, he finds that baby on his doorstep. He names her Jean. She grows up to be Anne Shirley, and Dick grows up to be Lee Bowman. And the two become romantically involved. Times have changed - even though they're not related, you'd never see that in a movie today.One night, Jean's date, Howard Sykes, accidentally shoots her in the arm. It's not serious, but since his father George (Granville Bates) is the richest man in town, Abbott blackmails him into building the hospital. Sykes, in retaliation, makes sure he can't practice there.Edward Ellis was on Broadway and also was a actor and producer there in the early part of the century; he started in films in 1917 and worked into his seventies. In this movie, he was 68 years old. A Man to Remember is sentimental and I have to admit I cried, being a sap. It's about a man who, despite disappointments and resistance to his ideas, contributes a great deal to the world and doesn't let anything get him down. We can all take a lesson from a life well lived.

mkelly54 To use the cliché, "they don't make them like this anymore," is perfect for this classic. I could write volumes about the power of a generous human spirit overcoming the surge of economic indecency, but I'll leave that for someone else. One technique I really enjoy in this film is the use of the doctor's notes, bills and other bits of information to introduce the different chapters of the film. It's a great literary vehicle and was used often in silent films. It also reminded me of some of the chapter introductions used in R.F. Delderfield's work.The one thing I will state: if the devils on Wall Street and the banking community maintained half the community spirit as the old doctor in this story, we would all be much better for it.Ethics and a purity of heart, what a wonderful concept. This is a great film for a Church Popcorn theology class, high school students considering a medical career or anyone questioning their community spirit.

David (Handlinghandel) The movie of which this is a remake didn't impress me much. The remake is about even with the original, though maybe slightly better. We feel for the title character. He is a doctor who's down on his luck and tries to go home again. He gets home but the citizens toss him scraps. He becomes an essentially unpaid, under-appreciated doctor to the poor.The acting is pretty good. It held my attention. (Though, I must say, the Dutch titles, subtitles, and translations of every sign and letter were bizarre.) OK, now I wasn't there: However, Garson Kanin? Direxcting rural melodrama? I guess every director has to get a start. But this is light years away from his Hepburn and Tracy movies and from what he and wife Ruth Gordon wrote.The actor playing the doctor is kind of blank. I prefer his approach to the original film's actor's (naming no names.) But could a less congenial director have possibly been found than that bon vivant, Gason Kanin?

Mike-764 Opening at the funeral of John Abbott, doctor of the small town, three men that Abbott owed money to are eager to wait for Abbott's assets to be distributed so they can reclaim their money. Abbott's effects however are a series of notes each with their own story to tell, such as a remittance for a doctor's fee for the birth of a baby girl, Jean, whom Abbott adopts, paid bills where the doctor provided everything he could for sacks of potatoes or a couple of dollars, as well as other memories of Abbott helping the town get their hospital, stopping a polio epidemic, sacrificing an advanced career in a more prosperous city, watching his son, Dick, following in his dad's footsteps, eventually taking over his practice, and more which make the men think that Dr. Abbott has paid his debts many times over. The film is a great slice of small town Americana that is very moving and brilliantly presented (by first time director Kanin). Edward Ellis in probably his only leading role is perfect even surpassing Lionel Barrymore's understated performance in an earlier version, One Man's Journey. Shirley and Bowman also lend fine support and a great mix of character actors play up the sentimentality of the film. Sad thing is the only surviving print is a Dutch subtitled version, but it is in good quality and it is a rare treat to watch. Rating, 9