An adaptation of the play ''Dr Praetorius'',PEOPLE WILL TALK is basically an excuse for writer-director Joseph Mankiewicz to show off his undoubted skill for dialogue and to make various points about political,moral and ethical hypocrisy.Mankiewicz achieves this all very well in general,though somewhat at the cost of actual cinematic quality.
Dr Noah Praetorius (Cary Grant),an unorthodox but effective physician who teaches at a medical school,has a misconduct charge brought against him by a somewhat envious and pompous colleague,Professor Elwell (Hume Cronyn).He also falls in love with a young woman who occasionally attends the school (Jeanne Crain), who is expecting an out-of-wedlock child by a young man who has sadly died while serving in the Korean war,and Shunderson (Finlay Currie) a frequent and rather mysterious companion and associate of Praetorius, also arouses further suspicion.
Made during the era of McCarthyism at it's height,Joseph Mankiewicz was no supporter of the relentless anti-communist campaign of the time,and intelligently if not too subtly makes this point (among various others) with Cary Grant declining to clear his own name by revealing details of his colleague Finlay Currie's private affairs (which prove to be very serious) during the medical hearing.Grant as usual is excellent and convincing in the lead role,veering from a cynical,highly educated medical professional to compassionate,sensitive,non-judgmental advocate to starry-eyed romantic.Jeanne Crain is effective too as his future bride scarred by unfortunate circumstance (the unmarried mother to-be hitching up with a man who isn't the father may have been a deliberate sop to the Production Code of the time),as is Walter Slezak as a supportive colleague, Hume Cronyn in his familiar guise as a prissy,unlikable,moralistic busy-body,and Finlay Currie as a former jailed convict with whom Grant took pity on after various personal tragedies (though his accent seems a curious hybrid of his native Scottish and half-hearted Irish and American).
Grant's Praetorius is part of the academic and professional establishment but somehow wholly detached from it,rebelling against the various prejudices as what would be expected from his superiors towards hapless and lower status individuals like Crain and Currie who he befriends much to the chagrin of moral arbiters like Cronyn.These are liberal attitudes with a capital L,and Mankiewicz dramatises it all with great style with much literate,witty and thoughtful writing,taking critical potshots at the political and moral atmosphere of the time.The main problem with PEOPLE WILL TALK is as is suggested by the film's title.It is very apposite as the verbosity from virtually everyone (except from Currie until near the end of the film) sometimes becomes rather wearisome and taxing,and although Mankiewicz was undeniably a great writer,he was by no means as impressive a director,with the film's original theatre origins becoming obvious through mostly flat,uninspired,static handling and slow pacing.
Still,despite the dialogue-heavy (or maybe because of it) script, PEOPLE WILL TALK is an entertaining piece about an unconventional and rebellious hero from the academia, and made in a period when such characters were easily dismissed from such lofty positions for daring to show such insubordination (as many actors,writers,directors,etc. from Hollywood were in this period).
RATING:7 out of 10.
Dr Noah Praetorius (Cary Grant),an unorthodox but effective physician who teaches at a medical school,has a misconduct charge brought against him by a somewhat envious and pompous colleague,Professor Elwell (Hume Cronyn).He also falls in love with a young woman who occasionally attends the school (Jeanne Crain), who is expecting an out-of-wedlock child by a young man who has sadly died while serving in the Korean war,and Shunderson (Finlay Currie) a frequent and rather mysterious companion and associate of Praetorius, also arouses further suspicion.
Made during the era of McCarthyism at it's height,Joseph Mankiewicz was no supporter of the relentless anti-communist campaign of the time,and intelligently if not too subtly makes this point (among various others) with Cary Grant declining to clear his own name by revealing details of his colleague Finlay Currie's private affairs (which prove to be very serious) during the medical hearing.Grant as usual is excellent and convincing in the lead role,veering from a cynical,highly educated medical professional to compassionate,sensitive,non-judgmental advocate to starry-eyed romantic.Jeanne Crain is effective too as his future bride scarred by unfortunate circumstance (the unmarried mother to-be hitching up with a man who isn't the father may have been a deliberate sop to the Production Code of the time),as is Walter Slezak as a supportive colleague, Hume Cronyn in his familiar guise as a prissy,unlikable,moralistic busy-body,and Finlay Currie as a former jailed convict with whom Grant took pity on after various personal tragedies (though his accent seems a curious hybrid of his native Scottish and half-hearted Irish and American).
Grant's Praetorius is part of the academic and professional establishment but somehow wholly detached from it,rebelling against the various prejudices as what would be expected from his superiors towards hapless and lower status individuals like Crain and Currie who he befriends much to the chagrin of moral arbiters like Cronyn.These are liberal attitudes with a capital L,and Mankiewicz dramatises it all with great style with much literate,witty and thoughtful writing,taking critical potshots at the political and moral atmosphere of the time.The main problem with PEOPLE WILL TALK is as is suggested by the film's title.It is very apposite as the verbosity from virtually everyone (except from Currie until near the end of the film) sometimes becomes rather wearisome and taxing,and although Mankiewicz was undeniably a great writer,he was by no means as impressive a director,with the film's original theatre origins becoming obvious through mostly flat,uninspired,static handling and slow pacing.
Still,despite the dialogue-heavy (or maybe because of it) script, PEOPLE WILL TALK is an entertaining piece about an unconventional and rebellious hero from the academia, and made in a period when such characters were easily dismissed from such lofty positions for daring to show such insubordination (as many actors,writers,directors,etc. from Hollywood were in this period).
RATING:7 out of 10.