The Story of Dr. Wassell

As WWII becomes part of 20th Century History, we now look back upon the Hollywood films depicting WWII as over-sentimental and patriotic. But this film is different, it was not about a great Allied victory but an Allied defeat and how one man, an American doctor single-handedly risked his life to save American sailors too injured to be moved during the pending invasion of Java by the advancing Japanese fleet. It is these real-life stories that are absent of any propaganda that will make this film survive. Although a bit glamourized for WWII moviegoing audiences, this film holds up well and it covers a part of WWII with respect to the Dutch involvement rarely discussed. Finally, Cecille B. DeMille, Gary Cooper and Technicolor still make this film an engaging experience.

"The Story of Dr. Wassell" is an excellent non-combat war film. But there's still plenty of wartime action. It takes place in the Asian theater and South Pacific. It's the story of an Arkansas country doctor, Corydon Wassell, who went to China as a medical missionary in 1913. In 1936, he went on active duty with the U. S. Navy reserves, serving in the Far East. When World War II broke out, he was serving as medical officer for two destroyers that were lost off the coast of Java. This is a wonderful story of a different type of hero than the one who charges enemy positions. Wassell stays behind when the American forces on Java are ordered to evacuate. That is, all except the wounded who can't walk. So he's a hero of self-sacrifice and great love for his fellow man that he wouldn't leave his wounded men behind to be captured by the Japanese. This is a harrowing film at times, and at others times it has humor. It was based on interviews and recollections of many of the men, and of Dr. Wassell himself. His decision to stay behind with his men goes against his direct orders. Yet he finds one situation after another of being able to move his men to a port where they can be evacuated. Obviously, it has a happy ending. And when he is called to meet the admiral in Australia, he expects to get a lecture and maybe face a court marital. Instead, brass of all kinds are in the room waiting as they listen to a radio broadcast in which President Franklin Roosevelt tells of examples of American heroism, and the story he tells is that of Dr. Wassell. In the introduction to the film, Cecil B. DeMille is listening to that very broadcast. He says that that inspired him to make the movie about Dr. Wassell and his heroism. American author James Hilton wrote a novel shortly after Wassell's efforts made the news. Wassell served as an adviser for the movie. Wassell earned the Navy Cross for his actions. There is a gratuitous romance aspect in the film, but it's OK and fictitious. Wassell didn't mind it because his wife was back home during this time. The film was released on July 4, 1944, in theaters across the U. S. It was an obvious morale-builder. But before that, it had a premier showing on April 29, 1944 in Wassell's home time of Little Rock, AR. All of the roles are done well. As with some other war movies of the time, this one has one character who is over-the-top silly, clowning, etc. After a while that can grate on a person. It's OK to have someone like that - if there was in fact such a person. If not, I question his inclusion because it seems that he's pushing or forcing a lighter side in the film. I thought just one short scene was quite hokey and hard to believe. That was Wassell's standing before a huge Buddha in the jungle and asking Buddha to make the distant convoy sounds anything other than Japanese. If he was a medical missionary, he more likely might have said the Lord's Prayer, or prayed to God in some other way. Well, it may have happened that way, or it might have been a Hollywood insert with some specific intent in mind. This is a fine film about sacrifice and caring for one's fellow man in terrible times. And an excellent film for any war collection.

If I hadn't paid attention to the opening credits, I never would have guessed that this was directed by Cecil B. DeMille. For years, I have disliked his films (particularly those made in the sound era)--mostly because his epics all seem to have cool special effects but also lag way behind the average film when it comes to characterizations. In other words, the films look good but often the dialog is silly and the characters very under-developed. However, unlike films such as THE TEN COMMANDMENTS or REAP THE WILD WIND, this one had a lot of heart and was an excellent picture in all respects. Sure, the special effects and cinematography were great (really great), but it didn't surprise me that the sets looked like Java--after all, it's DeMille. But for once, the supporting characters were rather three-dimensional and the only complaint I have about any of them is Loraine Day. Her character and how it was integrated into the plot didn't seem to work very well--but this is a very, very minor quibble. Gary Cooper plays the title character. He also starred in two other DeMille films, THE UNCONQUERED and NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE, though I think he was best in this film because his part was a little more subdued--creating a quiet strength instead of the usual macho hero (probably because Dr. Wassell was a real person). This doctor was one of the last to try to vacate Java when the Japanese invaded in 1942 and the film was intended as a propaganda piece to encourage Americans at home and abroad due to the heroism in the story. Along with Cooper is a fine ensemble cast of supporting characters. And, thankfully, these supporting characters generally were not just cardboard stereotypes--a definite plus over some other similar films from the period. All in all, it's an interesting film that's worth your time and an excellent example of the type of films DeMille could do had he chosen to focus more on people than special effects and spectacle.

Looking for something to watch over Christmas i found a VHS that i had bought of this film 8 years ago which i hadnt gotten around to seeing.Well all i can say is that after watching it it will be at least another 8 years before it gets another viewing.It is difficult to understand how this film cost so much to produce when the sets at times look as cheap as those you would expect to see in an early TV production.The film plods on aimlessly for well over 2 hours which induced me to nod off from time to time.Coopers is the only worthwhile acting performance the rest are quite awful,matching script and direction.Also given the fact that they are supposed to be in Java where it is rather hot don't they ever sweat?De Mille is his usual overblown self in the prologue and also in the directors chair.Given the reprehensible way Hoppy acted towards the nurse i couldn't have cared less whether he survived.

When watching this film, I did notice one thing about the plot that surprised me (I am only referring to the film plot, I do not mean to say that this actually happened in this way). In this movie, Dr. Wassell gets evacuation orders for his US NAVY patients, but only the "ambulatory patients" (walking wounded) are to be taken; anyone that cannot walk is to be left there. Wassell takes all the patients to the harbor dock anyway, hoping for the best, but the captain of the departing ship USS Pecos refuses to allow the non-walking patients aboard, as he anticipates an enemy attack. Realizing that his non-ambulatory patients face capture or death if left behind, Wassell insists on remaining with them, and thereby becomes the only high-ranking American officer left on the island. They are all left sitting on the dock as the ship leaves port. What??? It was only 12 men, you could fit them in somewhere on the ship. If you leave them, they will be taken prisoner or killed. Anyone would prefer to take their chances on the departing ship. How did that get past the propaganda censors? The US NAVY leaves its wounded sailors on the dock when withdrawing from danger? The movie puts them right on the dock and ready to go. If the patients had been in hospitalized in intensive care and they couldn't have been moved, that would have been understandable. The plot would have at least made sense that way.

The movie is quite dated and a bit silly - on the other hand it is based on a true story as shown in the movie, and is well done - if not somewhat camp, certainly by current movie standards. My biggest problem with it was the treatment of the lack of realistic emotion in a movie that contains so much tragedy. The end is not particularly surprising. This is a Hollywood movie from the forties. Again it falls into the category of "camp." I agree with "chisim," The performances were very good particularly Gary Cooper.

True-story of WWII at its best. Cooper shows his versatility as both dramatic and comedic actor. Knowing it's a true story helps to make the story-line more believable, bearing in mind the Hollywood touches. Nice to see a movie with less "career-army" attitude and more of the "we're all in this together" from other walks of life. Shows the comaraderie of both different countries jointly in the war, as well as people from all aspects of life. Wassell also depicts the vulnerability of us all and allows us to hope that when times get tough that we, too, will use the right/best judgement when it counts.[Did Hoppy make it?]

This is an entertaining movie if somewhat dated ,still worth an occassional veiwing. Gary Cooper carries the film with a great performance showing him for the star he was. The cast is packed with good character actors and actresses,and is filmed in colour,based on a true story that De Mille heard on the radio as told by FDR. The story of how the doctor rescues some badly injured sailors in the Phillipines is told in a flagwaving way,with humor and tragedy side by side. One reveiwer asks about Hoppy a badly wounded soldier who is left stranded on the wrong side of a demolished bridge,the film shows the Japanese closing in on him and a nurse then they disapear. In C.B,deMILLES BIOGRAPHY he reveals that Hoppy did survive and at the end of the credits he told the film audience this fact.

I never heard of this movie until I spotted the title via a CECIL B de MILLE search on this site yesterday. DeMILLE made few movies in the 1940's and 1950's and this was the only one I hadn't seen. Two years in production, this dreadfully-dull-titled movie is a big screen epic Technicolor production depicts a seemingly small act of heroism --- a Navy doctor from Arkansas rescues 12 survivors of the USS Marblehead who are trapped on Java with the Japanese closing in on all sides, during the early part of World War II when America was still losing badly. DeMille brings the story together with a first rate mix of spectacular action, human drama, romance, and typical GI humor. This is a REAL World War II movie, made during an era when Hollywood had neither Sean Penn, nor George Clooney, nor Steven Spielberg; and all of Hollywood was solidly behind America (not Japan)--- this era produced numerous real life war heroes who were also screen actors, directors, writers. More recently we have the revisionist history guys, such as Jerry Bruckheimer's PEARL HARBOR which "justified" the attack by the Japanese for the clearly stated reason of grabbing up bigger Japanese box office. Like most Americans (I think) I'd never have seen that movie if I'd known they'd stick a knife in the back of America and re-write the war against us. Warning to girlie-man liberals: Dr Wassell is loaded with 2007-style Political Incorrectness. The GI's flirt with nurses, smoke cigarettes like mad, call their cigarettes "fags," call the Japanese enemy Japs; worse still they reflect patriotic attitudes and carry religion so far as to pray. Ohmygawd! This movie is difficult but not impossible to find. It was released by MCA/Universal in VHS many years ago. Specialty video shops like Video Vault in Alexandria, VA have it for rent. No listings on eBay right now, but it's worth a shot. Seek and you shall find!

This is a good role for Gary Cooper. He's tall, sun-tanned, speaks with what is supposed to be an Arkansas accent although it doesn't approach the saturation level of his Sergeant York, and is a humanitarian doctor with an inventive streak. He's also nattily dressed, but that's hardly worth mentioning since just about everyone in the movie is dressed in clean, pressed clothes. Combat has no effect on their grooming. Basically, Dr. Wassell, formerly an investigator of snail-vectored diseases in China, joins the Navy and is voluntarily left behind with a few nurses and a dozen or so patients too disabled to walk about the last ship departing the island of Java, threatened by the Japanese in 1941. The wounded are all sailors from the USS Marblehead and Houston, which were sunk in the battle of the Java Sea. The Japanese blew the American-British-Dutch-Australian force out of the water. That is to say, we lost, which is to say you will see multiple movies about the battle of Midway (we won) but absolutely none about the battle of the Java Sea. There are two scenes of violence. In the first, the hospital housing the wounded is bombed by Japanese planes. It's quite well handled. The ordinary war flick of the time would have multiple bombs falling at once, lots of outdoor models with paper-machie palms trees doing flips, and heroic Allies pumping machine guns up in the air. But DeMille doesn't do it that way. Everything is seen from inside a single hospital ward, the men and staff hiding under mattresses. There are only three or four bombs, with intervals between them, and they're nothing more than a long and eerie whistle before they hit. The first lands far away. The second and third are more of a jolt, and the last one blows in the windows, upends some of the hospital beds, and kills a patient. Instead of mindless action we get a scene full of suspense. The middle part of the movie involves a long and painful journey by trucks and other British vehicles across Java to another port. One man -- and his devoted native girlfriend -- run off the road in their jeep and find themselves surrounded by Japanese soldiers. "They no take prisoners -- in jungle." "I got an idea. Hand me that Tommy gun," he tells her, eyes blazing, and there is a fade out on Hoppy spraying lead around in the general direction of the camera. Sure, it's a cliché, but again DeMille spares us the shots of a thousand barbaric monkeys tumbling over as they charge the doomed couple. Gary Cooper, as I say, is neat. He manages to save the remaining wounded and link up again with his lost love, Lorraine Day. He's awarded the Navy Cross (I think) for his efforts. A long movie, but not a bad one for its time.