Dr. Wassell's escape from Java

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Movie
German title Dr. Wassell's escape from Java
Original title The Story of Dr. Wassell
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 111 / USA 140 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Cecil B. DeMille
script Alan Le May
Charles Bennett
James Hilton
production Cecil B. DeMille
music Victor Young
camera Victor Milner
cut Anne Bauchens
occupation

Dr. Wassell's Escape from Java (OT: The Story of Dr. Wassell ) is an American drama directed by Cecil B. DeMille from 1944 with Gary Cooper in the title role. The film is based on the original book by James Hiltons , based on stories from Commander Corydon Wassell. This color film was produced by Paramount Pictures . The story deals with the topic of moral courage based on the eponymous Dr. Wassell, who does not blindly follow an order and thereby save the lives of twelve American soldiers.

action

During the Second World War , the American ship Marblehead is attacked by the Japanese Navy and sunk. The crew escapes to the port of Tjilatjap , where the wounded are treated by the doctor Dr. Corydon M. Wassell to be treated and taken to a jungle hospital. During the treatment of the seriously wounded Benjamin "Hoppy" Hopkins, Wassell tells him his story to make "Hoppy" forget his pain a little: he once fell in love with a photo of the nurse Madeline who worked in China . He left Arkansas to go to China as a mission doctor. In fact, Madeline and him became a couple. They also linked their work in the same hospital. As the new head of the clinic, his rival Dr. Ralph Wayne has been preferred. Wayne then promptly made sure that he, Wassell, was transferred to a jungle hospital. A little later he learned that Wayne had been doing research in the same scientific field as he and had made a decisive discovery at the same time with him in order to master a devastating epidemic. Wayne was celebrated for his discovery, whereupon he gave up his research. He thinks he has lost Madeline to Wayne, whom he - with his research in mind - actually wanted to ask for her hand.

Attacks by the Japanese interrupt Wassell's history several times. On the instructions of his superior department, the doctor should leave the wounded soldiers who took part in the naval battle of Macassar in the jungle and leave the island with the ambulatory on the ship Pecos . Dr. Wassell, however, refuses to let the men down. He does not feel bound by this instruction and makes a decision on his own responsibility. He stayed on the island and a little later took all the soldiers to the port of Tjilatjap by truck. All of the American ships were sunk by Japanese soldiers, only the Janssen is still operational. Wassell manages to secretly bring the men aboard, in violation of the express instruction to leave wounded soldiers on land. On board the Janssen , he meets Wayne and learns that his wife is also on board - it is not Madeline who was on the sunken Pecos . Wayne, in turn, is injured in a Japanese bombing raid, but the Janssen is saved.

Wassell is to be tried in Australia for insubordination, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt praised him on a radio show for not abandoning his men. Instead of a prison sentence, Wassell now receives the Navy Cross - and the hope of a future with Madeline, who survived the sinking of the Pecos and appeared in his honor - as well as the twelve American marines who owe him their lives.

background

The film opened in the USA on April 29, 1944 in Little Rock , Arkansas, and nationwide on July 4, 1944. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the film premiered on October 10, 1952, and in Austria on March 24, 1950. In Australia the premiere was in 1944, in Portugal and Sweden it started in 1945. In 1946 it ran for the first time in France (Paris). In 1947 it had its premiere in Finland and in 1948 in Denmark.

Gary Cooper is dubbed in the German version of the film by Wolfgang Lukschy .

The estimated cost of the film was $ 2,720,000. The film was shot in Paramount Studios in Hollywood and in Tapachula in Mexico . Proceeds from the premieres were donated to the Navy Relief Society and the Naval Aid Auxiliary , as part of an agreement with the Navy.

The role of Dr. Wassell was initially offered to Joel McCrea . Maureen O'Hara , Marjorie Reynolds , Ruth Hussey and Pamela Blake were also tested for the role of Madeline . The film structures were designed by Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson .

Historical Background: Corydon McAlmont Wassell (1884-1958) was a retired US Navy doctor from Little Rock, Arkansas who went to China as a mission doctor. During the Second World War he was stationed on Java. He was awarded the Navy Cross for rescuing twelve wounded American soldiers.

criticism

"The authentic experience report of a veteran marine doctor who bravely stood up for his fellow men of all stripes in Java during the Second World War is diluted with Hollywood glamor and an absurd love story."

- Lexicon of international film

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said that the film screwed up a simple human story with comedic and romantic interludes , […] and went on to write that DeMille had worked with so much pyrotechnics that the audience went into a trench shock .

Awards

The film was at the Oscars 1945 in the category "Best Visual Effects" for the Oscar nominated, but was by Mervyn LeRoy's war film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo ( Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo beaten). Dr. Wassell's Escape from Java was named one of The Film Daily's Top Ten Films of 1944.

literature

  • The Story Of Dr Wassell , 1944; German first edition: The story of Dr. Wassell , translated by Hans R. Wyss. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1945.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dr. Wassells Escape from Java - Berliner Synchron 1952 ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.synchrondatenbank.de
  2. ↑ a b c The Story of Dr. Wassell - Notes
  3. ↑ Dr. Wassell's escape from Java. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 4, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ The Story of Dr. Wassell at Turner Classic Movies