Green Fingers

A fisherman begins studying to be an osteopath. Although he isn't finished with medical school, he begins treating his landlady's daughter who is believed to have a chronic illness. He seems to cure her, and the case draws a lot of attention, some of it negative because he was unlicensed when he treated her. He still does not have a degree when he marries the daughter and begins practising osteopathy.

To be honest, I always found Robert Beatty one of the most unlikely of actors to ever have found success. He was usually as stiff as a plank, delivering his dialogue as if he were shouting at a cattle market. This film belies that image somewhat, though, as he plays "Stone"; a nimble-fingered fisherman who has a knack for helping out folks with aches and pains. Having been shot in the leg during the war, he walks with a pronounced limp that causes his boss to fear for him (or at least his business) at sea, so when he is sacked he hears of an Harley Street osteopath (Felix Aylmer) who through clever manipulation manages to heal him - and set him on a path of training for this vocation himself. It's got a little of the "Citadel" (1938) to it, as he and his wife "Jeannie" (Carol Raye) struggle to balance the needs of educating/training and earning a living before they can establish their practice; whilst he has a bit of a philander with the glamorous Nova Pilbeam (Alexandra) whom he helped with a ligament injury and who is now extolling his virtues to her wealthy Champagne set. It has a certain morality to it - the cutting edge nature of the treatments cause scepticism amongst some of his peers, and when tragedy strikes, illustrate a fine line between quackery and medicine (and self doubt). Largely, though, it's just a feel-good melodrama with an ending that I felt bordered on the downright irresponsible. It's well worth watching - if only to remind ourselves that all medicine needed pioneers, fact or fiction.