The Citadel
112 min. / B&W / 1.37:1 / DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono / SDH
Warner Archive BD $24.99
Available from Movie Zyng
Based on the title alone, we were expecting a film about a military academy. Silly us; this is a long, prestigious MGM film, the second of their British MGM productions, and it more than fulfills the lofty expectations MGM had for it. It’s a minor masterpiece.
Robert Donat, who’d earn an Oscar a year later for Goodbye Mr. Chips, is young, idealistic Dr. Manson (erroneously referred to as "Dr. Mason" on the Blu-ray packaging), fresh out of medical school and anxious to start his new assignment in a Welsh mining town. When he finds a common thread amongst the lung disease suffered by the miners, he sets up a home laboratory to study the results of coal dust on lungs, but the mining company, the medical establishment, and the local miners who need that steady paycheck and cannot afford non-paid sick days conspire against him. With his new wife, Rosalind Russell, beside him, he heads off to London where he eventually finds wealth and fame by treating people who AREN'T very sick but who ARE very rich. He wallows in his newfound success while the missus suffers in silence; when an old Welsh doctor pal, Ralph Richardson, shows up with an idea for the National Health Service, Donat practically kicks him out, leading to disaster and a sudden change of heart for the future Mr. Chips.
Any film that begins with a written disclaimer explaining that not all doctors are bad is sure to be harsh on the medical professional, and this one could’ve been boycotted by the AMA. Richardson almost steals the film as the friendly but hard-drinking Welsh doctor; the man knows how to get things done, at least. A leaky sewer is giving the people of the valley typhus? Rather than try to cut through the red tape to get a new sewer built, why, simply blow up the old one. The rest of the cast is mostly composed of talented British character actors, including a young Rex Harrison in a small but showy part.
Donat is pretty good, moreso as the doctor in poverty than as the loathsome doctor without scruples, and Rosalind Russell takes the fairly thankless role of a sassy school teacher who becomes a devoted wife (they barely knew each other on their wedding day, he has to ask her name) and makes it something special. Kudos to her.
One of the more overly intense of the MGM dramas of the era (the baby-birthing scene will floor you), The Citadel was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and lives up to the high standards of MGM’s best dramatic productions of the 1930s, with sets from a mine cave-in to the rainy streets of a Welsh town to the penthouse apartments of the London well-to-do. The audience really gets their money’s worth with this one, and naturally, the Warner Archive Blu-ray maintains their usual very, very high standards.
Bonus material include two of forgotten MGM 1-reel series History Mysteries (there’s a third one included on the Three Comrades Blu-ray), The Ship that Died (about the infamous Mary Celeste) and Strange Glory, which looks at Lincoln aide Anna Ella Carroll’s role in Civil War campaign planning. There’s also a pip of a cartoon, The Daffy Doc with Porky and Daffy. The recent Warner Archive Looney Tunes collections don’t offer many B&W cartoons, so it’s wonderful to find one here. We consider the short subjects included in many Warner Archive releases to be extremely valuable parts of the overall package.
The Citadel is classic Hollywood at its finest, and we’re grateful to have such a beautiful Blu-ray of it.
