40 minutes into this movie I'm thinking, "this dud has got to be over soon." I look down and check the running time and I am horrified to see that somehow it's 2 hours and 20 minutes long. 40 mins and I'm thinking omg, where is this obvious, interminable melodrama going? 40 mins in, and I'm thinking this might be a good time to settle on a genre. And I'm wondering, why on earth would DeHaviland take this degrading, 1-dimensional ethnic role? Why do they tease this out so laboriously? How did so much star power sign on to this undeveloped, inept movie? It must be this padded and pointless, to provide each of 5 or 6 major egos their own moment; all of them are wildly unrelated to the general flow of Mitchum's "big conflict" storyline, which is of no dramatic interest. What is the point? The only possible angle I can imagine for this movie is that it was a women's movie about men; and that female viewers in 1955 might imagine this oddity spoke to them, about their situations. Along with the unusually low quality of the script, a viewer will spend all his/her time picking the corn kernels out of the ham. And every frame of this looks like it was filmed on the cheap. Completely squandered, expensive cast.

I'm a general practitioner and I can tell that this kind of doctoring regretfully does not exist anymore. I do not mean the business with the mole which, of course by what we know now, was wrong. I mean that these guys were really general practitioners who did almost everything, leaving almost nothing to specialists.But that's not really why this movie is good. The character that Mitchum plays is a complicated one but still his motive is to be somebody that matters in this world, to be a genuinely worthy doctor. He doesn't lack heart but he lacks tolerance.The reason I like this film is however that it describes people who truly care. Tolerance has a danger to slip into permissiveness, especially concerning power and that has happened too much today. With all it's shortcomings, and there are indeed some, the times that are displayed here still were a lot more decent than what we have today and what makes this film especially precious is that you can see the embryo of more evil times to follow if you are attentive enough.A film to learn from in many ways.

Casting actors instead of 'stars', "Not As A Stranger" could have been an interesting, if somewhat typical, portrayal of the long, hard slog in becoming a doctor, and what life could be like as a doctor in a small town. Unfortunately, by casting Robert Mitcham, Frank Sinatra and Lee Marvin, as doctors, any semblance "Not As A Stranger" might have had as a serious melodrama about the life of a small town doctor is just another over-heated, maudlin melodrama, totally lacking in credibility, and typical of Hollywood's penchant of turning interesting subject matter into cinematic dross. The irony is that Stanley Kramer (who as a Producer), oversaw such highly regarded films as "Champion" with Kirk Douglas, "Death Of A Salesman" with Fredric March, "High Noon" with Gary Cooper (incidentally, John Wayne labeled "High Noon", as Un-American – presumably because of the film's pacifist leanings), and of course, "The Caine Mutiny", with Humphrey Bogart.. Kramer directed films like 'The Defiant Ones", which was about racial tolerance. Likewise, "Inherit The Wind" was about evolution, based on the Scopes so-called "Monkey Trials". But the bulk of Kramer's directorial output were such turkeys as "The Secret of Santa Vittorio", "Bless The Beasts & Children", and "The Pride & The Passion" – with another all-star cast, and, you guessed it, Frank Sinatra as a Spaniard fighting the French army under Napoleon! I award this movie 2 stars out of 10

Enjoyed this great story and all the actors who gave outstanding performances, especially Olivia De Havilland, (Kristina Hedvigson) who played the wife to Robert Mitchum,(Lucas Marsh). Kristina came from a wealthy family and fell in love with Lucas Marsh who was going to medical school and gave him financial support in his striving to become a successful surgeon. There are great scenes in the operating room and it was done so professionally that it kept you on pins and needles throughout the entire picture. Gloria Graham, (Harriet Lang) plays the role of a very sexy rich woman who teases and pleases Lucas Marsh and makes him feel very guilty for cheating on his wife. Frank Sinatra, (Alfred Boone) gives a great supporting role as a real close friend to Lucas and they both went through medical school together and each went their separate ways as doctors. There is plenty of drama and if you have not seen this Great Classic 1955 film, you will definitely want to view many great veteran actors at the top of their careers.