SPOILER ALERT!!!!! This is a top notch film with a good script and excellent acting.First off, the script. Basically you have a dysfunctional family headed by somewhat of a tyrant of a father (Charles Coburn). The main character of the story -- Glenn Ford -- is a young doctor and the son of Coburn. Coburn has his son's medical career all plotted out for him, and at first Ford follows his father's script in being a very efficient doctor with no bedside manner. He falls in love with a hospital patient (Janet Leigh) who is from the other side of the tracks (or in this case, the other side of the avenue). The father basically disowns the son, Meanwhile, another daughter (Gloria DeHaven) is a bit too wild, also rebels against her father, and does a self-given abortion. Another daughter -- Nancy Davis (Reagan) stays with the father, but is sympathetic toward her siblings and their situations. Is it a bit soapy? Well, a bit. But it's a good story, and I was particularly interested in the home medical practice depicted, which was very much like my childhood doctor's practice (although he lived in a decent home, rather than an extended apartment (and incidentally, this film was made the year I was born, and I think it's a fairly decent representation of the practice of medicine at the time).While Glenn Ford isn't one of my favorite actors, I usually enjoy his work, and I would have to say that this was among his best roles. By the time this film was made, he was really coming into his own.Charles Coburn is such an interesting character actor. He was as comfortable playing the kindly, humorous character, or in this case, the curmudgeon. And in playing this type of role, he never seemed to go overboard. Always played it just right to make it believable.Gloria DeHaven was a "satisfactory" actress, but never in the "A" range. Here she does very nicely. Bruce Bennett, as another doctor, is very good here, as in Warner Anderson. Janet Leigh turns in a very effective performance as the seriously ill girl who becomes Ford's wife; one of her better roles! Basil Ruysdael -- one of those character actors you immediately recognize but whose name you don't know -- is superb here as the wise old doctor and family confidant...top notch! Nancy Davis, wife of Ronald Reagan, was another "satisfactory" actress; she does nicely here.I'll tell you how good this film is: after watching it, I immediately ordered if from Amazon! A very good story, excellent acting, and more realism than you often see from Hollywood.

Very few films were made before the 1970s with doctors and medicine as the main subjects. Hollywood had made the jump to sound movies in 1929, but the medical profession wasn't much in the public's eye – at least not in the realm of entertainment. Two films in the 1930s were mainly about doctors and medicine – "One Man's Journey," in 1933, and "Magnificent Obsession," in 1935. Both films had major stars of the time and were successes, but their plots were very serious. Film historians have said that Hollywood thought the public was too wary of somber subjects. People living through the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II needed more light-hearted entertainment. Having fun helped take their minds off their troubles for a while. So, comedy, romance, mystery and musicals best fit the bill for the film industry at the time. But, with the end of WW II, movie interests began to expand.One of the very first films focused on doctors and medicine was this 1949 MGM movie, "The Doctor and the Girl." It may have piqued the interest in other quarters for more such stories. A British film, "White Corridors," came out in 1951, and in 1954, a remake of "Magnificent Obsession" scored another box office hit. Interest in medical heroes and plots continued to grow. A 1961 movie, "The Young Doctors," had a huge cast. That same year, the first popular daytime TV medical drama (aka, soap opera) aired. "Dr. Kildare" ran through 1966. In 1962, "General Hospital" premiered. In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records lists it as the longest-running American soap, and it's still going strong. Only two other TV series have gone longer, but both are now off the air. By the 1970s, the medical field began to emerge as a major sub-genre for films and TV programs. Shows ranged from drama to comedy, romance to crime and mystery, war to sci-fi, and even horror scripts. With new TV programs and films about doctors and medicine today, the very earliest movies still stand out for their excellent stories and performances by top casts. "The Doctor and the Girl" is such a film. The plot may seem to be so familiar today, but it wasn't at the time. Indeed, it was a leader in showing conflict between "high brow" medicine and that practiced for common folks. The performances by the stars are outstanding – Glenn Ford, Janet Leigh, Charles Coburn, Gloria De Haven, Bruce Bennett, and Basil Ruysdael. This is a movie worthy of any film library.

Glenn Ford is a young doctor from a well-connected family in "The Doctor and the Girl," a 1949 film also starring Janet Leigh, Charles Coburn, Gloria de Haven, Bruce Bennett, and Nancy Davis, our former first lady.Ford plays Dr. Michael Corday, an up and coming doctor who comes to do a rotation in a hospital and brings a lot of his well-known doctor/father's attitudes with him. The senior Dr. Corday (Coburn) has fixed attitudes about family and medicine and runs his home with an iron fist. The first night that Michael returns home from his medical training, his sister Fabienne (de Haven) announces that she's moving to Greenwich Village. In those days it was absolutely unheard of for an unmarried woman to move out of the parental home, so her father's not happy.Michael isn't liked at the hospital. He's snobby, brusque, and too clinical, interested in his work but not people. Then he runs into a woman he processed in the outpatient ward, Evelyn (Leigh), who is waiting for lung surgery, and he realizes how cold he was to her. He works to make it up to her, and they wind up falling in love, and over his father's strenuous objections, he marries her and gives up the important residency he was promised. He and Evelyn move to her Third Avenue apartment, and Michael sets up practice. Meanwhile, the only child that hasn't disappointed the senior Corday is Mariette (Davis), who is marrying a doctor (when her dad sets the date) and is living at home. Corday Sr. soon learns the effect of his rigidity.I really liked this film. It was an absorbing family drama, maybe on the soapy side, but there's nothing wrong with that when the characters are well depicted. Glenn Ford is very sincere and likable in his role and gets to show a little more dramatic range than usual; the pretty Leigh is lovely as Evelyn, frail but with an inner toughness. The rest of the cast is solid. Bruce Bennett plays the ENT doctor Michael has to deal with on his rotation. Bennett was in countless films, an Olympic champion in 1928, and died 5 years ago at the age of 100.Very good movie, well worth seeing.

Dr. Michael Corday (played by Glenn Ford), only son of Dr. John Corday (Charles Coburn), has just graduated from medical school and returned home. His father, a prominent Manhattan physician, expects Michael to follow in his footsteps. Michael is annoyed at having to intern at an inner-city hospital and is rude and arrogant to his patients.Michael's two sisters, Mariette (played by Nancy Davis, who later became First Lady Nancy Reagan) and Fabienne (Gloria DeHaven), still live at home but are planning their futures. Mariette is engaged to marry a young pediatrician. Fabienne announces that she is moving to Greenwich Village to live on her own. The family is shocked, but Michael supports Fabienne's decision.Michael meets an attractive young woman named Taffy (played by Janet Leigh) at the hospital. He is arrogant with her, but she stands up to him and tells him to "remember that I'm a patient, doctor." He later apologizes and takes a personal interest in her case. Taffy requires surgery, and Michael uses his clout to obtain the services of a prominent physician. Meanwhile, his father has heard about Taffy, and disapproves because she is poor. Dr. Corday Sr. has Taffy discharged from the hospital before she is strong enough to leave, and warns Michael to stay away from her. But Michael defies his father and eventually marries Taffy, thereby cutting himself off from his family. Fabienne is on a path to self-destruction; her affair with a married man leads to tragedy; only Mariette remains the same calm, capable oldest child throughout the movie. Dr. Corday's attempts to control his adult children lead to arguments, estrangement, tragedy, and eventually a reuniting of the family.