Men in White (1934 film)

Plot

Loosely based on the Sidney Kingsley play of the same name: a dedicated young doctor places his patients above everyone else in his life. Unfortunately, his Social Register fianceé can't accept the fact that he considers an appointment in the operating room more important than attending a cocktail party. He soon drifts into an affair with a pretty nurse who shares his passion for healing.

One thread of the story involves diabetic hypoglycemia:

In this story two doctors have a conflict at the bedside of a young girl who is desperately ill. The young doctor diagnoses (correctly) that the patient is in insulin shock (needing glucose), while the senior doctor insists that it is a diabetic coma (needing insulin)...Fortunately, the doctor making the right diagnosis prevails: The child recovers and smiles up at him. Cut.

Cast

Clark Gable as Dr. George Ferguson

Myrna Loy as Laura Hudson

Jean Hersholt as Dr. 'Hockie' Hochberg

Elizabeth Allan as Barbara Denham

Otto Kruger as Dr. Levine

C. Henry Gordon as Dr. Cunningham

Russell Hardie as Dr. 'Mike' Michaelson

Wallace Ford as Shorty

Henry B. Walthall as Dr. McCabe

Russell Hopton as Dr. Pete Bradley

Samuel S. Hinds as Dr. Gordon

Frank Puglia as Dr. Vitale

Leo Chalzel as Dr. Wren

Donald Douglas as Mac

Ruth Channing (uncredited)

Isabel Jewell (scenes deleted; uncredited)

Edward J. Nugent (scenes deleted; uncredited)

Frank Reicher (scenes deleted; uncredited)

Reception

The film was very successful at the box office. According to MGM records, it earned $890,000 in the US and Canada and $565,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $784,000.

Radio adaptation

Men in White was presented on the Lady Esther Screen Guild Theatre on CBS July 19, 1943. The 30-minute adaptation starred Jean Hersholt, James Craig, and Louise Allbritton.