Her Favorite Patient; Bedside Manner

1976. HER FAVORITE PATIENT (Bedside Manner) (1945-usa). With John Carroll, RUTH HUSSEY, CHARLES RUGCLES, ANN RUTHERFORD, FRANK JENKS. This cute, romantic’ comedy-farce is set in a small mid-western town during the height Of World War II, with a beautiful heroine who is neither Mrs. Nor Miss. She is Hedy Fredericks, a young doctor and surgeon. Her aging uncle, also an M.D. (whom she fondly calls “Uncle Doc”), is way overworked and has been pleading with Hedy to remain home and assist him in his practice. However, Hedy is determined to move to Chicago, where she has an opportunity to work in a research laboratory, “She’s gotta stay. You just leave it to me. I’ll fix it,” “Uncle Doc” promises, just before hatching the sneakiest Of schemes. Morgan Hale, a test pilot who has been verbally sparring with Hedy, has just been involved in a crash. At the suggestion Of “Uncle Doc,” he fakes a head injury, resulting in an acute case Of pantophobia: fear Of everything. He acts positively balmy, pretending to have black-outs, hiding in closets, sleeping under beds. Of course, Hedy simply must remain in town, in order to deal with this disorder – and, eventually, to fall in love with her patient. While it is unusual and refreshing to see a woman doctor in a 1940s movie, do not get the idea that Hedy Fredericks is in any way liberated. At one point, she declares, “Being a physician and surgeon doesn’t give a woman much opportunity to be, well…a woman!” 69 minutes. Romantic Comedy