Doctors in the Movies: Boil the Water and Just Say Aah (review)

Peter E. Dans. Doctors in the Movies: Boil the Water and Just Say Aah. Bloomington, Indiana, Medi-Ed Press, 2000. xxiii, 384 pp., illus. $34.95.

Peter Dans confides that he is "almost ashamed" to admit the fact that his new book is the product of thousands of hours of movie watching. Although, as I began the book I thought he might have something to be embarrassed about, in the end, I was convinced that his time was well spent. This analysis about the manner in which the medical profession has been portrayed in Hollywood films is simultaneously personal and compelling: personal in that he admits that he is sharing with the reader his subjective responses (and those of his family members) to the various films; compelling because his observations are faithful to the content of the movies. Actually I must confess that the highly personal tone of the book made me worry initially that the representations and conclusions presented by the author might be too idiosyncratic for academic use. So, I rented a number of the lesser known films mentioned in this collection and was delighted to find that Dans’s observations overlapped considerably with my own.

This being said, I should make it clear that this book does not provide historical critical analysis of the films. By this I mean that Dans has not explored how and why these films came into existence. Nor has he investigated the source materials and the editing processes that ultimately concern the critical use of film by historians of medicine and science. However, what Dans has done should not be underestimated. He has provided an extremely useful reference book of films on the medical profession, many of which are not widely known. He includes a chapter that summarizes the various themes and stereotypes he has observed: doctor/nurse relationships; doctors and smoking; rich doctor playboys; medicine is a jealous mistress; and, my personal favorite, patients as inanimate objects. What fun-loving professor could ignore the wealth of material here for educational purposes?! Personally, I find that thoughtful use of film in the classroom can provide both an effective and exciting educational opportunity for my students. At a point in time when most of my students have film/television, rather than literary references, the use of film facilitates their ability to respond to the material and incorporate it into the larger framework. Thus, I believe that this book will be a terrific resource for classroom instruction as well as for research purposes. So, get popcorn, get pizza–boil water if you like–but do get in a comfortable chair and read this book. You will say "Aah–there’s a film I want to see!"

Reviewed by C. A. Morgan III, M.D., M.A., Yale University School of Medicine,
New Haven, Connecticut 06520.

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