The Interns (1962)

Five interns clash with the head of surgery while trying to balance medical studies and romance.

Director: David Swift
Cast: Michael Callan, Cliff Robertson, James MacArthur, Nick Adams, Suzy Parker, Haya Harareet, Anne Helm, Stefanie Powers, Buddy Ebsen, Telly Savalas, Katharine Bard, Kaye Stevens, Gregory Morton, Angela Clarke, Connie Gilchrist, Ellen Davalos, Carroll Harrison, John Banner, Mari Lynn, Brian G. Hutton, J. Edward McKinley, Bobo Lewis, Ira Barmak, William Fawcett, Charles Robinson, Fred Aldrich, Shelley Ames, Harry Arnie, Jane Barclay, Sondra Blake




“Most if not all of the dramatic conflict in The Interns is going to seem awfully familiar to anyone who grew up on TV doctor shows like Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Medical Center, or Marcus Welby, M.D.. For that matter, even a "cutting edge" medico series like E.R. reworked many of these same themes, distinguished only by a greater sense of "realism" in its depictions (i.e.: more blood and guts). Witnessing a woman dying after a botched abortion attempt, or seeing a woman ask for an abortion, or seeing a young woman bravely face a terminal disease, or listening to a soon-to-be-paralyzed old man beg for a mercy kill, isn't going to raise a yawn from most viewers today, such has been the overkill of their repetition in other projects. However, seen in context, such scenes were still a long way down the line from anything that 1962 reviewers remembered from their old Dr. Kildare movies, no doubt contributing to the success of The Interns (along with everybody going nuts over ABC's Ben Casey in 1962). I'm guessing that events were a little bloodier, a little sexier in Richard Frede's best-selling novel, but for mainstream 1962 Hollywood films, The Interns wasn't tame…

IMDb

Everyone here is a tough crowd criticizing this movie. I remember seeing it as a young kid and it made quite an impact on me. Everything seemed so real in it. I watched it again today and looked up the illnesses that the young girl from an Asian island and the guy that was a mercy killing had. They were real diseases that might have occurred in 1962. The scene where the woman has her baby was the first time I saw something close to a real birth. I remembered her scene even as I had my own baby years ago. It seemed very well acted! I also appreciated the interracial aspect of this movie that had such a good mix of non lead characters. Pity, they weren't the leads but still, great progress for the time. It must have been a cutting edge movie at the time because it still is has interesting themes for us. It was very ahead of its time. I enjoyed it immensely!
~ iluvshirley