Journey Into Medicine (1947)

Name: Journey Into Medicine
Released: 1947-12-01

38m

Running Time

Plot.

A documentary/recruitment film originally intended for showings outside the United States to promote careers in public health and American methods in public health education. Directed by social documentarian Willard Van Dyke, and delivered entirely in the characteristic voice-over narration of that genre, the film centers around a young doctor, who during the course of his medical residency at the New York Presbyterian Hospital becomes disillusioned with the failures of the medical profession to address larger social and environmental health factors and discovers the field of public health. The young doctor moves to Baltimore to study at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and finds his professional calling fighting a diphtheria outbreak in the poverty-stricken streets and row-houses of East Baltimore. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, Academy War Film Collection, in 2011.

Where to Watch.

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Cast & Crew.

Willard Van Dyke

Director

Irving Jacoby

Writer

Henry Brant

Composer

Benjamín Doniger

Cinematographer

Boris Kaufman

Cinematographer

Aram Boyajian

Editor

Details.

Release Date
December 1, 1947

Status
Released

Running Time
38m

Last updated: 2025-02-15

This Movie Is About.

preserved film

Wiki.

Journey into Medicine is a 1947 American documentary-style film. The film stars James Karen as Michael Kenneth Marshall, a young medical student who goes through medical training at Columbia and Cornell. During his internship in pediatrics, Marshall loses one of his patients, a young girl to diphtheria. This case inspires him to enroll in the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and pursue a career in public health. While studying at Johns Hopkins, Marshall helps battle an outbreak of diphtheria in Baltimore, which confirms to him his chosen vocation.

The film was made by the United States Information Service for use by the U.S. State Department. The film was meant to be shown outside the United States as a promotional film for American medicine and public health efforts abroad.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The Academy Film Archive preserved Journey into Medicine in 2011. The film is part of the Academy War Film Collection, one of the largest collections of World War II era short films held outside government archives.