One Man's Journey
One Man's Journey is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film starring Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Eli Watt. The picture was based on the short story Failure written by Katharine Haviland-Taylor. It was remade by RKO as A Man to Remember. The story tells of a small-town doctor working under difficult circumstances in a rural area somewhere in the United States.
Plot
A kind selfless doctor maintains his practice in a small town over 19 yrs. Despite opportunities to chart a bigger career path, his commitment to his patients continually keeps him where he is.He is eventually offered a prestigious position in New York at the same time his son, also to practice medicine, heads off to Vienna. A near fatal dose of iodine taken by the despaired woman he helped raise, again keeps him where he is.
The years go by as he writes short notes reflecting on his situation. One reads, "an old country plug, That's all I was meant to be - ".
Letty falls ill again, this time from heartache and fatigue due to her husband's infidelity. Sensing something beyond the physical is ailing Letty, he confronts the husband and receives his confession. He adjusts his care to include allowing Bill to visit his wife Letty.
After her recovery, great physicians from New York are meeting nearby when he receives an invitation. To his surprise, the Honouree honours him instead and he's so humbled he tears up resting his head on his dinner plate. Later a scene shows him being escorted by his housekeeper Sarah to Niagara Falls. Her doing, not his. A funnier note for the good doctor.
Reception
The film was popular at the box office.Preservation status
In April 2007, Turner Classic Movies premiered six films produced by Merian C. Cooper at RKO which had been out of distribution for more than 50 years.According to TCM host Robert Osborne, Cooper agreed to a legal settlement in 1946, after accusing RKO of not giving him all the money due him from his producer's contract in the 1930s. The settlement gave Cooper complete ownership of six titles:
Rafter Romance, Double Harness, The Right to Romance, One Man's Journey, Stingaree, Living on Love, and A Man to Remember.
When Turner Broadcasting bought the RKO film library in 1987, the six films were not included and the rights had to be purchased separately. The film's remake, A Man To Remember, was unable to be found. The original copies of the film's negative were destroyed due to negligence and the film was thought to have been lost forever. However, a 35mm, original nitrate print with Dutch subtitles was discovered in the Netherlands. It is the only known surviving copy and was restored by TCM.
In 2000, A Man to Remember was preserved by the Netherlands Film Museum.