People Will Talk | |
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People Will Talk movie poster
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Directed by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
Written by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
Based on |
Dr. med. Hiob Prätorius 1932 play by Curt Goetz |
Starring |
Cary Grant Jeanne Crain Hume Cronyn Finlay Currie Walter Slezak Sidney Blackmer |
Music by | Alfred Newman |
Cinematography | Milton Krasner |
Edited by | Barbara McLean |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date
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Running time
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110 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.1 million (US rentals) |
People Will Talk is a 1951 romantic comedy/drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck from a screenplay by Mankiewicz, based on the German play by Curt Goetz, which had been made into a movie in Germany (Doctor Praetorius, 1950). Released by Twentieth Century Fox, the film stars Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain, with supporting performances by Hume Cronyn, Finlay Currie, Walter Slezak, and Sidney Blackmer.
The film was nominated for the Writers Guild of America screen Award for Best Written American Comedy (Joseph L. Mankiewicz).
People Will Talk describes an episode in the life of Dr. Noah Praetorius (Cary Grant), a physician who teaches in a medical school and founded a clinic dedicated to treating patients humanely and holistically. The plot contains two parallel story lines: a professional-misconduct challenge brought against Praetorius by his more conventional colleague Dr. Rodney Elwell (Hume Cronyn), who dislikes Praetorius's unorthodox but effective methods; and the struggle of a distressed young woman named Deborah Higgins (Jeanne Crain), who falls in love with Praetorius while dealing with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. The film also highlights Praetorius's close friend and confidant, physics professor Lyonel Barker (Walter Slezak), who plays bass viol in the student/faculty orchestra conducted by Praetorius.
At the start of the film, Elwell has hired a detective to investigate Praetorius. A housemaid (Margaret Hamilton) who once worked for Praetorius reacts visibly when Elwell asks her about Praetorius's mysterious friend Mr. Shunderson, who rarely leaves Praetorius's side and has a deep, intuitive understanding of human and animal nature.