People Will Talk

For the 1935 comedy, see People Will Talk (1935 film). For the game show, see People Will Talk (game show).

People Will Talk is a 1951 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, based on the German play by Curt Goetz, which was made into a movie in Germany (Doctor Praetorius, 1950). Released by 20th Century-Fox, it stars Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain, with supporting performances by Hume Cronyn, Finlay Currie, Walter Slezak and Sidney Blackmer.

People Will Talk
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Written by	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Based on	Dr. med. Hiob Prätorius 1932 play by Curt Goetz[1]
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring	Cary Grant Jeanne Crain Finlay Currie Hume Cronyn Walter Slezak Sidney Blackmer Basil Ruysdael Katherine Locke
Cinematography	Milton Krasner
Edited by	Barbara McLean
Music by	Alfred Newman (musical direction)
Distributed by	20th Century-Fox
Release date	August 29, 1951 (1951-08-29)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.1 million (U.S./Canadian rentals)[2]

Mankiewicz's screenplay was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Comedy.

Plot

Still from film, Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain

Dr. Noah Praetorius is a physician who teaches in a medical school and founded a clinic dedicated to treating patients humanely and holistically. A colleague who dislikes Praetorius's unorthodox but effective methods, Dr. Rodney Elwell, has hired a detective to investigate Praetorius. A housekeeper 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.

Meanwhile, student Deborah Higgins enters Praetorius's life, displaying signs of emotional distress. After she faints during a lecture, Praetorius examines her and informs her that she's pregnant. Upset by this news, "Mrs. Higgins" admits that she's not really married. She will not reveal who the unborn child’s father is, and says knowing about her condition would be too much for her father to bear. In a hallway near Praetorius's office, she shoots herself but is not seriously injured.

After successfully operating on Deborah, Praetorius tries to calm her by telling her there was a mistake in her pregnancy test. But she has fallen in love with him, and becomes upset at her own embarrassing behavior. She runs away from the clinic, forcing him to find her so he can tell her she really is pregnant.

Praetorius and Shunderson drive to where Deborah and her father Arthur live, a farm owned by Arthur's brother, John. Arthur thinks that his daughter's injury occurred when she burned herself with a curling iron. Deborah and Praetorius hide Deborah's shooting incident from her father, who is a failure in life and lives unhappily as a dependant of his stingy brother. Deborah is his only pride in life, which might become intolerable for him with a baby to take care of and his daughter's reputation ruined.

While showing Praetorius the farm, Deborah admits her love for him. She also wonders why he is visiting and begins to suspect that he is attracted to her. After she seductively interrogates him, they share a passionate kiss. They soon get married, and Arthur comes to live with them. Deborah goes to the store in order to buy her husband an electric train set and a cake for his birthday. A few weeks later, Deborah suggests to Noah that she may be pregnant, and he admits that she was pregnant all along. They debate over the due date of the baby, Noah says September and she says December. She ruefully concludes that he married her out of pity, but Noah convinces her that he really did fall in love with her.

Elwell's detective discovers that Shunderson was once convicted of murder, and Elwell calls for a misconduct hearing against Praetorius. A photographer takes a picture of Shunderson who confides with doctor Praetorius about it. Dr Elwell pays doctor Praetorius a visit. Instead Deborah answers the door. The professor congratulates Deborah on her being newly married. He requests to meet with her husband concerning confidential information. Deborah confronts him about the vicious gossip concerning her husband. Elwell gives her a document laying the charges against her husband, which she takes to him.

A hearing is held regarding charges against Dr. Praetorius. At the hearing, Praetorius explains that he started his career in a small town by opening a butcher shop as a front for his undeclared medical practice, because the people of the town didn't trust doctors. Elwell accuses Praetorius of "quackery", but Praetorius defends himself with the fact that he was a licensed practitioner, describing how he was forced to leave town after his maid discovered his medical degree.

Disappointed, Elwell then opens the Shunderson file. Praetorius categorically refuses to answer questions about his friend, but Shunderson intervenes and explains that he served 15 years in prison for the alleged death of a man who had tried to murder him, then somehow survived being hanged after actually murdering the man, who had gone into hiding during the first trial. When he woke up, he was lying on a table in front of Praetorius, who was at that time a medical student examining what he believed was a cadaver. Praetorius kept Shunderson's survival a secret, and Shunderson became Praetorius's devoted friend. After this story is told, the chairman concludes the hearing in Praetorius's favor, and Elwell walks away alone and discredited.

Elwell had purposefully arranged for Praetorius's misconduct hearing to be scheduled for the same time as the student/faculty orchestra's concert. After the hearing and Praetorius' acquittal, the film ends with Deborah, her father, and Shunderson in the audience watching Praetorius' good friend and confidant, physics professor Lyonel Barker, play in the orchestra while Praetorius conducts it in the finale of Brahms's Academic Festival Overture, "Gaudeamus Igitur".

Cast

• Cary Grant as Dr. Noah Praetorius
• Jeanne Crain as Deborah Praetorius
• Finlay Currie as Shunderson
• Hume Cronyn as Prof. Rodney Elwell
• Walter Slezak as Prof. Lyonel Barker
• Sidney Blackmer as Arthur Higgins
• Basil Ruysdael as Dean Lyman Brockwell
• Katherine Locke as Miss James
• Parley Baer as Toy Store Salesman (uncredited)
• Lawrence Dobkin as Business Manager (uncredited)
• Bess Flowers as Concert audience member (uncredited)
• Margaret Hamilton as Sarah Pickett, the housekeeper (uncredited)
• Sam Harris as Concertgoer (uncredited)
• Stuart Holmes as Board member (uncredited)
• Billy House as Coonan (uncredited)
• Jack Kelly as Student in classroom (uncredited)
• Will Wright as John Higgins (uncredited)

Reception

A. H. Weiler of The New York Times praised Mankiewicz's script and the cast, and concluded: "People Will Talk does have something to say and it does so with erudition and high comedy, a compound that is vastly entertaining and rewarding."^[3] Harrison's Reports called the film "an excellent romantic comedy-drama, one that has the rare quality of holding an audience captivated from start to finish because of the deft characterizations, the sparkling dialogue, and the warmth of the central character".^[4] William Brogdon of Variety wrote the film "was a well-polished presentation, slickly cast and smoothly turned out."^[5] A review in Time magazine applauded Cary Grant for playing "to perfection the man who refuses to worry about anyone's opinion but his own" while Jeanne Crain "displays both intelligence and charm."^[6] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times noted the subject material was "occasionally daring and by conventional movie standards, even shocking", but nevertheless felt "People Will Talk is primarily witty—and witty people will talk."^[7]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 8 critics gave the film a positive review.^[8]

Music

The film's score consists of two classical pieces: Johannes Brahms' Academic Festival Overture and Richard Wagner's Prize Song, adapted and conducted by Alfred Newman.