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''The Great Moment'' is a 1944 biographical film written and directed by Preston Sturges. Based on the book ''Triumph Over Pain'' (1940) by René Fülöp-Miller, it tells the story of Dr. William Thomas Green Morton, a 19th-century Boston dentist who discovered the use of ether for general anesthesia. The film stars Joel McCrea and Betty Field, and features Harry Carey, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn and Porter Hall. The movie was filmed in 1942 but not released for over two years, and the released version differed from what Preston Sturges had wished, although he publicly accepted the film as his own. Paramount Pictures disliked the film Sturges had made, and pulled it from his control, re-titled and re-edited it, in the process making it (especially in the early segment) more confusing for the audience to understand. The studio's released version was marketed in a way that made it appear to be one of Sturges' comedies. The film was not well received by the critics or the public, and marked the end of a sustained run of success for Sturges, who had already left Paramount by the time the film was released.〔TCM (Notes )〕〔Nixon, Rick ("The Great Moment" (TCM article) )〕 Although rarely seen today, the film is worth viewing for its flashback structure – comparable in some ways to ''Citizen Kane'', which was influenced by the earlier film ''The Power and the Glory'', for which Sturges wrote the screenplay – and for its irreverent and subtly satirical tone, unusual for a time when most Hollywood biopics were over-inflated and sentimental.〔 In 2003 a medical-dental historian in a lengthy analysis of the movie and its history -- which cited its flashback structure, timeless subject, injections of humor, and "un-Pasteur-like" treatment of its protagonist, while adhering reasonably well to the historical record -- concluded that "The Great Moment may now be due for a general reevaluation by movie historians and critics who, like most folks, have never felt much affection for dentists past and present."〔Frank Heynick 2003 "William T.G. Morton and 'The Great Moment.'" ''Journal of the History of Dentistry'', 51(1), p. 35〕 ==Plot== (The version as released by the studio)〔Heynick op cit., pp. 29-31, which contains a more extensive and detailed plot summary〕 The titles and credits open with a scene (in 1846) of a triumphant street procession and a jubilant crowd hailing William Morton (Joel McCrea) with signs such as "Pain is no more," followed by a long, written prologue pointing out, in part, that "before ether there was nothing." Next, an old Eben Frost (William Demarest) is seen heading through the snow to the farmhouse of Morton's aging widow Lizzie (Betty Field). On the way he stops at a pawn shop and redeems a medal once awarded to Morton inscribed: "To the benefactor of mankind." At the Morton home, Lizzie reminisces to Frost about her late husband and their life together, although the nature of Morton's achievement is vague. In the brief first flashback (which takes place several years after his discovery, though this is not at all clear), Morton mortgages his farm to pay for a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet President Franklin Pierce (Porter Hall). The president declares his intention to ratify a large monetary sum awarded to Morton by a grateful Congress, but says Morton should first legitimize his claim in court by filing a patent infringement suit against some army or navy doctor. The newspapers loudly denounce Morton's greed, the court declares his discovery unpatentable, and Morton runs amok in a shop which is capitalizing on his discovery with no credit or royalties to him. The scene shifts back to the farmhouse and the aging Lizzie, who relates the details of the broken Morton's recent death and their life together before, during, and immediately after Morton's discovery. The second flashback, which makes up most of the story, follows Morton and Lizzie's courtship, early married years, and his tribulations as a dentist with patients who fear the pain of dental operations. Morton consults his former professor Charles T. Jackson (Julius Tannen), who cantankerously suggests cooling the gums and roots with topical application of chloric ether. Morton ignorantly purchases a bottle of sulphuric ether and passes out when it evaporates in the living room of his home. Morton's former partner Horace Wells later comes by, telling of his discovery that nitrous oxide (laughing gas, which in those days was used at carnival attractions) could serve as an inhalable general anesthetic. He asks Morton's assistance at a planned tooth extraction at Harvard Medical School before the class of prominent surgeon John Collins Warren (Harry Carey). The demonstration fails (or appears to) when the patient cries out. Wells remains convinced of nitrous oxide's efficacy, but soon swears it off when his next patient almost fails to revive from an overdose. Morton, thinking back to his passing out from inadvertently inhaling sulphuric ether vapor, wonders whether this instead could serve as an inhalable general anesthetic. He tries the gas on patient Frost, who goes berserk. Morton consults Jackson, who explains that the ether must be of the highly rectified type. The next trial with Frost succeeds. Morton, who is camouflaging the smell of the sulphuric ether and calling it "Letheon," is soon raking in a fortune with his painless dentistry. However, Jackson and Wells now accuse Morton of having stolen their respective ideas. Morton begins thinking about the possible use of his "Letheon" in general surgery. He approaches surgeon Warren, who is highly skeptical but agrees to a demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital. The operation (on October 16, 1846), the excising of a neck tumor before doctors and students in the operating theater, proceeds painlessly. Warren now schedules a public demonstration for a more serious operation -- a leg amputation. On the scheduled day, representatives of the state Medical Society, jealous of the success of this upstart dentist, demand that, in accordance with established medical ethics, Morton first reveal the chemical composition of his "Letheon." Morton refuses to do so until his pending patent is granted, but says that in the meantime he will let all hospitals and charitable institutions (though not his rival dentists) use his compound free of charge. The Medical Society's men declare this unacceptable, so surgeon Warren says he has no alternative but to perform the scheduled amputation without anesthesia. As the bewildered Morton wanders through the hospital corridors, he comes across the girl whose leg is to amputated, being prayed over by a priest. Taking pity on her, he marches into the operating theater to reveal his secret to surgeon Warren -- and to the world. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Great Moment (1944 film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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