Yellow Jack (DVD)

The Spanish-American War is over, but not the scourge of death. Yellow fever has killed more U.S. soldiers deployed to Cuba than battle -- and a medical team led by Dr. Walter Reed (Lewis Stone) is determined to defeat the microbial enemy. The secret to wiping it out may lie in the once-discredited theory of a dedicated researcher (Charles Coburn): an infected mosquito. Proving it will put more lives on the line: volunteers to be bitten and treated. From Sidney Howard's esteemed 1934 play (a collaboration with microbiologist Paul De Kruif), Yellow Jack is an absorbing ensemble drama about the human cost of eradicating illness. In a role created on Broadway by James Stewart, Robert Montgomery compellingly plays a corpsman weighing whether to risk himself in service of a breakthrough, and Virginia Bruce is the dedicated nurse who stirs his conscience. Andy Devine, Henry Hull, Buddy Ebsen, Stanley Ridges and (reprising his stage role) Sam Levene vividly portray fellow combatants in this gripping tale mirroring today's ongoing struggle to rid our world of disease.