Lost Boundaries
Encyclopedia
Lost Boundaries is a film released in 1949. The film was directed by Alfred L. Werker
and starred Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer
, and Susan Douglas Rubes
. The film is based on the book by William Lindsay White
, relating the true story of Dr. Albert Chandler Johnston, a graduate of Rush Medical College whose family passed for white while living in New Hampshire
. The characters of Scott and Marcia Carter are fictionalized versions of the real-life individuals.
Lost Boundaries won the 1949 Cannes Film Festival
award for Best Screenplay.
) is graduating from Chase Medical School in Chicago
. At the ceremony Charles Frederick Howard, a distinguished African-American doctor, receives an honorary degree. Soon after, Scott and his girlfriend Marcia (Beatrice Pearson) are married. At the wedding reception Scott is offered an internship in Georgia
. In conversation, Scott's college friend Jesse, a dark-skinned doctor, notes that he may have to work as a Pullman
porter
until he gets one of the few internships available in a black hospital. In Georgia, Scott arrives at a crowded clinic. The nurses on duty are surprised by the apparently white intern. Placed, he says, in a most embarrassing position, the hospital director tells Scott that the hospital board of directors has decided to give preference to "southern" applicants. Confused at being rejected as too light-skinned, Scott returns home to tell Marcia the bad news. She lovingly encourages him to continue searching for another job.
At a family dinner back in Boston
, Marcia's light-skinned father notes that his daughter has never been "identified" as colored. His family has thrived in white society and suggests Scott and Marcia should also live as whites. Even among his own family members, Scott is encouraged to pose as white. Instead, Scott prefers to make his applications for internship as a Negro doctor, and the hospital rejection letters pour in. Months later, an angry Scott quits his temporary job making shoes and takes an internship up north in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
. For one year of his life he was going to be a white man.
While interning at Portsmouth, Scott takes an emergency call on the Isles of Shoals
. Amid dramatic waves and melodramatic music he is whisked ten miles off the mainland on a Coast Guard
boat. Arriving at White Island
lighthouse, he discovers a sport fisherman who has collapsed of a penetrating duodenal ulcer
. With no time to spare, Scott is forced to operate. The patient recovers and turns out to be Dr. Walter Bracket (Morton Stevens
), director of a prestigious clinic. Scott operates through the night. Impressed by Scott's skill, the recovering Dr. Bracket offers him the position of town doctor in Keenham, replacing Bracket's father, who recently died after 50 years there. The job comes with a stately furnished colonial home built in 1760 and a thriving local practice. Scott turns down the offer because he wants to go where he can practice medicine as a Negro. Dr. Bracket convinces him to "be practical" and try out the job.
Visiting Boston, Marcia and her mother are worrying about the young couple's financial future after Scott's internship. They wonder aloud if their baby will be born white or black. The scene switches to the hospital where Marcia and Scott are presented with a light-skinned baby boy. A few locals with authentic New Hampshire accents gossip as the Carter family moves into their spacious new home. The local rector and his wife stop by to see the baby which will be named after Dr. Charles Howard. The rector almost commits a faux pas by telling Marcia he knows Dr. Howard. But he must be wrong, he thinks, since Dr. Howard is a black man. Scott quickly earns the trust and respect of the community "up Keenham way." He saves a boy who nearly drowns and pitches in during a town crisis. The town rewards him with Old Doc Bracket's number 519 on his post office box, phone and license place.
By 1942, when war breaks out, the Carters are pillars of the community. Marcia chairs the Red Cross. Their son Howard Carter (Richard Hylton) is a promising music student at the University of New Hampshire
. Daughter Shelly (Susan Douglas Rubes
) is a popular high school student. Neither the townspeople nor the children are aware of the Carters' African-American heritage. Scott makes weekly secret visits to Boston, where he and his friend Jesse have built the Charles Howard Clinic in a black neighborhood to honor their college mentor. In one scene Scott rebukes a white nurse who refuses to utilize blood drawn from a black man. Howard invites Arthur Cooper (William Greaves
), a black UNH companion, to Keenham and calls his parents, who nervously agree. Daughter Shelly is upset and fears she will be unpopular because her brother has invited a "coon" into their home. Scott shouts at her for her bigoted language.
At a party in the local parish house, Howard plays piano while Arthur sings with true style. The crowd is enchanted by their performance and the boys are called the local Gilbert and Sullivan
, but bits of patronizing and bigoted conversation are heard from a few parishioners. Later, talking privately in the Carter library, Arthur tells Howard that his father is "different" from other whites since he makes him feel very comfortable in Keenham. In a dual announcement, Howard and Scott reveal that each has enlisted in the Navy
. But after being sworn in and sporting his new Navy uniform, Scott's commission as a naval officer is suddenly revoked for "failure to meet physical conditions." His African-American heritage has been discovered. Even as Scott is telling Marcia the shocking news, his Keenham house is filled with well wishers. Unaware of his news, the townspeople tell Scott that he will always be welcome in Keenham.
After learning the truth about his heritage, Howard has disappeared, his Navy uniform left behind. Marcia goes to the rector for comfort. Scott turns up the next morning sleeping on the couch at Jesse's Boston clinic. His friend tells him that it was his duty to inform his children of their heritage. Scott considers leaving town, but hopes, instead, that the people of Keenham will take him back. His friend warns him "Your career in Keenham. They don't have Negro doctors in New Hampshire." Meanwhile Howard wanders the streets of Harlem
to the strains of jazz music. He rents a room in cheap boarding house and wrestles with the revelation that he is African American.
The people of Keenham whisper among themselves about the Carters. By a waterfall Shelly's boyfriend struggles to confront her with the "awful rumor" flying through town. "Aren't you going to do something about it?" he asks. Shelly confesses that the rumor is the truth. Her boyfriend is not upset and fears, rather, that Shelly may leave town or not attend the school dance with him. Howard has not returned home in five days and has been walking through a ghetto neighborhood. He hears screams and rushes to confront a man with a gun who is committing a crime in a tenement building. The son struggles with the black man, the gun goes off and the robber flees. The police arrest Howard who, depressed and confused, is befriended by a black policeman. "I came here to find out what it's like to be a Negro," Howard explains to him. "In five days?" the policeman asks. "I'm neither white nor black. I'm both," says Howard. The officer lectures Howard with a passionate speech about race and prejudice. Art Cooper arrives at the police station to collect his college friend.
Howard discovers his father at the clinic in Boston. Scott apologizes for deceiving his son about his heritage. "I brought you up as white. There's no reason why you shouldn't continue to live that way," Scott says. Howard agrees to go home to Keenham and make the best of things. They return home and are tearfully met by mother. Shelly enters the room, embraces her brother, then tentatively, her father. Shelly apologies. "I still feel like me", she says, "but everything is so different." Church bells ring in the small New Hampshire town as the Carter family approach the stark white church in Keenham. They walk warily in and down the center aisle, then move to the family pew. The minister is sermonizing that "All men are brothers, one to another." The minister notes that the Navy has just ended its policy of exclusion based on race. He notes that similar, but small rays of hope are being seen in the battle against prejudice.
The congregation sings a poignantly appropriate hymn, #519, in honor of the doctor. Shelly rises and walks through the all-white congregation as they sing. Men of the congregation ring the church bells together. The town accepts the Carter family. A road sign shows directions to Keenham and to the White Mountains
as a narrator supplies the epilogue. Scott Carter is still the doctor in a small New Hampshire town.
Alfred L. Werker
Alfred L. Werker was a film director whose work in movies spanned from 1917 through 1957. After a number of film production jobs and assistant directing, Werker co-directed his first film, Ridin' the Wind in 1925 alongside director Del Andrews...
and starred Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....
, and Susan Douglas Rubes
Susan Douglas Rubes
Susan Douglas Rubes is an Austrian-born actress and producer.She was born Zuzka Zenta in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of Alfred and Charlotte Burstein. When she was young, her parents moved to a ranch in central Bohemia, Czechoslovakia...
. The film is based on the book by William Lindsay White
William Lindsay White
William Lindsay White , American journalist, was the son of newspaper editor William Allen White. White grew up in Emporia, Kansas, went to the nearby University of Kansas, and then transferred to and graduated from Harvard College. After completing his course of studies at Harvard, he succeeded...
, relating the true story of Dr. Albert Chandler Johnston, a graduate of Rush Medical College whose family passed for white while living in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. The characters of Scott and Marcia Carter are fictionalized versions of the real-life individuals.
Lost Boundaries won the 1949 Cannes Film Festival
1949 Cannes Film Festival
The 3rd Cannes Film Festival was held on September 2-17, 1949. No festival was held in 1948.- Jury :The entire jury for this festival were French.*Georges Huisman *Jules Romains *Mme...
award for Best Screenplay.
Plot
In 1923, Scott Mason Carter (Mel FerrerMel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....
) is graduating from Chase Medical School in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. At the ceremony Charles Frederick Howard, a distinguished African-American doctor, receives an honorary degree. Soon after, Scott and his girlfriend Marcia (Beatrice Pearson) are married. At the wedding reception Scott is offered an internship in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. In conversation, Scott's college friend Jesse, a dark-skinned doctor, notes that he may have to work as a Pullman
Pullman (car or coach)
In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars which were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company from 1867 to December 31, 1968....
porter
Porter (carrier)
A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...
until he gets one of the few internships available in a black hospital. In Georgia, Scott arrives at a crowded clinic. The nurses on duty are surprised by the apparently white intern. Placed, he says, in a most embarrassing position, the hospital director tells Scott that the hospital board of directors has decided to give preference to "southern" applicants. Confused at being rejected as too light-skinned, Scott returns home to tell Marcia the bad news. She lovingly encourages him to continue searching for another job.
At a family dinner back in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Marcia's light-skinned father notes that his daughter has never been "identified" as colored. His family has thrived in white society and suggests Scott and Marcia should also live as whites. Even among his own family members, Scott is encouraged to pose as white. Instead, Scott prefers to make his applications for internship as a Negro doctor, and the hospital rejection letters pour in. Months later, an angry Scott quits his temporary job making shoes and takes an internship up north in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
. For one year of his life he was going to be a white man.
While interning at Portsmouth, Scott takes an emergency call on the Isles of Shoals
Isles of Shoals
The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of New Hampshire and Maine.- History :...
. Amid dramatic waves and melodramatic music he is whisked ten miles off the mainland on a Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
boat. Arriving at White Island
White and Seavey Islands
White Island and Seavey Island are in the Isles of Shoals located off the coast of New Hampshire in the town of Rye. During low tide, the two islands are connected by a land bridge....
lighthouse, he discovers a sport fisherman who has collapsed of a penetrating duodenal ulcer
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
. With no time to spare, Scott is forced to operate. The patient recovers and turns out to be Dr. Walter Bracket (Morton Stevens
Morton Stevens
Morton Stevens was an American film score composer from Newark, New Jersey. In 1965 Stevens became director of music for CBS West Coast operations...
), director of a prestigious clinic. Scott operates through the night. Impressed by Scott's skill, the recovering Dr. Bracket offers him the position of town doctor in Keenham, replacing Bracket's father, who recently died after 50 years there. The job comes with a stately furnished colonial home built in 1760 and a thriving local practice. Scott turns down the offer because he wants to go where he can practice medicine as a Negro. Dr. Bracket convinces him to "be practical" and try out the job.
Visiting Boston, Marcia and her mother are worrying about the young couple's financial future after Scott's internship. They wonder aloud if their baby will be born white or black. The scene switches to the hospital where Marcia and Scott are presented with a light-skinned baby boy. A few locals with authentic New Hampshire accents gossip as the Carter family moves into their spacious new home. The local rector and his wife stop by to see the baby which will be named after Dr. Charles Howard. The rector almost commits a faux pas by telling Marcia he knows Dr. Howard. But he must be wrong, he thinks, since Dr. Howard is a black man. Scott quickly earns the trust and respect of the community "up Keenham way." He saves a boy who nearly drowns and pitches in during a town crisis. The town rewards him with Old Doc Bracket's number 519 on his post office box, phone and license place.
By 1942, when war breaks out, the Carters are pillars of the community. Marcia chairs the Red Cross. Their son Howard Carter (Richard Hylton) is a promising music student at the University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire , United States. The main campus is in Durham, New Hampshire. An additional campus is located in Manchester. With over 15,000 students, UNH is the largest university in New Hampshire. The university is...
. Daughter Shelly (Susan Douglas Rubes
Susan Douglas Rubes
Susan Douglas Rubes is an Austrian-born actress and producer.She was born Zuzka Zenta in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of Alfred and Charlotte Burstein. When she was young, her parents moved to a ranch in central Bohemia, Czechoslovakia...
) is a popular high school student. Neither the townspeople nor the children are aware of the Carters' African-American heritage. Scott makes weekly secret visits to Boston, where he and his friend Jesse have built the Charles Howard Clinic in a black neighborhood to honor their college mentor. In one scene Scott rebukes a white nurse who refuses to utilize blood drawn from a black man. Howard invites Arthur Cooper (William Greaves
William Greaves
William Greaves is a documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of African-American filmmaking. He has produced over two hundred documentary films writing and directing more than half of them...
), a black UNH companion, to Keenham and calls his parents, who nervously agree. Daughter Shelly is upset and fears she will be unpopular because her brother has invited a "coon" into their home. Scott shouts at her for her bigoted language.
At a party in the local parish house, Howard plays piano while Arthur sings with true style. The crowd is enchanted by their performance and the boys are called the local Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
, but bits of patronizing and bigoted conversation are heard from a few parishioners. Later, talking privately in the Carter library, Arthur tells Howard that his father is "different" from other whites since he makes him feel very comfortable in Keenham. In a dual announcement, Howard and Scott reveal that each has enlisted in the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. But after being sworn in and sporting his new Navy uniform, Scott's commission as a naval officer is suddenly revoked for "failure to meet physical conditions." His African-American heritage has been discovered. Even as Scott is telling Marcia the shocking news, his Keenham house is filled with well wishers. Unaware of his news, the townspeople tell Scott that he will always be welcome in Keenham.
After learning the truth about his heritage, Howard has disappeared, his Navy uniform left behind. Marcia goes to the rector for comfort. Scott turns up the next morning sleeping on the couch at Jesse's Boston clinic. His friend tells him that it was his duty to inform his children of their heritage. Scott considers leaving town, but hopes, instead, that the people of Keenham will take him back. His friend warns him "Your career in Keenham. They don't have Negro doctors in New Hampshire." Meanwhile Howard wanders the streets of Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
to the strains of jazz music. He rents a room in cheap boarding house and wrestles with the revelation that he is African American.
The people of Keenham whisper among themselves about the Carters. By a waterfall Shelly's boyfriend struggles to confront her with the "awful rumor" flying through town. "Aren't you going to do something about it?" he asks. Shelly confesses that the rumor is the truth. Her boyfriend is not upset and fears, rather, that Shelly may leave town or not attend the school dance with him. Howard has not returned home in five days and has been walking through a ghetto neighborhood. He hears screams and rushes to confront a man with a gun who is committing a crime in a tenement building. The son struggles with the black man, the gun goes off and the robber flees. The police arrest Howard who, depressed and confused, is befriended by a black policeman. "I came here to find out what it's like to be a Negro," Howard explains to him. "In five days?" the policeman asks. "I'm neither white nor black. I'm both," says Howard. The officer lectures Howard with a passionate speech about race and prejudice. Art Cooper arrives at the police station to collect his college friend.
Howard discovers his father at the clinic in Boston. Scott apologizes for deceiving his son about his heritage. "I brought you up as white. There's no reason why you shouldn't continue to live that way," Scott says. Howard agrees to go home to Keenham and make the best of things. They return home and are tearfully met by mother. Shelly enters the room, embraces her brother, then tentatively, her father. Shelly apologies. "I still feel like me", she says, "but everything is so different." Church bells ring in the small New Hampshire town as the Carter family approach the stark white church in Keenham. They walk warily in and down the center aisle, then move to the family pew. The minister is sermonizing that "All men are brothers, one to another." The minister notes that the Navy has just ended its policy of exclusion based on race. He notes that similar, but small rays of hope are being seen in the battle against prejudice.
The congregation sings a poignantly appropriate hymn, #519, in honor of the doctor. Shelly rises and walks through the all-white congregation as they sing. Men of the congregation ring the church bells together. The town accepts the Carter family. A road sign shows directions to Keenham and to the White Mountains
White Mountains (New Hampshire)
The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...
as a narrator supplies the epilogue. Scott Carter is still the doctor in a small New Hampshire town.
Cast
- Beatrice Pearson - Marcia Carter
- Mel FerrerMel FerrerMel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....
- Scott Mason Carter - Susan Douglas RubesSusan Douglas RubesSusan Douglas Rubes is an Austrian-born actress and producer.She was born Zuzka Zenta in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of Alfred and Charlotte Burstein. When she was young, her parents moved to a ranch in central Bohemia, Czechoslovakia...
- Shelly Carter (as Susan Douglas) - Robert A. Dunn - Rev. John Taylor (as Rev. Robert A. Dunn)
- Richard Hylton - Howard 'Howie' Carter
- Grace Coppin - Mrs. Mitchell
- Carleton CarpenterCarleton CarpenterCarleton Carpenter is an American movie/television/stage actor, a magician, author and songwriter....
- Andy - Seth Arnold - Clint Adams
- Wendell Holmes - Mr. Morris Mitchell
- Parker FennellyParker FennellyParker Fennelly was an American actor who appeared in ten films, numerous television episodes and hundreds of radio programs.-Allen's Alley:...
- Alvin Tupper - Ralph Riggs - Loren Tucker
- William GreavesWilliam GreavesWilliam Greaves is a documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of African-American filmmaking. He has produced over two hundred documentary films writing and directing more than half of them...
- Arthur 'Art' Cooper - Ray Saunders - Dr. Jesse Pridham (as Rai Saunders)
- Morton StevensMorton StevensMorton Stevens was an American film score composer from Newark, New Jersey. In 1965 Stevens became director of music for CBS West Coast operations...
- Dr. Walter Brackett