Review of The Hospital (1971) by Kyle G — 23 May 2012
A precursor to another more famous Paddy Chayevsky-written '70s philippic (NETWORK), 1971's THE HOSPITAL is another barking-mad black comedy. The later film is a more successful one than this, I think, only because TV is a much loopier and nicer subject for sociological investigation than hospitals. Producers, critics, and consumers of TV all take part in a reasonably empty venture (full realizations of that notwithstanding), while producers, critics, and consumers of healthcare all think, to varying degrees, that they have something real at stake. It might be better to muck about with nothing than to muck about with something.
I think THE HOSPITAL's strength lies mostly in easy, natural, fluid cinematography, technical things, while the weaknesses are more creative, script-oriented: clumsy off-the-cuff psychoanalysis, pompous monologues, and an interminable dust storm of bureaucracy that hides a dumb whodunit.
This review of The Hospital (1971) was written by Kyle G on 23 May 2012.
The Hospital has generally received positive reviews.
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