I've read through the reviews of fans of this film. All I can conclude is 1) they are reviewing Lou Gehrig, not the film, 2) they love Lou Gehrig so much that they are willing to forgive this film everything, and 3) they really saw a different movie.
This is a terrible film, hastily rushed to the fans who lost their hero the previous year. Cooper plays Gehrig as a rightie (take note of how he signs everything); a sportswriter (?), not his wife or parents are with Lou when he finds out he's dying (what an ego Gallico had); and Babe Ruth makes sure he's in the frame at the start of Gehrig's final address to the fans at Yankee Stadium (what a jerk!). Just about every fact--all available to the writers at the time--was toyed with for no apparent reason. I could go on and on about the problems with this film. Gehrig deserves better than its cheap sentimentality.
This is a terrible film, hastily rushed to the fans who lost their hero the previous year. Cooper plays Gehrig as a rightie (take note of how he signs everything); a sportswriter (?), not his wife or parents are with Lou when he finds out he's dying (what an ego Gallico had); and Babe Ruth makes sure he's in the frame at the start of Gehrig's final address to the fans at Yankee Stadium (what a jerk!). Just about every fact--all available to the writers at the time--was toyed with for no apparent reason. I could go on and on about the problems with this film. Gehrig deserves better than its cheap sentimentality.