Set in the old West in a time when men didn't bother to learn how to read, a woman was supposed to marry and raise a family, and there was one old doctor in town that treated everyone in his home.
This is a Michael Landon Jr movie, and it has a definite "Little House on the Prairie" feel and look to it.
Pretty Scout Taylor-Compton is Belinda Tyler, smart and assertive, who as a young girl treating kids' scratches, found out how much she enjoyed helping heal people. So she set her goal on becoming a doctor, even reading books on medicine.
Robert Pine is good as old Dr. Micah Jackson, the town doctor. He needed an assistant "with medical training" but Belinda asked anyway. He would have no part of it and when he learned of her ambitions was not encouraging at all. Women should not become doctors.
Things turned when a townsman came in with pains and Belinda did an initial workup and diagnosis, but her unpolished manner may have frightened the patient.
Still, when traveler Nancy Linehan Charles as rich, stubborn Mrs Stafford-Smith became ill, and Belinda correctly diagnosed it as a stroke, she was eventually hired to stay with the patient in a hotel room to care for her and help with rehabilitation.
The other complication was young Patrick Levis as Drew Simpson, freshly out of law school back east, who came to town to settle up the estate of a deceased relative. He needed to have the old house fixed up to then sell it. At first he and Belinda were at odds with each other, because of his outdated ideas and her strong will, but they eventually came to like each other.
Money was perhaps the biggest hurdle, because of the expense of Medical School, but in the end after Mrs Stafford-Smith had gotten better, she was so impressed with Belinda that she offered to send her through school, and have her live with her back east.
Truthfully everything was predictable in this movie, yet it is still a pleasant story. I found it on DVD at my public library.
This is a Michael Landon Jr movie, and it has a definite "Little House on the Prairie" feel and look to it.
Pretty Scout Taylor-Compton is Belinda Tyler, smart and assertive, who as a young girl treating kids' scratches, found out how much she enjoyed helping heal people. So she set her goal on becoming a doctor, even reading books on medicine.
Robert Pine is good as old Dr. Micah Jackson, the town doctor. He needed an assistant "with medical training" but Belinda asked anyway. He would have no part of it and when he learned of her ambitions was not encouraging at all. Women should not become doctors.
Things turned when a townsman came in with pains and Belinda did an initial workup and diagnosis, but her unpolished manner may have frightened the patient.
Still, when traveler Nancy Linehan Charles as rich, stubborn Mrs Stafford-Smith became ill, and Belinda correctly diagnosed it as a stroke, she was eventually hired to stay with the patient in a hotel room to care for her and help with rehabilitation.
The other complication was young Patrick Levis as Drew Simpson, freshly out of law school back east, who came to town to settle up the estate of a deceased relative. He needed to have the old house fixed up to then sell it. At first he and Belinda were at odds with each other, because of his outdated ideas and her strong will, but they eventually came to like each other.
Money was perhaps the biggest hurdle, because of the expense of Medical School, but in the end after Mrs Stafford-Smith had gotten better, she was so impressed with Belinda that she offered to send her through school, and have her live with her back east.
Truthfully everything was predictable in this movie, yet it is still a pleasant story. I found it on DVD at my public library.