The Story of Dr. Wassell

The Story of Dr. Wassell is a 1944 American Technicolor World War II film set in the Dutch East Indies, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso and Dennis O'Keefe. The film was based on a book of the same name by novelist and screenwriter James Hilton, his only nonfiction book. The book and film were inspired by the wartime activities of U.S. Navy Doctor Corydon M. Wassell which were referred to by President Roosevelt in a radio broadcast made in April 1942. The appropriate section of this broadcast appears toward the end of the film. For their work on this film, Farciot Edouart, Gordon Jennings and George Dutton received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.