Trevor Howard: The world’s first CAM allopathic practitioner?

Written by Noel Coward, Brief Encounter is an enjoyable (understated) 60-year-old movie that asks the question, “Is it possible to be faithfully committed to one person, feel inexplicably drawn to love another, yet not be adulterous?”

What’s this got to do with CAM?

Nothing.

It’s just that during one of their Thursday rendezvous, Laura (Celia Johnson) asks Alec (Trevor Howard) about his job. It turns out Alec is a physician. He’s so surprised that someone has asked him about the profession he loves that he goes on about his work and his dream — to become a doctor that keeps people healthy rather than treat them after they are sick.

Obviously, the movie is not about healthcare, but this passing remark is interesting in that it shows that preventive (complementary) medicine was a topic that could be worked into a movie script in 1945.

4/25/07 19:38 JR