Voted the best picture of 1938 by the New York Motion Picture Critics, who may or may not have overlooked "Grand Illusion," "The Citadel" fully deserves the honors it has won. Based on Dr. A. J. Cronin's popular novel, this story of a young doctor fighting for his ideals in a money-mad world loses none of its effectiveness on the screen. For once Hollywood has cast aside its grandiose ideas of lavish staging effects and breath-taking landscape panoramas to present a simple and convincing portrait of medical life. Particularly effective are the scenes in the Welsh coal mines and rustic country clinics. Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell head a fine cast, among whom Ralph Richardson as the cynical, rum-consuming Denny is outstanding.

"Spring Madness," the companion film, oddly enough concerns two Harvard undergraduates, yes Harvard, gallivanting about a girls' college campus in confused but somewhat amusing style. One of the Hollywoodized Harvard students, who is referred to as "the editor of the Crimson," finally gets Maureen O'Sullivan. Which is better than dean's list.