Category Archives: Yellow Jack (1938)

In the Spanish-American war at the turn of the 20th century, yellow fever killed more US soldiers than were killed in battle. US Army doctors travel to Cuba to try to find the cause of the disease.

HISTORY OF MEDICINE, Yellow Jack (1938)

Yellow Jack Vaccine: Victory without Clinical Trial

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In its reconnaissance on medical-themed films, Movies on Chatham dug deep in time to pluck a 1938 movie out of obsolescence. Uncovering this gem of a movie, Yellow Jack (Seitz, 1938) — apart from its value in portraying an event in the history of  medicine — allows us to learn about Walter Reed as a person, not just the name of a military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland (“About Us – Walter Reed”, 2019).

Map of Cuba showing Spanish-American War battle sites
Map of Cuba showing Spanish-American War battle sites

Yellow Jack tells the story of a group of doctors and scientists, Dr. Reed among them, who travel to Cuba after the Spanish-American War1,2 hoping to find a cure for “yellow fever,” a hemorrhagic virus that is ravaging the population there. Continue reading Yellow Jack Vaccine: Victory without Clinical Trial →