Mary Stevens, M.D.

Lloyd Bacon manages brilliantly to squeeze a whole soap opera with characters you think you've been watching for weeks in just over an hour. It's quite dated in style, storytelling and plot which makes it difficult to watch just as a film without seeing it in a historical context. Nevertheless you've got to stick with it to see how it plays out.

Kay Francis and Lyle Talbot end their terms as interns and open an office together. Stevens marries machine politician's daughter Thelma Todd, and goes to work for the city, but things fall apart and he and Miss Francis begin an affair. He can't get a divorce, and she's pregnant.

The performers do their best, and it's a fine old soap opera, but Ray Curtiss edits the film at a bumpy rate that is often uncomfortable as Miss Francis gets whipsawed by Talbot's mistakes. A fine cast helps, including parts by Glenda Farrell, Una O'Connor, Hobart Cavanaugh, and Christian Rub, as does Sidney Hickox's subtly moving camera.

... not that Kay Francis was unaccustomed to suffering unjustly during her films, but the guy she falls for - yikes!

Kay plays the titular Mary, going through medical school with a guy she has loved since childhood, Don Andrews (Warner workhorse Lyle Talbot). They open a medical practice together, but Don is more interested in taking the easy way up, and he has affection for Mary but not love, which he has made no secret about. So he marries socialite Lois Cavanaugh, portrayed almost unrecognizably by Thelma Todd, and with that marriage comes a patronage job with the city.

But as Mary works hard at her practice, Don is skimming some then lots off the top from his patronage job and drinking heavily because his marriage with Lois is not working out. Mary takes over for him during an operation because he wanders into the OR blind drunk. When they accidentally meet up at a resort where he is hiding from an indictment - which he tells her all about - and she is recovering from overwork they spend a night together. Now, Don is honestly fooled - his wife lies and says she is having a baby to prevent the divorce he wants so that he can marry Mary. But how can Mary reconcile the fact that Don said the two have been through with one another a long time with her getting pregnant? Being a doctor she must know how these things happen! Plus there is a little matter of him being a drunken embezzler. Like I said before - Yikes! Mary you can do much better! But wait there's more that you'll have to find out about yourself when you watch it.

There are some great touches in this one. Glenda Farrell is more of the second lead than Lyle Talbott is here. He barely gets to act in this one. Glenda, as Mary's nurse and best friend, has a load of precode one liners. And then there is the teenage patient of Mary's who already has ulcers worrying about the state of the economy and banking system during the Depression, and not because he is hungry.

Even though this has lots of heavily trodden precode tropes, Kay Francis and Glenda Farrell make it worthwhile.

Kay Francis stars with Lyle Talbot, Thelma Todd, and Glenda Farrell in "Mary Stevens, M. D."

Mary and her dear friend, Don, graduate from medical school and set up practice together. Don, however, is attracted to easy money, so he marries a politician's daughter, Lois (Thelma Todd).

He gets a special job on the medical commission. Apparently they're a bunch of crooks and charge more money for a service than was charged by the hospital. This was some kind of pre-Medicare fraud.

Mary, meanwhile, has been in love with Don all these years, and it's unrequited. She stays busy with her pediatrician practice, but finally her nurse (Farrell) insists she take a vacation. Well, who does she run into - running from an indictment - but Don.

The indictment is quashed thanks to his father-in-law. Don plans on asking Lois for a divorce - both of them want their freedom. So Mary and Don declare their love for one another.

Once back in the thick of things, Mary realizes she's pregnant. When she tries to tell Don, he informs her that Lois is pregnant, and he can't divorce her now. So Mary does what many unwed mothers did back then - she goes away, planning on returning with an adopted child.

Kay Francis as an actress exuded so much warmth and emotion that you're pulling for her all the way. Actually I thought she could do a lot better than Lyle Talbot, who did a good job as Don. Farrell was a riot as the voice of reality.

A year after this film, the Hayes Code kicked in and unwed moms were out.

"Mary Stevens, M. D." is a true melodrama. I was yanked into it, and I found it enjoyable, with some nail-biting along the way.

"Mary Stevens, M.D." is one of many films about medical professionals produced during the pre-code era. Mary Stevens (Kay Francis) is something of an oddity--a female physician. She has trouble getting clients at first, but specializing in pediatrics and her zealous commitment to medicine gain her a successful practice.

Don Andrews (Lyle Talbot) plays the male doctor she falls in love with. But he marries a woman whose family has connections. In the first third of the film, she loves Don from afar and immerses herself in her practice.

In the second third, Mary reveals her love to Don. He has a plan for divesting himself of his practice and his wife, but complications arise, so Mary sails to Europe, promising to come back when the path to their happiness has been cleared.

I found the last third of the movie creepy in its cruelty. It's an interesting storyline, but not what I consider enjoyable. Nevertheless, Kay Francis is a striking actress. No wonder she became one of the biggest stars of the thirties and a fashion icon. Glenda Farrell, who plays the part of Glenda, her assistant, also has a strong presence reminiscent of a young Ginger Rogers.

But the plot of this film is rather predictable and, therefore, anticlimactic. Francis and Farrell will have plenty of other vehicles better suited to their talents in the coming years.

One novelty is the fact that the script seems afraid to say the word "pregnant" despite its pre-code production.