Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case

I saw this movie a few months ago, 2005. I, also, saw it in 1957 on our new black and white television.

The year this movie was made was 1943. There was a war going on and we needed heroes who could help keep the home fires burning and save the women and children. Doctors today can't do everything like Dr. Gillespie could. He was busy saving the lives of 4 little girls who are suffering, putting two young residents who are vying to be Gillespie's assistant in their proper places, messing up the love life of Dr.Red Adams (Van Johnson) and trying to help Marcia Bradburn (Donna Reed) by institutionalizing a murderer, her ex-fiancée Roy Todwell. He was making her life miserable by trying to keep her from marrying a young soldier. And to add interest to the situation Roy breaks out of prison. What's the good doctor to do? Will he be able to save the lives and mend the hearts of so many?

And when you realize that Lionel Barrymore is doing all this from a wheelchair then we must marvel. He had severe arthritis in both legs and had started using crutches when he starred in You Can't Take It With You (1938) with Jimmy Stewart and Edward Arnold. As his illness progressed the needed items to make his acting career easier to handle were written into the script.

Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) continues testing Dr. Lee Wong How (Keye Luke) and Dr. Randall Adams (Van Johnson), both vying to be his new assistant. Meanwhile an epidemic breaks out in the hospital children's ward and psycho killer Roy Todwell breaks out of prison just as Gillespie is arguing to the prison board that Roy belongs in a mental hospital. All this plus a double amputee struggles to come to terms with his disability and a beautiful woman throws herself at Dr. Adams.

The third Gillespie movie follows up on the events of Calling Dr. Gillespie. Donna Reed returns and is even lovelier than before. The character of Roy was recast for some reason. The new actor, John Craven, isn't as creepy as the last one, Phil Brown. Craven is just kind of skeevy. Van Johnson and Keye Luke are both fun. Luke is once again given the wartime comments about Japs, as well as the subplot about a man who lost both his legs at Pearl Harbor. Beautiful Marilyn Maxwell has a sexy part as a wealthy hospital volunteer who comes onto Johnson very strongly. She would appear a couple more times in the series. Margaret O'Brien is cute as one of the sick kids. She was such a precocious little actress who did melodrama very well. It's an enjoyable entry in the series with more subplots than you can shake a stick at. Barrymore is terrific as usual.

This entry in the popular Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie series, which was also a radio hit at the time, is somewhat of a sequel to "Calling Dr. Gillespie." The story of "mental case" Roy Todwell is continued and finalized. There are also several subplots from the extremely weak and saccharine children's ward melodrama featuring Margaret O'Brien to the more effective and interesting rivalry between Dr. Adams (Van Johnson) and Dr. Lee Wong How (Keye Luke) to be Dr. Gillespie's new assistant. One subplot, however, appears to be MGM's slap at Lew Ayres (Dr. Kildare) for declaring himself a conscientious objector which caused such an uproar and led to MGM dropping him. A veteran who has lost his legs in the bombing of Pearl Harbor is being fitted for new ones. He is extremely depressed and tells Dr. Gillespie that he never wants to walk again. Dr. Gillespie goes out of his way to help the vet, providing him with the best of everything, though he has little money. Dr. Gillespie gives a patriotic speech against the Japanese, even quoting the Bible. Though no reference is made to Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres)by name, it is obvious why this subplot was inserted.

There is the usual mix of romance, humor, mystery, and the down-home philosophy of wheelchair-bound Dr. Gillespie (a father figure not unlike our President at the time who was also in a wheelchair) that made the Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie series so successful. But this is one of the weaker entries. Be sure and see "Calling Dr. Gillespie," a much better movie, first. It makes viewing this one more palatable.

Lionel Barrymore is the omniscient Dr. Gillespie in this episodic entry into the popular Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie series.

The overworked doc has two ambitious men working under him, cute Van Johnson and charming Keye Luke, and they both want to be his top man.

Donna Reed is a beautiful young woman who comes to Gillespie for advice as the film begins - she wants to get married, but she's worried about a crazy man, crazy about her, who is now in jail for murder. Gillespie endeavors to get the man institutionalized.

He helps give a young man who lost his legs during the war have the will to continue; he saves four little girls in the children's' ward; wrecks Van Johnson's love life - it's all just business as usual for Dr. Gillespie of Blair General.

The cast is charming but this film is just too sweet for words, and Dr. Gillespie is a real fantasy character even for 1943.

I suppose with the war on, this is what America wanted to see. It's interesting that like our President at the time, Gillespie is also in a wheelchair, in a position of power, and larger than life.

MGM looks like PRC or Monogram in this hodgepodge. It picks up on characters in "Calling Dr. Gillespie" (on which I have commented.) Donna Reed is still in it but the man she'd planned to marry, now in prison, is another actor. He's OK but the original was very powerful.

Several plots are tossed into this stew. In one, Keye Luuke and Van Johnson are vying for the job of Dr. Gillespie's assistant.

Then we have the beautiful woman who offers Johnson everything -- except a hiding place from the call of hospital emergencies.

And we have a ward of little girls with a contagious disease. Margaret O'Brien is appealing as one of these girls.

Another story involves a vet who's lost his legs. This character is played with great intensity by William Lundigan.

And: the holdover. Is Reed's ex insane or is prison the right place for him? Far be it from me to answer that here. However, though this one contains the word "criminal" in its title, the first one was a tense noir and this is a pan of scrambled eggs.