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.

"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.

It's interesting that Kay Francis played a physician in two films, Mary Stevens, M.D., and Dr. Monica, just a few years apart in a time when the female physician was a rarity. Also, both films dealt with unplanned pregnancies. (I'm basing that on the IMDb summary of Dr. Monica, as I haven't had the opportunity to see that one yet.) In Mary Stevens, M.D., the protagonist encounters society's prejudice against doctors who happen to be female, but that is not the movie's emphasis. Instead, the main plot is simply a great drama (though, in a different way, the drama does stem from mores of the era), and a sad one. Mary Stevens, M.D., is also an interesting example of a 30s-style dichotomy: while Dr. Stevens is a "modern" woman by virtue of having become a physician, she also patiently accepts an ENORMOUS amount of nonsense from the man she loves.

Mary Stevens (Kay Francis) and her friend Don Andrews (Lyle Talbot) graduate medical school together and open medical offices next to each other. Mary struggles against sexism, but builds a thriving practice. Glenda Carroll (Glenda Farrell) is her nurse. Don starts dating rich socialite Lois Cavanaugh (Thelma Todd) and ignores his work.

Mary Stevens is a compelling character. I'm intrigued by her story. On the other hand, I couldn't care less about Don. I don't see their implied chemistry. They start off more like brother and sister. That's all I see in them. I don't care about his issues. She could be a great character for a TV show. Oh yeah! This was before TV.

Kay Francis and Glenda Farrell are always fun to watch, and they're no exception here. Francis plays the titular doctor who is more competent and responsible than her male counterpart, played by Lyle Talbot, so that was nice to see. The film is also decidedly pre-Code in that he turns into her married lover, adding some spice to the story, even though I'm not sure I felt the pair's chemistry. Regardless, it's open about their infidelity and Dr. Stevens getting pregnant as a result, and in fact, her being perfectly fine with it, which is a fantastic moment. There are also some nice jabs directed at the medical profession when Talbot's character shows up drunk to a surgery, as well as the corruption in how he gets his money, reflecting the cynicism of the period at the white-collar world. We also see that of her young patients is in a morose state of mind and has ulcers worrying about the Depression.

The film tries to toe the line between Dr. Stevens' personal and professional life just as I suppose people from this period tried to wrap their head around what it meant to be a career woman, but it erred too much in the personal melodrama for my taste. With that said, the scenes of how the cute little babies (of which there are several in the film!) spread the dreaded polio disease were gripping. You could read the fate of the love child as a regressive punishment and not be wrong, but on the other hand, because it was pre-Code, Francis's character is allowed to remain a doctor, not renounce everything she's worked for to be with a man. I wish the plot had taken different turns because Talbot's character is so lacking, but the film has enough going for it to make it worth seeing.