3 Men in White

This is a rather annoying entry into the series. With Dr. Kildare persona non grata at MGM after Lew Ayres became a conscientious objector, the franchise now belongs to irascible Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore). Barrymore was a wonderful actor, but these were B movies slapped together probably in days, and it shows.

This particular film had Barrymore overplaying to the balcony at the top of his lungs. Van Johnson and Keye Luke are cute as the energetic interns vying to be his assistant (again) and each taking on a difficult case. Johnson, of course, also has to deal with a woman. This time, it's pretty Marilyn Maxwell.

The chief interest in seeing this film is for an early appearance by Ava Gardner as Jean Brown. She is flawlessly beautiful as a young woman caring for her arthritis-stricken mother.

I liked the Dr. Kildare series with Lew Ayres and Laraine Day much more, I have to confess.

It's been three months (and three movies) and Dr. Gillespie still hasn't decided on which of his two interns will become his new assistant. Once again he gives them each a case to decide the matter. Dr. Lee gets a case involving a little girl who gets sick when she eats candy. Dr. Adams helps a troubled young woman whose mother has a debilitating disease.

Fourth entry in the Dr. Gillespie series is pleasant enough but the cracks are starting to show. Lionel Barrymore is especially cantankerous this time around ("Don't smirk at me you nincompoop!"). The longtime regulars are as good as ever. George Reed, as Gillespie's man Conover, gets some particularly funny lines this time. But the production values seem less impressive and the script isn't that great. Keye Luke is still going on about being from Brooklyn. I applaud MGM for trying to show that a Chinese-American is 'just like the rest of us' but enough already. Three movies in and he won't shut up about Brooklyn. He also reuses a line from an earlier film about giving a blood transfusion to a Jap. Still, it's Keye Luke and he's got a very likable and charming appeal. Early role for Ava Gardner ("I never get fat"). She's very pretty but hardly impresses with her acting. Van Johnson is the star of this one. He does well in his scenes with Gardner and sexy Marilyn Maxwell, though he was never convincing as a ladies man. Worth watching for fans of the Kildare & Gillespie films but this isn't one of the best.

That was the first time Ava Gardner had been credited for a movie .Although Marilyn Maxwell plays the female lead,today everybody knows that the star is Ava .Fortunately ,it's her scenes which are the most endearing in a routine Kildaresque medical melodrama.All that concerns her disabled mama is moving if a bit implausible (dr Miracle) The main plot concerns an old doctor (that was the first time I had found Lionel Barrymore almost unbearable,probably because of a poor direction)who must choose an assistant and tries to decide between two enthusiastic young colleagues ;but both have more than one string to their bow. Van Johnson has also got to make up his mind ,because there are two ladies.

3 Men In White featured a trio of upcoming talent in the cast. Vying for the position of being the new assistant to Lionel Barrymore is up and coming Van Johnson. Vying for Van's attention is nurse Marilyn Maxwell and Ava Gardner who brings in the case of her mother who struggles with arthritis.

Walter Kingsford head of Blair General Hospital finally wants Lionel Barrymore to once and for all choose between Johnson and Keye Luke. When you think about it this whole thing is rather silly and stems for Dr. Gillespie's inability to make up his mind. Barrymore never showed a Hamlet streak in his crusty makeup before.

Despite a really contrived and silly plot the three up and comers were all shone to best advantage. For Ava Gardner this film marks her first real acting role and according to Lee Server's fine book on Gardner her then husband Mickey Rooney helped pull her through the film as she was having doubts about being able to cut it with the dramatics.

I get the impression that what Dr. Gillespie really wanted was for Jimmy Kildare to return and not to have to pick a new one.

Fans of the three upcoming stars should like this.

This is the third entry in the Dr. Kildare series in which Van Johnson and Keye Luke play residents vying to be Dr. Gillespie's assistant. Several other people have mentioned this, and I noticed it before I read anything here, so I don't feel bad mentioning it again. Did anybody else see the parallels between this film and House, M.D.? Think about it. A brilliant diagnostician with a foul disposition (Barrymore as Dr. Leonard Gillespie) and a crippling disability is ordered to get an assistant and makes it a competition among the hospital's best and brightest, with Red Adams (Van Johnson) and Dr. Lee (Keye Luke) being the finalists. Was Molly Byrd, head nurse and Dr. Gillespie's oldest friend who bears Gillespie's grouchiness and insults with humor, in fact a model for Wilson? There are the usual interesting medical cases interspersed with the personal dilemmas of the staff - mainly Red - that comprise the drama. One interesting thing to notice is how the war is brought into the film, in statements that seem over the top and even a bit silly today. For example, even though Keye Luke has been in previous films in this series, it is again stressed at the beginning of the film that he is Chinese, just so nobody thinks there might be anybody of Japanese descent in the cast. Both residents mention how they want the assistantship to Gillespie so they will have a leg up going into the medical corps. At this point the war is almost over. Where have they been all of these years? A very young and lovely Ava Gardner shows up where you least expect her, and she is a woman of mystery to Red. Is Red falling for her or is something else going on here? Watch and find out.