La difficile prova del Dr. Kildare

Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) tells Dr. James Kildare (Lew Ayres) that his terminal cancer diagnosis last movie is another mistake. After this and other disputes, Gillespie sends Kildare to a street clinic with nurse Mary Lamont. In one case, he treats a gunshot wound for suspect Nick in his hideout and gets involved Nick's sister Rosalie.

This one introduces a few things with Kildare and I'm not sure that I like them. He has a new love interest and the hometown gal is left at home. There's also another love interest being set up. Let's face it. The boy is not thinking with his brain. He's using his lesser organ. Gillespie has less screen time and I like his character more. The series is gaining speed.

In this second installment of the Dr. Kildare movie series-the Joel McCrea movie wasn't in the linear series-Lew Ayres finds himself adjusting to life in the big city after deciding to take the internship under the stern Dr. Gillespie, played by Lionel Barrymore. In case you don't remember what happened in the first movie, never fear. The first five minutes get you all caught up, with Lew's parents lamenting that he chose to be a big city intern rather than a small town doctor.

I didn't see these movies in order, so I was already used to the regular cast by the time I saw Calling Dr. Kildare. Nat Pendleton is the friendly, none-too-bright ambulance driver, Marie Blake is the telephone operator, Frank Orth is the owner of the hospital cafeteria restaurant, and Alma Kruger is Lionel's right-hand nurse. In this one, Lew is portrayed as a complete idiot with terrible judgement. He's a new intern, yet risks his medical license and jail time by treating a teenage hoodlum with a bullet wound without reporting the incident because Lana Turner turns his head and asks him not to. It was really hard to have any respect for him while watching him make bad decision after bad decision. While Laraine Day makes her first appearance in the series as Nurse Mary Lamont, it's frustrating to see Lew paying more attention to guest star Lana Turner than to the new nurse.

One cute part of the movie is the other guest star: little Bobs Watson as one of Lionel's patients. The same year as On Borrowed Time, Bobs and Lionel are together again, and Bobs is given one of his signature crying scenes as he tries to walk across the room without the brace on his damaged leg. He comes back in the sixth movie, 1940's Dr. Kildare's Crisis to show everyone how his leg is progressing, so be sure to rent that one, too!

This Kildare film is a bit different from the others. Just the second in the series, Kildare is trying to find his footing in Blair hospital when he has a run in with Dr. Gillespie that could end their working relationship. But Kildare decides to stay at Blair and finish what he has started, so he begins working at one of the hospital's clinics. Somebody comes to the clinic at closing time and convinces Kildare to come with him, that somebody is very ill and can't get to the clinic. Kildare finds a guy in an abandoned building with a bullet wound. The guy's sister (Lana Turner as Rosalie) convinces Kildare that her brother has done nothing wrong and not to call the police but help her brother. Kildare relents on principle, and Rosalie's big saucer eyes and long legs can't hurt either. And then the next day he reads that a hood has been murdered and that the suspect is the guy he patched up the night before. Complications ensue.

This is where there is an implied changing of the guard as far as Kildare's love life. Remember Kildare had a "girl next door" pseudo fiancee in the first film, now there is this gun moll, and then there is the introduction of nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) who looks like she could be in Kildare's future.

I liked all of the films in this series, but I think I liked this one the least because Kildare does not have a good head on his shoulders in the decisions he makes. Fortunately for him, he has friends who do. That is how it is noir like. You have a solid citizen in the person of Kildare who has temptation in the form of a good looking girl who throws some attention his way, and this causes him to go down the wrong path, all the while justifying his actions to himself. Though Eddie Muller would probably disagree with me completely on describing it as somewhat like a noir.

**SPOILERS** Dr. Jimmy Kildare, Lew Ayres, plays detective here in tracking down the killer of bookie Footsy Garson whom his patient Nick Lewett,George Offerman Jr, is wanted by the police for murdering.

Dr. Kildare got himself into this mess by first being a bit too big for his bridges in thinking that he can diagnose any illness without looking into it's, the illness', secondary causes like the psychological instead of psychical aspects of it. Thrown out of Dr. Lenny Gillespie's, Lionel Barrymore, office as his assistant Dr. Kildare is assigned to a dispensary, or clinic, where the Willy as a fox Dr. Gillespie assigns Nurse Mary Lamont, Laraine Day, who doubles as a spy for the old geezer to keep track of him.

Being the person that he is, totally dedicated to preserving human life,Dr. Kildare gets himself into a jam when he's called by Red, Johnny Welsh, to help his friend Nick Lewitt who's suffering from a stab wound. It turns out that Nick was in fact shot not stabbed and Dr. Kildare after meeting Nick's knock out of a sister a redheaded not the usual blond Lana Turner, playing Rosalie Lewett, he completely forgot himself and the fact that her brother Nick is a fugitive from justice.

Love makes people do crazy things and Dr. Jimmy Kildare is no exception to the rule in not only putting his medical career in jeopardy but himself in the can, jail, for helping an escaped murderer. Being conned by Rosilie that she's in love with him Dr. Kildare does everything he could, even a make-shift blood transfusion, to save her brother Nick's life. There's nothing at all wrong in saving Nick's life, so he can later be fried for murder, but the fact that Dr. Kildare didn't report Nick to the police was enough, when it was found out by his boss at the hospital Dr. Walter Carew(Walter Kngsford), to get him canned from his job.

I turns out later that Dr. Lenny Gillespie orchestrated Jimmy Kildare trip back home to Dartford Connecticut to keep him from getting arrested by the police but the love-sick fool just couldn't stay there! Jimmy Kildare screwed up all of Dr. Gillespie's plans as well as himself by going back to where Nick was, back in the Big Apple,in order to treat him.

***SPOILERS***Everything turns out to be all right with Jimmy Kildare finding out who really knocked of Footsy Garson and of course, like Jimmy suspected all along, it wasn't Nick Lewitt. With his career as a doctor now back on track at Blair General Hospital Dr. Kildare is now again Dr. Gillespie's assistant and most of all has found his one and only true love the homely and plain Jane, compared to the drop dead gorgeous Rosalie Lewett, Nurse Mary Lamont.

***SPOILER ALERT***As for Rosalie she also had a big surprise coming her way in that her boyfriend, who's portrait was prominent all over her apartment, set Nick up and conned her, like she did Jimmy Kildare, into thinking that Nick may well had been Footsy's killer. Just like Jimmy Kildare Rosalie let her emotions take the place of her brain in seeing the obvious and in the end paid for it.

Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres) takes a bullet out of a man wanted for murder but doesn't report it to the police, due in small part to Kildare's believing in the man's innocence and in larger part due to the man having a pretty sister (Lana Turner). Now it's up to Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) to try and figure a way to save Kildare from getting himself in deep trouble.

The second in MGM's excellent Dr. Kildare series starring Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore. Both are great. Lana Turner is very easy on the eyes and fine in an early role. The wonderful regular supporting cast is also on hand, including Nat Pendleton, Marie Blake, Walter Kingsford, and Alma Kruger. All enjoyable. Samuel S. Hinds and Emma Dunn are particularly touching as Kildare's parents. This is the first appearance of Kildare's love interest, Nurse Mary Lamont, played by Laraine Day. This movie also features the second and final appearance of Lynne Carver as Alice Raymond, Kildare's hometown sweetheart who wants to marry him. Unfortunately, that storyline is not resolved in this movie, despite being touched upon in the beginning. The terrific cast of characters is why this series work so well. The highlight of the movie, not surprisingly, is the irascible Dr. Gillespie and his "tell it like it is" approach to dealing with patients, such as a scene early in this one where he gives a middle-aged woman hell for dangerous dieting. It's a solid entry in the series that should please fans and a good jump-on point for newcomers.