A Volta da Noiva

Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case deals with some unfinished business from Calling Dr. Gillespie. Although why he's bothering I can't figure out other than he's a dedicated man of medicine and possibly an opponent of capital punishment.

In Calling Dr. Gillespie Donna Reed is charmed by young Phil Brown who turns out to be a homicidal maniac. He gets caught and Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie tries to get him a guilty by insanity verdict which a jury doesn't buy and sends him to a regular prison instead. But Gillespie doesn't give up, especially when Reed playing the same character shows up announcing she's found someone new and is about to wed.

Barrymore has two young interns in this film who he keeps busy. There's Van Johnson who is with him when he goes to the prison on behalf of John Craven who has taken over the role that Phil Brown played in the earlier Gillespie film. The other is Keye Luke who gets involved in the rehabilitation of William Lundigan who was a taxi driver from Honolulu who lost both his legs when a bomb hit his cab.

All three of them are involved in an outbreak of erysipelas in the hospital pediatric ward, one of the children being Margaret O'Brien. As you can see everybody at Blair General Hospital has a full plate of responsibility.

I think the film would have been better had the part of the story involving John Craven wasn't there. Craven tries to kill Barrymore in the previous film and no one would blame Barrymore if he wanted nothing more to do with the case. But back in the day doctors were saints on the silver screen.

Still Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case is not a bad film and did a lot of good for the popularity of MGM's rising new star, Van Johnson.

MGM's Dr. Kildare second feature series continues without Dr. Kildare -- Lew Ayres was in the doghouse because of his antiwar stance since starring in 1930s ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and was serving as a medic.

In the meantime, the series carried on with Lionel Barrymore as the crusty Dr. Gillespie, with newcomers Van Johnson and Keye Luke competing for his favor as his interns. Keye Luke gets the silliest lines, as a partisan of Brooklyn. Van Johnson is interested in anatomy: female anatomy.

Unhappily, much of the feature is taken up with shtick like that, expertly delivered, but absolutely trivial and of little interest. Of more interest might be spotting other budding MGM talent including series regular Nat Pendleton, Donna Reed as a man-hungry temptress for Van Johnson, and Margeret O'Brien at her most waiflike. There is no subtlety in this movie. Director Goldbeck never got out of the Bs and this movie shows why. Unless you want to see the actors far below their best, you may not want to look at this. Most people will want to give this a miss.

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.

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.

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.