Mary Stevens, M.D.

Kay Francis and Lyle Talbot end their terms as interns and open an office together. Stevens marries machine politician's daughter Thelma Todd, and goes to work for the city, but things fall apart and he and Miss Francis begin an affair. He can't get a divorce, and she's pregnant.

The performers do their best, and it's a fine old soap opera, but Ray Curtiss edits the film at a bumpy rate that is often uncomfortable as Miss Francis gets whipsawed by Talbot's mistakes. A fine cast helps, including parts by Glenda Farrell, Una O'Connor, Hobart Cavanaugh, and Christian Rub, as does Sidney Hickox's subtly moving camera.

... not that Kay Francis was unaccustomed to suffering unjustly during her films, but the guy she falls for - yikes!

Kay plays the titular Mary, going through medical school with a guy she has loved since childhood, Don Andrews (Warner workhorse Lyle Talbot). They open a medical practice together, but Don is more interested in taking the easy way up, and he has affection for Mary but not love, which he has made no secret about. So he marries socialite Lois Cavanaugh, portrayed almost unrecognizably by Thelma Todd, and with that marriage comes a patronage job with the city.

But as Mary works hard at her practice, Don is skimming some then lots off the top from his patronage job and drinking heavily because his marriage with Lois is not working out. Mary takes over for him during an operation because he wanders into the OR blind drunk. When they accidentally meet up at a resort where he is hiding from an indictment - which he tells her all about - and she is recovering from overwork they spend a night together. Now, Don is honestly fooled - his wife lies and says she is having a baby to prevent the divorce he wants so that he can marry Mary. But how can Mary reconcile the fact that Don said the two have been through with one another a long time with her getting pregnant? Being a doctor she must know how these things happen! Plus there is a little matter of him being a drunken embezzler. Like I said before - Yikes! Mary you can do much better! But wait there's more that you'll have to find out about yourself when you watch it.

There are some great touches in this one. Glenda Farrell is more of the second lead than Lyle Talbott is here. He barely gets to act in this one. Glenda, as Mary's nurse and best friend, has a load of precode one liners. And then there is the teenage patient of Mary's who already has ulcers worrying about the state of the economy and banking system during the Depression, and not because he is hungry.

Even though this has lots of heavily trodden precode tropes, Kay Francis and Glenda Farrell make it worthwhile.

Although this is a pre-Code film, something like Mary Stevens, MD is unlikely to be remade today. Though it deals with an out of wedlock pregnancy which is certainly something the Code banned the following year, Mary Stevens, MD is way too melodramatic for today's taste.

It's a great film for women's roles and their are three good ones here. The title tole is played by Kay Francis as a doctor who operates a pediatric clinic along with her nurse Glenda Farrell. Another physician played by Lyle Talbot is interested in her, but he's slightly married to Thelma Todd.

Although I'm not quite clear about his role, Talbot is also involved in politics, Todd's father is a bigshot political boss and is discouraging any thought of divorce. Thelma even fakes a pregnancy to keep Talbot tied to her.

That comes as bad news for Francis who gets pregnant for real, although you would think a doctor would take precautions. She has the kid and quits her clinic and takes a job as a ship's doctor, the better to keep away from the respectable folks who knew her when. After this the film gets really melodramatic for all concerned.

The cast performs their roles in earnest and Glenda Farrell rivals Joan Blondell in getting all the wisecracking dame roles at Warner Brothers that Blondell couldn't do.

When people say that Mary Stevens, MD is a women's picture that is meant in every sense of the word.

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.

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.