On demande le Docteur Kildare

After winning a berth at Blair General Hospital as the assistant for Dr. Gillespie, Lew Ayres nearly blows it in this second Kildare feature Calling Dr. Kildare. In fact in real life his young career could and should have been over.

Lionel Barrymore as Gillespie sends Ayres out to a street clinic to get some hands on medical experience in which he is doing his best and learning his profession. But when an emergency outside call finds him patching up a gunshot wound in Don Barry it's the start of a real bad situation for Ayres.

While he tends Barry, Ayres sends the kid to call an ambulance as the law dictates in gunshot wounds, but the kid is waylaid by Lana Turner who arrives claiming to be Barry's brother. There's a manhunt out for him because he's accused of murdering someone whom he had a fight with. Guess who the fight was over?

In fact Ayres at her suggestion because he's thinking with the old male member still doesn't call the ambulance or report the gunshot wound which should have ended his promising medical career before it started.

Lew Ayres would not be the first or the last actor to get beguiled into doing something stupid and/or foolish by Lana Turner. A little bit of the devilish vixen that Lana gave us in The Postman Always Rings Twice is very present here. She's the main reason to watch Calling Dr. Kildare.

Of course it all works out because there has to be a next Kildare film. Unless Kildare were to lose his medical license and take up a career as an underground practitioner to the underworld.

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!

In Calling Dr. Kildare, James Kildare is in even worse trouble than he was in "Young Dr. Kildare." This time, he's gotten involved with a young boy who was shot and is being sought for a murder he says he didn't commit. Kildare helps him and doesn't report the bullet wound to the police. That's one infraction. More heinous than that - he falls hook, line and sinker for Lana Turner!

At this point, Jimmy is more or less juggling three women in his noncommittal fashion - except of course he's committed himself to the seductive Turner. There's Alice (Lynne Carver), pining away in Kildare's hometown - where she'll continue to pine - and the very pretty Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) who obviously is interested in him.

On top of everything else, he has to deal with the irascible Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) - it'll be a few years before he mellows out, and by then, James will have left the hospital.

I liked this one better than the first in the series. It is predicated on a realistic incident - the shooting - not necessarily the doctor sticking his neck out to help. And Laraine Day is a wonderful addition as Mary.

All in all, a good entry into the "Dr. Kildare" series with a future MGM star on hand.

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.