Customer Reviews

The Secret of Dr. Kildare

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the 1930's & 40's, one of the most popular movie series was MGM's "Dr. Kildare" that starred Lew Ayres as the young intern James ("Jimmy") Kildare and Lionel Barrymore as his gruff but friendly mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie as they encountered various patients and crises at Blair General Hospital, a New York City teaching hospital.

This film, number three in the series, is one of the best and perhaps the most representative of the entire series. Ayres and Barrymore play off each other beautifully, and they have fine support from the regular ensemble who played a major part in most of the other "Dr. Kildare" films, including Laraine Day as Nurse Mary Lamont, Alma Kruger as Head Nurse Molly Bird, Walter Kingsford as Hospital Director Dr. S.J. Carew, Nell Craig as Nurse "Nosey" Parker, Marie Blake (Jeanette MacDonald's older sister) as Sally the wisecracking switchboard operator, and Nat Pendleton as the slow-witted ambulance driver Joe Wayman.

"The Secret of Dr. Kildare" especially shows off the technique the series featured of the characters being involved in several intertwined plots. Dr. Kildare attempts to stop Dr. Gillespie from wrecking his health while working on a cure for pneumonia, and at the same time takes up the call for help of a Wall Street business magnate (Lionel Atwill) whose debutante daughter (Helen Gilbert) has begun to behave oddly and eventually develops psychosomatic blindness. While all this goes on, Dr. Kildare's parents (Emma Dunn & Samuel S. Hinds) come to New York supposedly for a friendly visit with their son, but more serious matters lie underneath.

This was Helen Gilbert's second feature film. She is unusual in Hollywood history having formerly been a cellist in the MGM studio orchestra, and even though she didn't achieve major stardom, I enjoyed her performance in this movie as Nancy Messenger.

The baby-boom generation may remember Richard Chamberlain on TV as Dr. Kildare, but for their parents as well as classic movie lovers, there will always be only one Dr. Kildare in Lew Ayres.

If you are a fan of classic movies this is one for your library. You have the richness of Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie, and the vulnerability of Lew Ayers as Dr. Kildare. The supporting roles help illuminate the danger in putting anothers well-being before your own. There is a drama with just enough humor relief to make for enjoyable evening watching old friends.

I love the Dr. Kildare movies, primarily because I have always been a fan of Lionel Barrymore's work. This is an excellent entry in the series, combining both medical drama and humor. You will find the movie itself quite enjoyable. Barrymore is on his game.

However, Roan has really done a poor job, both in finding a suitable source and in performing the transfer. Film damage is quite apparent at the front and back of each reel. The opening credits are particularly jumpy, as well. As for the transfer, there is a lot of softness to the picture, it is quite dark, and tends, in many portions, to have a greenish tint.

The "extras" on the DVD, if you wish to call them that, vary from worthless ("Radiation March"????) to poorly executed. To have Roan's President sitting next to a film historian, holding a portable camera in the historian's face, just seems really amateurish.

It would be nice if Warner (who now owns the rights) would release a box set of the Kildare movies. However, given that they have pretty much given up on classic films (outside of their make-to-order DVD-R's), it is doubtful we will ever see this movie in a quality release.

If you enjoy Dr. Kildare like I do, go ahead and get this release. Just don't expect too much. Two and a half stars.

First, if you look at these movies, either Secret of Dr. Kildare, or Dr. Kildare's Strange Case for great story telling or even totally logical plot, you will rate it MUCH lower than I did. These are the two Kildare films available in public domain (the others are still under copyright but do show up from time to time on Turner Classic Movies). The prints of the two I have are both acceptable, actually pretty good prints considering they are public domain. What makes the movies so much fun is the wonderful cast. Can anybody to the crusty/fussy/heart of gold routine even half as well as Lionel Barrymore? Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Marie Blake (much later of tv's Addams Family), and the rest of the MGM stock company involved in these films make them a pleasure to watch. Yes, it's an antique of a movie, both in terms of medical technology and and social attitudes, and certainly not high budget quality scripting like some of the other MGM product of that era, but they sure are fun to watch if you are in the right mood!

HI

I also have the two releases, the secret of Dr. Kildare and the strange case of Dr. Kildare. As always I am very disappointed that they start to release on DVD and then "just stop" - The story, the cast, the times it played in is just beautiful. Acting and filmmaking at its best. With all our technology today, you hardly find any real great acting and storytelling anymore. Hope sometime they release the rest...

The "good old days" - I wish they would publish all of the Dr. Kildare series. What great acting, story, life, filled with hope, honesty, truth, the good coming out if you prevail and so on...

Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie, the brilliant, cranky, wheelchair bound doctor makes this movie worth viewing. Mr. Barrymore was a great character actor whom many simply know as the villiam in It's A Wonderful Life. The movie has some funny lines. The drama takes several directions involving medical maladies of the characters, the major plot involving a young socialite who in suddenly behaving oddly.Another medical subplot is thhe fact that Dr. Gillespie has cancer, and what's interesting is that they actually say the word cancer, although it's almost whispered. Back in early cinema, the word cancer was treated like a dirt word and avoided at all costs, so it was quite daring that it's spoken. Dr Kildare pretends to abandon Dr. Gillespie in pursuit of lucrative career move, but in reality he's doin it to force Gillespie to go on vacation. A few medical miracles later, all ends on a happy note.