By Frank Miller
Calling Dr. Kildare
Brief Synopsis
A young doctor treats a gangster and falls for the man's kid sister.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Harold S. Bucquet
Director
Lew Ayres
Dr. James Kildare
Lionel Barrymore
Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Laraine Day
Mary Lamont
Nat Pendleton
[Joe] Wayman
Lana Turner
Rosalie [Lewett]
Film Details
Also Known As
Dr. Kildare's Mistake
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Apr
28,
1939
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 26m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
9 reels
Synopsis
Dr. Leonard Gillespie, the crusty senior physician at New York's Blair General Hospital, decides to teach his pupil, intern James Kildare, a lesson about dealing with the emotional causes of his patients' ills. To accomplish this, Gillespie fires Kildare and has him reassigned to work in the dispensary with nurse Mary Lamont, whom he orders to spy on the intern. On the day that Kildare begins his new job, Red enters the dispensary and asks the intern to help his injured friend. Kildare follows Red to the injured man, Nick Lewett, and discovers that Nick is suffering from a gunshot wound. Kildare is on the verge of reporting the incident to the police when Nick's enchanting sister Rosalie convinces him not to a file a report. Against hospital and police procedure, Kildare continues to treat Nick in a cellar hideout, even though he knows that the boy is wanted for the murder of bookmaker Bootsy Garson. Gillespie guesses what Kildare is doing, and tries to convince the intern to notify the police, but Kildare is so smitten by the flirtatious Rosalie, and so convinced of Nick's innocence, that he denies any acquaintance with Nick. An exasperated Gillespie arranges for Kildare's parents to call him home, but when the intern returns to New York, he visits Nick and is arrested by the police. For his involvement, Kildare is suspended from the hospital staff, but remains determined to prove Nick's innocence. Learning that Nick's visit to Garson was motivated by Tom Crandell's accusations that Garson had been maligning Rosalie, Kildare decides to visit Crandell himself. With the help of ambulance driver Joe Wayman, Kildare tricks Crandell into confessing that he killed Garson because of a gambling debt. After Nick is exonerated, Gillespie confronts Rosalie and forces her to admit that she was Crandell's girl friend and that her interest in Kildare was generated by her concern with her brother's welfare, rather than from affairs of the heart. Thus, a little bit wiser, Kildare resumes his life as Dr. Gillespie's assistant, and begins to look at Nurse Lamont in a new light.
Director
Harold S. Bucquet
Director
Cast
Lew Ayres
Dr. James Kildare
Lionel Barrymore
Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Laraine Day
Mary Lamont
Nat Pendleton
[Joe] Wayman
Lana Turner
Rosalie [Lewett]
Samuel S. Hinds
Dr. Stephen Kildare
Lynne Carver
Alice Raymond
Emma Dunn
Mrs. Martha Kildare
Walter Kingsford
Dr. Walter Carew
Alma Kruger
Molly Byrd
Harlan Briggs
James Galt
Henry Hunter
Harry Galt
Marie Blake
Sally
Phillip Terry
Bates
Roger Converse
Joiner
Donald Barry
Collins
Reed Hadley
Tom Crandell
Nell Craig
Nosey
George Offerman Jr.
Nick [Lewett]
Clinton Rosemond
Conover
Johnny Walsh
Red
Bobs Watson
Tommy Benson
Margaret Bert
Mrs. Benson
Frank Orth
Mike
Cliff Clark
Flaherty
Aileen Pringle
Mrs. Thatcher
Dorothy Adams
Mother
Dorothy Vaughan
Mother
George Reed
Black man
Robert Homans
Policeman
Horace Macmahon
Fog Horn
George Noisom
Special delivery boy
Elspeth Dudgeon
Old lady in hall
Ann Todd
Jenny
George Ovey
Man
Crew
Max Brand
Original Story
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
Alfred Gilks
Photography
Willis Goldbeck
Screenwriter
Horace Hough
Assistant Director
Robert J. Kern
Film Editor
Dr. Gilbert Lee
Technical Advisor
Lou Ostrow
Producer
Harry Ruskin
Screenwriter
Gabriel Scognamillo
Art Director Associate
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
David Snell
Music Score
Charles Stallings
Unit Manager
Lester White
Photography
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Film Details
Also Known As
Dr. Kildare's Mistake
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Apr
28,
1939
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 26m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
9 reels
Articles
Calling Dr. Kildare -
For the second outing in MGM's Dr. Kildare series, the young doctor took on gangsters and the sexual allure of the l8-year-old Lana Turner. MGM used series films like the Kildares, the Andy Hardy pictures and the Maisie features as a testing and training ground for young talent, and after registering strongly in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), the young blonde got a crack at seducing Lew Ayres' enterprising young intern. She did it so well, in fact, that had the studio not earmarked Turner for greater things, she might easily have stolen him from romantically inclined nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day, introducing the character in this film). Ayres runs into Turner when his boss, Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), sends him to work with Day in a street clinic. Turner is the sister of suspected killer and begs Ayres not to notify the police after treating the young hood for a gunshot wound. The truth will out, leaving Kildare to try to prove his patient's innocence in order to save his career. Joining Ayres are series regulars Nat Pendleton, Alma Kruger and Marie Blake, not to mention director Harold S. Bucquet.
By Frank Miller
By Frank Miller
Calling Dr. Kildare -
For the second outing in MGM's Dr. Kildare series, the young doctor took on gangsters and the sexual allure of the l8-year-old Lana Turner. MGM used series films like the Kildares, the Andy Hardy pictures and the Maisie features as a testing and training ground for young talent, and after registering strongly in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), the young blonde got a crack at seducing Lew Ayres' enterprising young intern. She did it so well, in fact, that had the studio not earmarked Turner for greater things, she might easily have stolen him from romantically inclined nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day, introducing the character in this film). Ayres runs into Turner when his boss, Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), sends him to work with Day in a street clinic. Turner is the sister of suspected killer and begs Ayres not to notify the police after treating the young hood for a gunshot wound. The truth will out, leaving Kildare to try to prove his patient's innocence in order to save his career. Joining Ayres are series regulars Nat Pendleton, Alma Kruger and Marie Blake, not to mention director Harold S. Bucquet.
By Frank Miller
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this picture was Dr. Kildare's Mistake, and it was the second in the M-G-M's Dr. Kildare series. Laraine Day appeared as Dr. Kildare's love interest, Nurse Mary Lamont, for the first time in the picture. Alma Kruger, who portrays Molly Byrd, head nurse at Blair General Hospital, also made her first series appearance in the film. For additional information on the series, for Young Dr. Kildare and consult the Series Index.
