Calling Dr. Kildare (1939)

Dr. Gillespie tries to teach Jimmy Kildare a lesson by tossing him into a street clinic. Only Kildare gets called to take a bullet out of a suspected murderer, and when the cops collar him ... See full summary »

Director:

Harold S. Bucquet

Writers:

Harry Ruskin (screen play), Willis Goldbeck (screen play),

Stars:

Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lew Ayres	...	Dr, James Kildare
Lionel Barrymore	...	Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Laraine Day	...	Mary Lamont
Nat Pendleton	...	Wayman
Lana Turner	...	Rosalie
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Dr. Stephen Kildare (as Samuel Hinds)
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

Storyline

Dr. Gillespie tries to teach Jimmy Kildare a lesson by tossing him into a street clinic. Only Kildare gets called to take a bullet out of a suspected murderer, and when the cops collar him for it, he has to try and prove his patient's innocence, especially for his sister Rosalie's sake.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | doctor | murder | spy | nurse | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 April 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dr. Kildare's Mistake

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Dr. Leonard Gillespie: You know we haven't the faintest idea yet what doctors can really do. Why, there's enough money, time and labor lost through illness to pay all the debts on Earth - to say nothing of the tragedy that's caused when some little pay envelope's shy two day's wages. But there's a day coming - I won't live to see it - when man, who didn't ask to be put on this Earth, will be guaranteed by all the resources of the human race his right to health added to his rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of ...

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Connections

Followed by The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939)

User Reviews

Kildare's Jackpot

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.