(Spoiler Alert) Dr. Jimmy Kildare, Lew Ayres, has his hands full in this movie in having to get his mentor Dr. Leonard "Barry" Gillespie, Lional Barrymore, to take a brake from his work so he won't end up in the hospital mortuary. Trying find a cure for pneumonia Dr. Gillespie has been working for weeks at a time with not more then two hours sleep a day. This is aggravating his already serious skin cancer, melanoma, condition.
Dr. Kildare trying to get Dr. Gillespie to take a break from his work agrees to look after heiress Nancy Messenger, Helen Gilbert, who thinks she's suffering from a brain tumor. It in fact turns out that Nancy is in perfect health but her family nurse Nora, Sara Haden, has her brainwashed to believe that she's not. It also turns out that according to Nora Nancy's mom died of the same illness, a brain tumor, some 12 years ago; her death was in fact caused by pneumonia.
Dr. Kildare going to see Nancy as just a a friend of the family realizes that she's being convinced by this quack doctor Archley,Grant Mitchell, hired by Nora that she needs surgery for her "brain tumor". This causes Nancy to to think that she's both going insane and losing her sight. Dr. Kildare soon blows his cover as a doctor in order to take charge of Nancy's treatment and convinces her, together with Nancy's concerned boyfriend Charles Harron (Robert Kent), that she'll all right if only she can overcome her unfounded phobias that both Nora and Dr. Archley planted in her mind. This eventually get's Nancy back to normal in restoring her sight as well as has the bull-headed Dr. Gillespie who without his valuable assistant, Dr. Kildare, was forced to take a vacation which in the end also saved his life. A life he was foolishly squandering away in his hell-bent attempt to eradicate pneumonia from the face of the earth
There's also a little side story in "The Secret of Doctor Kildare" that has to do with his dad Dr. Stephen Kildare,Samuel S. Hinds, who like Dr. Gillsepie is a workaholic and is suffering, because of his heavy work schedule, from acute heart disease. Getting the two doctors in the same examination room, at Blair General Hospital, together was the best thing that came out of this whole movie. Dr. Gillespie was able to diagnose Dr. Stephen Kildare illness and prescribe the right medication, a long vacation, to get him back to good health and Dr. Gillespie was able to do it by being well rested, from his forced vacation, and having his complete faculties in good working order in order to do it.
Dr. Kildare trying to get Dr. Gillespie to take a break from his work agrees to look after heiress Nancy Messenger, Helen Gilbert, who thinks she's suffering from a brain tumor. It in fact turns out that Nancy is in perfect health but her family nurse Nora, Sara Haden, has her brainwashed to believe that she's not. It also turns out that according to Nora Nancy's mom died of the same illness, a brain tumor, some 12 years ago; her death was in fact caused by pneumonia.
Dr. Kildare going to see Nancy as just a a friend of the family realizes that she's being convinced by this quack doctor Archley,Grant Mitchell, hired by Nora that she needs surgery for her "brain tumor". This causes Nancy to to think that she's both going insane and losing her sight. Dr. Kildare soon blows his cover as a doctor in order to take charge of Nancy's treatment and convinces her, together with Nancy's concerned boyfriend Charles Harron (Robert Kent), that she'll all right if only she can overcome her unfounded phobias that both Nora and Dr. Archley planted in her mind. This eventually get's Nancy back to normal in restoring her sight as well as has the bull-headed Dr. Gillespie who without his valuable assistant, Dr. Kildare, was forced to take a vacation which in the end also saved his life. A life he was foolishly squandering away in his hell-bent attempt to eradicate pneumonia from the face of the earth
There's also a little side story in "The Secret of Doctor Kildare" that has to do with his dad Dr. Stephen Kildare,Samuel S. Hinds, who like Dr. Gillsepie is a workaholic and is suffering, because of his heavy work schedule, from acute heart disease. Getting the two doctors in the same examination room, at Blair General Hospital, together was the best thing that came out of this whole movie. Dr. Gillespie was able to diagnose Dr. Stephen Kildare illness and prescribe the right medication, a long vacation, to get him back to good health and Dr. Gillespie was able to do it by being well rested, from his forced vacation, and having his complete faculties in good working order in order to do it.