Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942)

Dr. Gillespie is called in to investigate when a young man suffering from mental problems disappears on a killing spree.

Director:

Harold S. Bucquet

Writers:

Max Brand (characters), Kubec Glasmon (story)

Stars:

Lionel Barrymore, Donna Reed, Philip Dorn

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lionel Barrymore	...	Dr. Leonard Gillespie
Philip Dorn	...	Dr. John Hunter Gerniede
Donna Reed	...	Marcia Bradburn
Phil Brown	...	Roy Todwell
Nat Pendleton	...	Joe Wayman
Alma Kruger	...	Molly Byrd
Mary Nash	...	Emma Hope
Walter Kingsford	...	Dr. Walter Carew
Nell Craig	...	Nurse 'Nosey' Parker
Ruth Tobey	...	Susan May 'Susie' Prentiss
Jonathan Hale	...	Frank Marshall Todwell
Charles Dingle	...	Dr. Ward O. Kenwood
Marie Blake	...	Sally, Receptionist
Nana Bryant	...	Mrs. Marshall Todwell
Eddie Acuff	...	Clifford Genet

Storyline

Dr. Gillespie is contacted by his old friend Emma Hope, headmistress of a prestigious girls school. She's concerned about Roy Todwell, the young man one of her girls, Marcia Bradburn, has been seeing. Todwell has shown serious bouts of violence over the most minor event and working with a colleague, Dr. Gerniede, Gillespie concludes that the young man is suffering from serious mental illness. He has little success in convincing Todwell's parents of the seriousness of it all - they prefer to take the opinion of their own physician who thinks psychiatry is just a lot of mumbo jumbo - and the young man's condition deteriorates. Todwell soon sets out for New York with only one goal in mind - to kill Dr. Gillespie.

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Plot Keywords:

mental illness | crime wave | nurse | whistle | toy | 

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Taglines:

The Case of the Trainwhistle Murderer!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ninth entry in MGM's long-running "Dr. Kildare" franchise, and the first of them not to feature Kildare or Lew Ayres playing the part. The series would continue for several more films, each centered on Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Leonard Gillespie, but it would never regain the popularity it had previously enjoyed.

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Quotes

Dr. Leonard Gillespie: To be successful in love you've got to be a doggone good liar. I mean it, both before and after marriage.

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Connections

References Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942)

User Reviews

Forget calling Dr. Gillespie, somebody call the police!

This was the first of the Dr. Kildare films to omit Lew Ayres from the cast due to Mr. Ayres declaring himself a conscientious objector at the beginning of WWII. He served with distinction in the medical corps in WWII. Mr. Ayres wasn't opposed to dying for his country, he just didn't want to kill for any reason. Since hysteria can often be the close companion to patriotism in times of national trial, MGM didn't want the negative publicity so Lew Ayres was out. Philip Dorn, here playing psychiatrist Dr. John Hunter Gerniede, seems to be filling in the part of the younger doctor that would have normally been played by Lew Ayres as Dr. Kildare.

Normally these abrupt cast changes in movie franchises lead to inferior films, at least for the first couple of post-transition entries, but here the outcome is quite satisfying and interesting. Dr. Gillespie is brought in to examine a wealthy young man, Roy Todwell, after he abruptly becomes violent after hearing a train whistle - any train whistle. After the violent act he says he remembers nothing. His first violent act is to kill a dog with a rock when his fiancée (Donna Reed as Marcia) refuses to elope with him. Later he smashes up a store. Roy is hospitalized for observation, but soon escapes, believing that Dr. Gillespie wants to commit him to a madhouse, thus he wants to kill Dr. Gillespie and sends him frequent postcards telling him so. Thus the police and Drs Gerneide and Gillespie are trying to locate and capture Roy before his acts rather than his threats turn homicidal.

This is a very good entry in the series with lots of suspense and elements of noir. The actor who plays Roy is particularly effective. He has almost a "howdy-doody" kind of physical presence, barely masculine and hardly menacing yet he has a very cold deliberate stare and facial expression as he goes about wreaking havoc. Nat Pendleton continues in his role as orderly Joe Wayman who has been tasked with guarding Dr. Gillespie without letting Dr. Gillespie know what's going on. In the case of Joe trying to be subtle, comical complications ensue. The case of Roy Todwell carries over into the next entry in the series as well, "Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case", also worth seeing even without the suave Dr. K.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

August 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dr. Kildare's Triple X

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:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1