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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the better in a series of Kildare movies..., 27 January 2004
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

PHILIP DORN steps in for LEW AYRES who had been the chief doctor at Blair General Hospital in a series of Dr. Kildare movies. Here Dorn is the new doctor assisting Dr. Gillepsie in a search for a serial killer who is committing crimes within the confines of the hospital posing as a doctor.

Definitely one of the better in MGM's series of B-movies with LIONEL BARRYMORE doing his gruff stuff as the blustery Dr. Gillepsie and ably supported by the usual staff members at the hospital. The last half-hour moves swiftly toward a predictable but interesting climax. Comic relief is supplied by Nat Pendleton as a husky assistant prone to fainting spells.

DONNA REED does nicely as the girlfriend of the killer and if you look closely you'll spot AVA GARDNER getting some exposure in an early role. Sensitive looking Phil Brown makes an interesting homicidal maniac and in some scenes bears a startling resemblance to--of all people--Lew Ayres.

Summing up: Nice little B-melodrama from Metro.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A Very Good Entry In The Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie Series, 17 August 2005
6/10
Author: krorie from Van Buren, Arkansas

This is an almost quaint film from the World War II era when pseudo-psychology was all the rage. Alfred Hitchcock was to take it to the limits and turn it into an art form in his fabulous "Spellbound." Though this film has moments of hilarity there are also supposedly serious parts that today are unintentionally funny, for example, when Dr. Gillespie tells Roy Todwell's parents, "I'm sorry to say but your son is a mental case." Other parts of the flick hold up well and it is still worth seeing, especially if you are a fan of the series or if you are unfamiliar with the Max Brand Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie stories, so popular in the late 30's and early 40's on both radio and the big screen.

The stories ran almost like a big soap opera with each one connected to the others in characters and many times even in plot. The entry following this one, "Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case," is actually a continuation of "Calling Dr. Gillespie" with Roy Todwell now in prison but escaping and holding Dr. Gillespie and others hostage. As most readers know because of the hoopla it created in the media, Lew Ayres was dropped from the series as Dr. Kildare because he declared himself a conscientious objector and served as a medic in the war rather than as a soldier. Though "Calling Dr. Gillespie" ignores Lew Ayres, its sequel "Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case" spotlights a dismembered survivor of Pearl Harbor who is depressed about his condition and hesitates about trying out his new pair of legs. Dr. Gillespie gives the veteran preferred treatment and makes a patriotic statement against the Japanese, even quoting the Bible. It's as if MGM was slapping Lew Ayres in the face and calling him a traitor, even though Dr. Kildare's name is not mentioned.

In "Calling Dr. Gillespie," the blend of romance, humor, the fatherly figure of Lionel Barrymore in a wheelchair (like our President at the time), murder and mayhem, and corn pone philosophy all seem to mesh and make the film a success. This was not true of its successor, "Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case." So I recommend this film for those interested in the Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie series. I do not recommend the sequel, though you may want to see it out of curiosity to learn how the story of Roy Todwell ends.

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
"I'm sorry to tell you: Your son's a mental case", 10 September 2005
7/10
Author: David (Handlinghandel) from NY, NY

Did doctors really say such thing 60 years ago? Lionel Barrymore utters this line to the naive parents of poor Donna Reed's indeed very troubled suitor.

The first thing he does is kill a dog. This is glossed over by the characters but I can't imagine such a thing happening in a movie today. Certainly not after the famous National Lampoon cover.

This man is played very subtly and frighteningly by Phil Brown -- surely a greatly overlooked actor. Indeed, as his travels carry him farther from Reed and Barrymore, he becomes a killer. And the movie looks, for much of its duration, like a film noir.

It's very suspenseful. And with its hospital setting, it made me think of a movie decades later -- more slick, stylish, surely more expensive: "Dressed To Kill." The comic touches pretty much disqualify it is as a noir: Barrymore flirts with adoring female students; Nat Pendleton faints a couple times. And its being part of the Dr. Kildaire series, even sans Lew Ayres, sort of pulls it from the category too. But it's an interesting sidelight to the noir genre.

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