Calling Dr Kildare *** (1939, Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Lynne Carver, Nat Pendleton, Lana Turner, Samuel S Hinds, Laraine Day, Emma Dunn) – Classic Movie Review 11,301

Lew Ayres’s Dr Kildare falls for Lana Turner!

Director Harold S Bucquet’s 1939 black and white medical drama Calling Dr Kildare is the second in MGM’s long-running series, with nice Lew Ayres back as Dr Kildare, now working in an out-patients’ department, who gets mixed up in murder when he has to extract a crook’s bullet from a possible killer (George Offerman).

Obviously Kildare’s young patient is innocent of the murder – though of course he is accused of it by the police – and just as obviously Kildare needs crusty old Dr Gillespie (Barrymore)’s help. The top cast is boosted by the noteworthy co-starring support of Lana Turner, as Offerman’s seductive sister Rosalie, Lynne Carver as Kildare’s regular hometown girlfriend Alice, and Laraine Day as attractive nurse Mary Lamont. Busy with the bullet business, Kildare still finds time to be interested in all three women.

Calling Dr Kildare is as fresh and smart as Kildare’s doctor’s outfit.

It is written by Harry Ruskin and Willis Goldbeck, from an original story by Kildare creator Max Brand, who was co-operating with MGM on popularising the series,

Calling Dr Kildare (1939) with Lew Ayres.

Also in the cast are Lynne Carver, Nat Pendleton, Lana Turner, Samuel S Hinds, Laraine Day, Emma Dunn, Alma Kruger, Walter Kingsford, Harlan Briggs, Henry Hunter, Marie Blake, Phillip Terry, Roger Converse (final role), Don ‘Red’ Barry, Reed Hadley, Nell Craig, George Offerman, George Chandler, Clinton Rosemond, Johnny Walsh, Dorothy Adams, Frank Orth, Robert Homans, Elspeth Dudgeon, Cliff Clark, Bobs Watson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Horace McMahon.

It follows Lew Ayres’s debut as Dr Kildare in Young Dr Kildare (1938).

Next: The Secret of Dr Kildare (1939).

Calling Dr Kildare is directed by Harold S Bucquet, runs 86 minutes, is made and released by by MGM, is written by Harry Ruskin and Willis Goldbeck, from an original story by Max Brand, is shot in black and white by Lester White and Alfred Gilks, is produced by Lou L Ostrow, is scored by David Snell, and designed by Cedric Gibbons.

Lew Ayres’s Dr Kildare films are: Young Dr Kildare (1938), Calling Dr Kildare (1939), The Secret of Dr Kildare (1939), Dr. Kildare’s Strange Case (1940), Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940), Dr. Kildare’s Crisis (1940), The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941), Dr. Kildare’s Wedding Day (1941) and Dr. Kildare’s Victory (1942).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,301

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