This is a highly entertaining but also incredibly silly film. It's the third film in the very polished MGM B-movie Dr. Kildare series. And, because its production values are higher than the usual B, the cast of the first two movies have returned AND the film has a much greater sense of continuity than other B series of the day. For example, Dr. Gillespie STILL is struggling with his supposedly fatal illness, Kildare is STILL seen as a "gifted whippersnapper" by Gillespie and Nat Pendleton is again on hand to whack evil doers over the head with a wrench to make them talk!!!
However, as I said, it does get very silly. That's because although Dr. Kildare is very inexperienced and not a specialist, he apparently is a brilliant psychiatrist just by shear instinct, as his big case involves a rich young woman with a psychosomatic illness. She believes she is sick and so she becomes hysterically blind and the doc picks up on this. And, in a miracle moment, he "cures" her--though the underlying emotional problems that led to her imagined illness are never really dealt with at all! But, everyone is happy and everyone assumes the lady is 100% cured. Once again, Kildare can do no wrong.
As for Gillespie, he's a cantankerous grouch (as usual) and it's highly entertaining listening to him--in fact, he's the best thing in the film. However, because his illness is getting worse, his character is forced to take a vacation. Frankly, I wished they'd just shown more of this and less of the incredibly lucky Kildare.
Overall, it's a likable film that just didn't make a lot of sense. With a bit more effort on the script, it could have been a much better film--and not just because of Kildare's amazing psychiatric skill but because the film featured Lionel Atwill (a great supporting actor) but totally wasted him.
However, as I said, it does get very silly. That's because although Dr. Kildare is very inexperienced and not a specialist, he apparently is a brilliant psychiatrist just by shear instinct, as his big case involves a rich young woman with a psychosomatic illness. She believes she is sick and so she becomes hysterically blind and the doc picks up on this. And, in a miracle moment, he "cures" her--though the underlying emotional problems that led to her imagined illness are never really dealt with at all! But, everyone is happy and everyone assumes the lady is 100% cured. Once again, Kildare can do no wrong.
As for Gillespie, he's a cantankerous grouch (as usual) and it's highly entertaining listening to him--in fact, he's the best thing in the film. However, because his illness is getting worse, his character is forced to take a vacation. Frankly, I wished they'd just shown more of this and less of the incredibly lucky Kildare.
Overall, it's a likable film that just didn't make a lot of sense. With a bit more effort on the script, it could have been a much better film--and not just because of Kildare's amazing psychiatric skill but because the film featured Lionel Atwill (a great supporting actor) but totally wasted him.