User Reviews

Just recently caught "Mary Stevens, M.D." made in 1933, before the Hays office enforced the code about showing situations that permeate this film. Kay Francis plays Mary Stevens, M.D. - yes, a lady doctor in 1933 American cinema! Mary confronts her share of chauvinism - naturally - but manages to become a good doctor. She begins an affair with a married male doctor (ably played by Lyle Talbot). Mary gets pregnant by him, and for reasons that don't quite make complete sense, flees to Paris with her nurse friend (Glenda Farrell) to have the baby. On board a ship, the baby contracts infantile paralysis and dies. I have to wonder if the film's message was to punish Mary for getting pregnant? Hey, even in pre-code, women had to pay for their sins! Anyhoo, the melodrama (and soap suds) is laid on pretty thick here, and Mary and the handsome doctor reunite. This film is little more than a curiosity now - as it shows a woman not only having a career as a doctor but having a baby out of wedlock - decades ahead of its time. Kay Francis was certainly a fine actress of her day and does her best to rise above the mundane script - Glenda Farrell and Lyle Talbot lend able support.

Kay Francis makes her ultimate sacrifice here as a baby doctor who has her own child out of wedlock and suffers greatly for it while benefiting humanity with her knowledge of treating children. She was involved with fellow doctor Lyle Talbot during their years in medical school, and they even set up a practice near each other. But he has ambitions which focus on getting out of the slums and into high society, so when he leaves her for the wealthy Thelma Todd (wasted in a thankless role), she remains behind, building her own reputation and getting past the image that a doctor should be a man and that women are only qualified to be nurses. In the cast of Mary's nurse, she gets a great one, wonderfully played by the feisty Glenda Farrell.

Of course, Talbot and Francis are thrown back together, and this results in her committing an unforgivable sin, one which depression era women are always punished by an unforgiving society. But in spite of that, Francis always puts her patients before herself, even utilizing unorthodox methods in treatment, one particular involving a choking case. The script is deliciously pre-code, containing some dated Jewish stereotypes which today just get a chuckle rather than offend because of their ridiculousness. Una O'Connor, who sometimes could be rather annoying with her screeching, has a nice small role in a rare unscrewish mother role.

If Kay Francis thought Warner Bros. was going to give her more prestigious roles than she was used to at Paramount she was sadly mistaken. Kay was one of the stars poached from Paramount by Warners who saw in her someone they could develop into a classy and elegant performer. William Powell and Ruth Chatterton were soon regretted but Kay was persevered with. "Mary Stevens, M.D." may have masqueraded as a soapy, emotive romance but it gave Kay a great role as a warm, loving woman who also excels at a man's profession. Kay plays Mary who along with chum Don Edwards (Lyle Talbot) go into practise together but she chides Don for doubting her ability. "A woman couldn't do it, but you're a superwoman" he glows - he can see her as a doctor but turns to blonde society girl Lois to fulfil his desire. The only person to give Mary the support and confidence that she needs is nurse Glenda, played by the ever reliable Glenda Farrell.

As the first scene shows, it's not only the closed shop of the medical world where Mary finds herself up against it - Harold Huber gives an unusually emotive performance as an over wrought, harassed father who can't come to terms with the fact that they sent him a - shock! horror!! - woman doctor!!

While she diligently plies her trade as a pediatric doctor determined to help those in most need, Don is more interested in the Easy Street end of town. He marries socialite Lois Rising (Thelma Todd, who in all the melodrama is only allocated 2 scenes). Making it clear it was a marriage of convenience because of the prestige and promotion her crooked D.A. father could give him, Don takes to the high living too well and finds he is on borrowed time when he turns up drunk for a charity case operation but, fortunately, Mary stands in for him.

A year later Mary has a lucrative practice but Don, who has been taking under the counter payments for charity operations, is hiding out from a grand jury indictment. Both he and Lois are unanimous in wanting a divorce but when the court case is dismissed Lois's father wants her to hold on to him anyway she can, at least for a few months - "you're a woman, you can think of a way"!! Suddenly Don is informed he will soon hear the patter of little feet!! Before this, Don who has been rejoicing at the thought of his soon to be freedom, meets Mary at Sulpher Springs health hideaway.

It soon gets pretty sudsy with Mary realising that she too is expecting a blessed event and going the usual route of a discreet trip to Europe where - surprise!! surprise!! she returns with a baby she just had to adopt!! The scene where she informs pal Glenda of her predicament is very pre-code in her loud and proudness - there is no beating about the bush! "I'm pregnant"!! she announces to a stunned Glenda - then the bathos starts! Of course marriage plans are stalled and on the way back on the boat Mary is thrown into an onboard epidemic of infantile paralysis!! Thank goodness for Glenda Farrell's wise-cracking to stop things getting even more maudlin and stickier!!

If you haven't seen many films from the early 1930s, you may well be unaware of the term 'Pre-Code'. This refers to the period up until part-way through 1934 when Hollywood routinely ignored the Production Code--with cursing, adultery, graphic violence, nudity and the like being almost celebrated in films! Because the film had become so amoral and non-family friendly, there was a strong backlash--which led to the strengthened Production Code. The period particularly from 1930-1934 was by far the wildest of the American Pre-Code films and "Mary Stevens, M.D." is a wonderful example of this sort of film.

It's not surprising that the film stars Kay Francis--the unofficial Queen of Pre-Code films! She seemed to play more of these slutty characters than anyone in Hollywood--and I wasn't all that surprised to see her up to her old tricks in this film! Francis and Lyle Talbot play friends and young doctors who are just beginning their practices. Francis is a very dedicated pediatrician and Talbot is a lazy jerk. I saw nothing positive about his character, yet inexplicably Francis not only loved him but behaved like a total moron when it came to this sleaze-bag! When Talbot marries another woman (mostly because of the position in society it could get him), Francis still silently longs for him.

After a while, Talbot's marriage begins to fizzle...and he becomes involved with some very illegal activities. When Francis finds out, instead of being angry at him because he's betrayed his Hippocratic oath, she does the nasty with him--after some vague promise to leave his wife. When the divorce is NOT forthcoming, Francis is stuck--as she's pregnant! What happens by the end of the film is pretty hard to believe--and really, really strains any chance at this film being a good film to the breaking point! The bottom line is that the characters have practically no redeeming value (particularly Talbot), Francis acts like she has a Chihuahua's brain and the whole thing dissolves into a ridiculous mess by the end. It's a shame, as the film WAS interesting...but ended up losing all my good will by the time the plot turned really dumb at the end. And I truly hate films that expect the audience to believe that a strong and intelligent woman could behave this stupidly!! Wow, talk about a mixed up message about gender equality!!!

A curiously amoral time-passer, but a film that could have been a lot better.

By the way, in the film you hear the term 'Infantile Paralysis'. It is another way of referring to Polio if you were curious.

Classic Kay with the greatest sidekick in the world of Glenda Farrell. Kay plays Mary Stevens MD and harbors a deep love for Lyle Talbot whom she attended medical school. He marries above his station and Kay watches from afar while grinding away in her medical office. On a much needed vacation, the two run into each other. Francis running from the stress and overwork of her practice but also trying to forget Talbot. Talbot is running away from legal issues and his marriage. They decide to marry as soon as Talbot can divorce but that is delayed by his father in law. Francis discovers she is pregnant just as she gets news of Talbots wife also expecting. Off to Paris for Kay to have her child with Farrell in tow. She has a darling boy and gets news that Talbot will be free and his wife's pregnancy was a lie. Before they are united, their baby contracts a life threatening illness. The rest of the story is a weep fest. Kay delivers with a touching and tender scene in the ships infirmary with her son.

Kay Francis is hardly in a movie except that she plays a mistress or a cheat. She had a chance to escape such type casting in "Mary Stevens, M. D." but couldn't quite do it. I'm not saying she played a mistress in "Mary Stevens, M. D.," but she did take a bite of the forbidden fruit.

Kay Francis played Mary Stevens, M. D. She graduated with a medical degree with a class full of men. In her class was her childhood friend, Donald Andrews (Lyle Talbot). You can imagine that being a female doctor at that time wasn't easy and it was rare. To give us an idea of how rare it was and how ignorant the masses were (including her friend Don) there was a brief exchange between Mary and Don.

"You said a woman couldn't do it," Mary said to Don.

"A woman couldn't. But you... well, you're a superwoman," Don responded. The idea being that a woman would have to be extraordinary in order to go through medical school.

I heard the term "superwoman" before in a 1930's film. In the movie "Female" (1933) starring Ruth Chatterton, she was called a "superwoman" pejoratively because she ran an automobile company with brutal efficiency and professionalism. Again, with the idea being that no ordinary woman could run an automobile company.

Mary continued to fight an uphill battle against societal prejudice. She didn't quit and she established a name for herself as an accomplished pediatrician. However, this was a 1933 movie and it did star Kay Francis, so I knew a romance or affair was around the corner.

It came about after Don married Lois Rising (Thelma Todd). Mary admitted to Don she was in love with him and always had been. He admitted he was in love with her and that they could have a relationship because he and Lois were estranged. To Mary's credit, she said nothing doing so long as he was still married; estranged or not.

"This is not like you at all Kay Francis. Normally your characters don't care one way or another about a man being married."

Eventually, Mary gave in to her desires and she and Don spent a torrid night together.

That's the Kay Francis character I know.

The next morning she resumed her stance of keeping her distance from Don until he was officially divorced. So, I got a partially principled Kay Francis character. She wanted to do what's right but got felled by a moment of weakness.

More important to me than whether or not Mary Stevens would carry on an affair with Don Andrews was whether or not Mary Stevens would remain a doctor. You see, because of the movie "Female" I was waiting for Dr. Mary Stevens to show her female frailty. In "Female," Ruth Chatterton eventually broke down and admitted that as a woman she had no business running a big company. It was a crushingly disappointing moment in the movie and also very sexist. So, here we were again with a "superwoman"--a woman in a "man's" position. Would she also fold and resign herself to having babies and not delivering them?

Fortunately, she did not.

There was a point in which Mary was weak and near quitting, but not because she was a woman, but because she failed to save her baby's life. She was so broken up over the death of her baby when she felt like she could have saved him that she vowed never to practice medicine again. While I was disappointed that she made such a proclamation, I could understand where the desire to quit came from. It had nothing to do with her being a woman, but everything to do with her being a human being. Failure is tough and some failures are tougher than others. I can only imagine that the failure to save your own baby when you're a pediatrician is a crushing failure.

Thankfully, in spite of her promise to quit medicine, Dr. Mary Stevens got back in the saddle. She was too good of a doctor to quit and that was an important message to deliver.

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Having three siblings, all-female, I never questioned the strength of women. My oldest Sister Elaine was talented in so many ways. Musically inclined, excellent marksmen, horse trainer, Community Organiser, a collector of Photography and she even flew solo in a single-engine airplane but doesn't speak French. Seriously, I never felt that the opposite sex couldn't handle many professions such as Law, Politics and the medical field. This brings me to a forgotten film from a forgotten actress Mary Stevens M. D. Starring Kay Francis. It was the date of the film that tickled my interest, 1933. !933? Before Roosevelt, before the New Deal, Pearl Harbor, and World War II. A female Doctor during the height of the depression with all those obstacles and stereotype reactions from patients male and female. Mary Stevens and her male friend Don Andrews (Lyle Talbot) have just finished their residency (post-graduate training) from Medical school. They decide to open a practice in New York Neighborhood with Mary specializing in pediatrics. Their relationship is platonic on the surface, but Mary does have feelings for Don as her strong, supportive nurse Glenda played by Glenda Farrell suggests. Right from the start, Dr. Mary battles a knife-wielding ethnic man whose wife is in labor, refusing her services cause she is a woman. Even a woman refuses her services and makes a u-turn out of her office. Mary is unaffected as patients fill the office over time as her Partner Don starts to date socialite Lois Cavanaugh (Thelma Todd) who's Father Hobart (Alf Simmons) is head of The state Medical Board and puts Don in an important position of power. Don decides to leave his practice and sets his sights for marriage to Lois and money. He also gives Mary an office next to his as her reputation grows as a fine Doctor. Meanwhile, Don starts to squander funds and drinks. Jealousy and mistrust cause Don and Mary to separate. Don escapes from the authorities in New York for West Virginia. Two years pass as Mary and Don reunite in West Virginia as Don falls for Mary but complications of divorce and deceit and pre-marital pregnancy come to the forefront of the film. Taboo subjects for that time in film making. This film was made before the Hays code which censored certain words, nudity, promoting drugs and, racial profiling. I had one problem with the film using a made-up serum for a virus called infantile paralysis. Technically called "Polio" the cure didn't happen for another 20 years by Dr. Jonas Salk. I was most impressed with the acting of Kay Francis, who shows the gamut of her range from a strong self assured woman to a woman on the edge of a mental breakdown. Lyle Talbot shows us that he could have some sex appeal and play a drunk. But the straw that stirred this movie was Glenda Farrell showcased her strength and compassion plus some well-timed quips along the way for flavor in a scene. Spoiler alert: I was also impressed with the Baby used in the film. Laughing all the time. I don't know what the studio did to keep the infant so attentive but it worked.

In the beginning of the film, Kay Francis' character, the titular Mary Stevens, finishes an internship. She officially graduates from medical school, alongside fellow med student Lyle Talbot, a guy she's developed romantic feelings over. After the graduation ceremony, they open their new practices together, in separate offices inside the same building. She marvels at the fact she made it through her studies and is now a full-fledged physician. Francis quips wryly that some didn't think she'd succeed, because she's a woman. To which Talbot replies: "You're not a woman...you're a superwoman."

Indeed, as the film goes on, we learn that she does possess super skills and builds a thriving practice. There doesn't seem to be anything she can't do in the world of medicine. At the same time, Talbot takes his eye off the ball when he meets a high society deb (Thelma Todd); whom he marries. He is now concerned with capitalizing on newfound connections through his relationship with Todd. This leads to his getting involved with graft and his increasing dependency on alcohol.

As for Francis, she remains true to her early ideals and becomes a well-regarded pediatrician. Her success is earned. Meanwhile, Talbot is about to be indicted, so he leaves town while his father-in-law (Charles Wilson) tries to pull strings to save his hide. Yes, this is a Warner Brothers precode where basic situations are stretched to implausible points, and the original conflicts are often exaggerated out of proportion.

Though the story becomes less logical in spots, there are still plenty of engaging and highly dramatic moments. One of these moments involves Francis going off on a vacation to a resort, where she bumps into the still-married Talbot who has been in exile the whole time. Francis rekindles the old flame and has an affair with Talbot. The affair results in a pregnancy.

Since this is a precode, the issue turns into whether she will keep the baby and raise it as a single mother. Remember, she is still a super woman and can do almost anything with ease. Talbot will not be helping her with the unborn child, because his father-in-law has managed to help him avoid prosecution, provided Talbot return to his marriage with Todd. This way he won't go to jail, and more importantly, will keep the family from being embroiled in a public scandal.

While Talbot is staying off the front pages and staying on the social register with Todd and his in-laws, the story focuses on Francis' pregnancy who's gone to Paris to have her baby. But there is a distressing new problem after Francis has given birth and is on a ship back to the U. S. with her newborn. A group of children traveling on board have been afflicted with polio. This leads to Francis' baby contracting the disease and dying. It is a huge turning point in the film and there is much melodrama, as she must decide whether to commit suicide after losing her baby, or if there's a reason to go on living.

Ultimately, she does soldier on, because she realizes she is still useful as a doctor, which brings the story full-circle in a way. After reaching New York, she is reunited with Talbot which rang a bit false to me. Why would she want to go back to a guy whose values were so warped, a guy who is unable to remain faithful to a spouse and should for all intents and purposes, be in prison? But I guess the audience needed a swell romantic ending, and to know that Dr. Mary Stevens will not be a fully realized super woman unless she is also the Mrs. Of a man who is not worthy of her.