Dr. Kildare's Strange Case

I always enjoyed the Dr. Kildare series. The casting was excellent, especially Lionel Barrymore as the irascible Dr. Gillespie. If it were not for him, I doubt this series would have been as popular as it was. I believe this is number four in the series, and by this time Dr. Kildare and nurse Mary Lamont are in love, but Dr. Kildare only makes twenty dollars a month as an intern, so he doesn't feel like he can support a wife. Thus he has made no promises to Mary. Remember, back in these days (1940) women always quit their jobs when they got married. Thus Mary has started dating a young brain surgeon, who also has happened to lose a lot of patients lately. He finally gets suspended from the hospital when the last of his patients has gone insane seemingly as a result of the surgery he has performed.

At this point Dr. Kildare takes up the case of proving that the patient is not insane as a result of the surgery by jolting him back to sanity via insulin shock therapy. This primitive method that was long a mainstream treatment for mental patients involves injecting someone with a large dose of insulin and then sitting back and seeing what develops. As a diabetic I can tell you what develops, sweating followed by seizures, possibly followed by death or coma. However, the medical profession, which had a primitive understanding of diabetes and insulin seventy years ago, thinks that what happens is that the human brain regresses back to its primitive self, then back to its evolved present and that the patient's sanity is sometimes restored in the process. This is how Dr. Kildare explains it in the film and it is both hilarious and somewhat shocking.

There are some other jaw-droppers such as after long hours in surgery when all the doctors and nurses involved light up a cigarette - in the hospital, still in their surgical gowns. Note that there is no such thing as biomedical monitoring equipment - nurses just come by each patient and "look in on them". There are a few things that are better in 1940 than today. For one, Dr. Gillespie isn't afraid to hand out straight talk to patients about their culpability involving their conditions. Today doctors are afraid to mention that an overweight patient might lose a little weight and improve their situation because they are so fearful of lawsuits.

Dr. James Kildare (Lew Ayres) works at Blair General Hospital with his nurse girlfriend Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) and his wheelchair-bound mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) who is battling cancer. He is concerned that Gillespie is not fighting hard enough. He rejects a high paying job to stay with Gillespie which frustrates Mary. Dr. Gregory Lane (Shepperd Strudwick) is a struggling brain surgeon. When Lane's patient seems to turn insane from sugery, Kildare takes on the strange case.

This is the fifth Dr. Kildare film. The various dramas of the main cast is fine. I do wonder about the strange case. I'm guessing that psychology is still undeveloped during this time. This is definitely a case for a psychiatrist or a brain specialist. Apparently, he just needed a sugary snack and a meeting with his wife. I'm no doctor, but this case is a little too strange.

Yup, that's right folks... in a supposed sterile hospital, a speedy little mouse dashes across the top of the dividing curtain right behind the beautiful face of of nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) exactly 40min into the movie. Although MGM did not plan this squeekers debut, it was certainly no less jarring than the act of doctors and nurses lighting up cigarettes here, there and everywhere including the surgery suite! But the weirdest whopper is a stunner when they instantly diagnose "insanity" after only hearing a few words the patient mumbles within seconds of waking in an post - anesthetic haze following a serious brain operation. After half a sentence is uttered they pronounce "this man has lost his mind". It's all par for the course in 1940's era medicine gone mad film fun. Incredibly "insulin shock" was actually a viable therapy for mental illness decades ago ...INCLUDING the procedure's ghastly contortion descriptions and its outlandish " backwards evolution" premise. It's staggering to observe Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayers) basically sleepwalk through actions that defy all ethical, moral, and legal codes today, ... and which naturally makes it a terrific watch!

The supporting cast of character actors deliver some hilarious lines. Although Kildare's Sherlock style investigations on behalf of Dr. Lane (Sheppard Strudwick) are altruistic, I can't understand why they didn't just run a "do you know this man?" picture in the newspapers or even call the police?.

Give this mangled medical drama a peek. It's short and certainly has many angles of interest and especially behold the quips that spring from Dr. Kildare's mother.

In the previous film in the series, THE SECRET OF DR. KILDARE, the good doctor is practicing well outside his area of expertise. Despite being a diagnostician, he performed like a trained psychiatrist and since it was a Hollywood movie, everything worked out in the end! Well, once again, Kildare behaves as if he's a well-trained psychiatrist AND he does very risky and dangerous work using insulin therapy--a type of therapy with dubious effectiveness.

Now the logic of this film is completely absent--but the film is still quite watchable due to the excellent acting and characters. In fact, this was a trademark of the Kildare series--excellent cast but occasionally goofy stories.

Favorite movie quote - "You're the doctor, remember?"

Is this worth a chuckle?.... Next door to L.A.'s prestigious Blair General Hospital (BGH, for short) sits Sullivan's Hospital Cafe whose slogan (which is clearly visible to anyone who walks through its front door) says - "Doctors eat here - It must be good!" (Ha! I think that's funny!)

At BGH (in between the incessant gossip, the personal dramas, the non-stop bickering, and physicians pulling rank amongst each other) I'm actually very surprised that any of the medical staff finds any time to prescribe medicine and/or perform surgery.

As well at BGH - Doctors try to cover for each other's errors (especially when a patient dies on the operating table). They also perform operations without the patient's consent, and, generally, defy strict hospital regulations.

But, as it turns out - It was a bloody good thing that hospital ordinance was defied by the young & diligent Dr. Kildare, otherwise the morgue would have had yet another stiff to deal with.

1940's "Doctor Kildare's Strange Case" was the 4th of 15 Kildare movies to come out of MGM Studios. Filmed in b&w, this marginally entertaining Medical-Drama had a brisk running time of only 77 minutes.