Mary Stevens, M.D.

Kay Francis and Glenda Farrell are always fun to watch, and they're no exception here. Francis plays the titular doctor who is more competent and responsible than her male counterpart, played by Lyle Talbot, so that was nice to see. The film is also decidedly pre-Code in that he turns into her married lover, adding some spice to the story, even though I'm not sure I felt the pair's chemistry. Regardless, it's open about their infidelity and Dr. Stevens getting pregnant as a result, and in fact, her being perfectly fine with it, which is a fantastic moment. There are also some nice jabs directed at the medical profession when Talbot's character shows up drunk to a surgery, as well as the corruption in how he gets his money, reflecting the cynicism of the period at the white-collar world. We also see that of her young patients is in a morose state of mind and has ulcers worrying about the Depression.

The film tries to toe the line between Dr. Stevens' personal and professional life just as I suppose people from this period tried to wrap their head around what it meant to be a career woman, but it erred too much in the personal melodrama for my taste. With that said, the scenes of how the cute little babies (of which there are several in the film!) spread the dreaded polio disease were gripping. You could read the fate of the love child as a regressive punishment and not be wrong, but on the other hand, because it was pre-Code, Francis's character is allowed to remain a doctor, not renounce everything she's worked for to be with a man. I wish the plot had taken different turns because Talbot's character is so lacking, but the film has enough going for it to make it worth seeing.

It's interesting that Kay Francis played a physician in two films, Mary Stevens, M.D., and Dr. Monica, just a few years apart in a time when the female physician was a rarity. Also, both films dealt with unplanned pregnancies. (I'm basing that on the IMDb summary of Dr. Monica, as I haven't had the opportunity to see that one yet.) In Mary Stevens, M.D., the protagonist encounters society's prejudice against doctors who happen to be female, but that is not the movie's emphasis. Instead, the main plot is simply a great drama (though, in a different way, the drama does stem from mores of the era), and a sad one. Mary Stevens, M.D., is also an interesting example of a 30s-style dichotomy: while Dr. Stevens is a "modern" woman by virtue of having become a physician, she also patiently accepts an ENORMOUS amount of nonsense from the man she loves.

Kay Francis and Lyle Talbot end their terms as interns and open an office together. Stevens marries machine politician's daughter Thelma Todd, and goes to work for the city, but things fall apart and he and Miss Francis begin an affair. He can't get a divorce, and she's pregnant.

The performers do their best, and it's a fine old soap opera, but Ray Curtiss edits the film at a bumpy rate that is often uncomfortable as Miss Francis gets whipsawed by Talbot's mistakes. A fine cast helps, including parts by Glenda Farrell, Una O'Connor, Hobart Cavanaugh, and Christian Rub, as does Sidney Hickox's subtly moving camera.

Over the years I seemed to have missed this classic film with a story line that must have shocked the audiences during the 1930's. Kay Francis,(Dr. Mary Stevens),"Divorce",'45 was a single woman who was having an affair with Lyle Talbot,(Dr. Donald A. Andrews),"It Happened in New York",'35, who was married and not very happy at all. Donald tired to get a divorce from his wife, but her father objected for family reasons and she even lied to him about having a baby. Dr. Mary Stevens winds up really having a baby from Dr. Andrews and the plot gets dramatic on a voyage with her new born baby and the threat of Infantile Paralysis. Una O'Connor (Mrs. Arnell Simmons),famous for her screams and high pitched voice in "The Invisible Man", as an inn keepers wife and many other horror films, has a baby girl who catches the infantile paralysis and needs immediate help. If you want to see a good classic film, with great actors playing very immoral lives during those days of living standards, view this film about divorce and babies born out of wedlock. This film is mild compared to 2004 !

Lloyd Bacon manages brilliantly to squeeze a whole soap opera with characters you think you've been watching for weeks in just over an hour. It's quite dated in style, storytelling and plot which makes it difficult to watch just as a film without seeing it in a historical context. Nevertheless you've got to stick with it to see how it plays out.