Dr. Monica

This women's movie about a selfless doctor (Kay Francis) who can't have children and her philandering husband (Warren William) was originally a brisk 65 minutes. After the censors were through with it, it was trimmed to 53 minutes.

The problem was that the husband fathers a child with an unmarried woman (Jean Muir) but remains blissfully unaware of it. Muir goes off to a country clinic to have the kid, so no one is the wiser except for Francis and her icy friend (Verree Teasdale).

Muir doesn't want the baby if she can't have the husband, but he's through with her and doesn't know about the baby anyway. He keeps going to and coming from Europe while all this plays out. Francis is about to have an operation so she can have children but is told it's futile.

Ultimately, Muir takes matters into her own hands to resolve the problem.

Francis, Muir, and Teasdale are all quite good but Warren doesn't have much to do since he's not involved in the main plot. Emma Dunn is the nurse, Phillip Reed shows up for a second, and Ann Shoemaker has one scene at a party.

It would be interesting to see what ended up on the cutting room floor.

If approached with a certain attitude about Kay Francis soaps, this can be great fun--who, in the year 2024, could possibly take this film seriously? Instead, enjoy the ways Kay and Warren attempt to skirt around the real issue of the film, i.e. A philandering husband and a pregnancy presenting itself from someone other than his wife! No one in films can suffer quite as easily and nobly as Our Kay, and when she gets that certain look, you know she accepts her fate with perfect equanimity. And if you don't like the plot, count the number of outrageously stylish outfits Our Star Parades with perfect assurance and her distinctive brand of Warner's charm.

Kay Francis, (Dr. Monica Braden) is madly in love with her husband, John Braden, (Warren William) who is a writer and very seldom sees his wife because she is a very successful physician and travels a great deal. Monica finds out the sad fact that she cannot have any children of her own and she decides to adopt a child. Monica has a girlfriend named Mary Hathaway, (Jean Muir) who is very much attracted to Monica's husband John which she finds out about by listening to his conversation on a phone. Monica keeps the secret to herself and the story gets quite interesting after this event. If you like soap operas from 1934, this is a good Kay Francis special with her giving a great performance.

Kay Francis is successful Dr. Monica Braden, married and madly in love with John Braden (Warren William). Her big sorrow is that she can't conceive, and we learn as the film goes along that she will never be able to conceive.

The film opens at a gathering, and we find out fairly quickly that John was having an affair with Mary Hathaway (Jean Muir), but he broke it off. He tells her to forget him.

Monica and Mary are friends, and Mary has fainting spells - which in old movies could mean only one thing. Never stated, however. Pregnant.

Not only that, but she never looked pregnant. Monica promises to help Mary every step of the way. And she does, until she finds out that the baby is her husband's.

This is dated and preposterous. Was Dr. Monica trying to be a candidate for sainthood? Kay is glamorous, and there's a nice performance from Verree Teasdale.

Precode and a typical Kay Francis melodrama. I don't know of any woman who would behave as she did, pre or post-code.

"Doctor Monica" (1934) was one of the very last precode movies, released by Warner Brothers just ten days before the chopper fell down on Hollywood.

Based on a Polish play it stars the very sophisticated Kay Francis as the successful surgeon, Dr Monica Braden.

She is unable to have children but alas, her philandering but suave husband, John (Warren William) is most definitely not shooting blanks as we find out when Monica's close friend, Mary Hathaway (Jean Muir) faints at a party. Tests prove that the unmarried young woman has "one in the oven" so to speak and never one to pry or judge, Monica helps to secure her a place in a country clinic to see out her pregnancy away from the frowning eyes of her townsfolk.

The two share a mutual friend in Anna Littlefield (Verree Teasdale) who is the first to find out that the elusive father of the unborn child is none other than the husband of the blissfully unaware Dr Monica!

John is away on business and also has no clue as to the results of his adultery when Mary goes into labour.

Already finding her imminent baby delivering duties painful in light of a recent very negative phone call from a fertility specialist, Monica is suddenly plunged into personal, emotional and moral turmoil when she overhears a phone call revealing that her husband is the sire of the soon to be born illegitimate child.

Decisions decisions decisions!!

A very well acted drama by all involved. Kay Francis is the picture of class and elegance and the brilliant Warren William manages once again to be very likeable despite playing a scoundrel. It's also interesting to see him in one of only two films (the other being as Julius Caesar in his previous film, "Cleopatra") in which he doesn't sport his trademark moustache.