Internes Can't Take Money

I wonder when they dropped the "e" from interns. Interesting.

Internes Can't Take Money stars Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, Lee Bowman, Lloyd Nolan, and Stanley Ridges.

Dr. K. falls hard for one of his patients, Janet (Stanwyck) but she is a very troubled woman. She was sent to prison for two years as she was believed to be part of a robbery, led by her husband. When he was released, he took their daughter. She is now desperate to find her child, and will stoop to just about anything, even stealing from Kildare and taking up with gangster Stanley Ridges.

When Kildare finds out her real story, he tries to help her. He saved the life of another criminal (Nolan), actually in the local bar, and calls upon him for a favor.

Joel McCrea is an adorable Kildare - so handsome, and there was always something guileless about the actor. He plays very well with Stanwyck - in fact, they made six films together.

Of interest, interns in this film made a whopping $10 a month ($180 today) and one woman mentioned she made $27.50 a week ($495.00). When Kildare operates outside of the hospital, he's given $1000, but he gives it back because - you got it - "interns can't take money."

I do love Lew Ayres as Kildare, but McCrea's more aggressive interpretation worked well.

Probably not, but it has a certain cachet to it that is reminiscent of the genre that was yet to come. Good folk and gangsters, an unsuspecting someone caught in a web of dishonesty and murder, and all with the shadows and photographic effects normally associated with film noir. It is also an early Dr. Kildare film with Joel McCrea as the good doctor.

Nutshell: Kildare comes across Barbara Stanwyck, who is destitute and desperate. She is looking for her lost child and she is broke and just released from prison, apparently framed for aiding and abetting her husband. Kildare tries to help, with the aid of a gangster (Lloyd Nolan) on whom he has done emergency surgery (in the back of a barroom!) and who now feels he owes Kildare a favor.

The cast is excellent, headed by Stanwyck who never gives a bad performance. McCrea is his usual understated self and Stanley Ridges is very effective as a seedy, slimy villain. This is a very underrated film and was shown at Capitolfest, Rome, NY, 8/19.

******** 8/10 - Website no longer prints my star rating.

Barbara Stanwyck had always been a fine actress, but around the time of this film, she... found another gear somehow and blew past most of the competition. There were still a few actresses that could keep up with Lady Barbara, but her performance in 'Internes Can't Take Money' reduced that number to a mere handful, and with the twin triumph that year of 'Stella Dallas,' she remained at the top of her field for decades afterward.

For just one example - it's impossible to imagine Hepburn pulling off this role; there weren't enough menthol sticks in the United States to get her to bring the tears needed for the part. Stanwyck's perfectly natural acting in this film is a couple levels higher than Kate's ability. The performance across from McCrea is terrific and the way Stanwyck stares at Stanley Ridges as he destroys her faith in humanity is astonishing.

Several comments complain about the script but this story is terrific. It's as good a story as 2008's 'Changling' for example, but the message, and the ending, of 'Internes' is far more powerful.

It looks like most of the complaints are really based on the film not having the look or feel of the Lew Ayres version of Kildare; but this film doesn't have anything to do with the serial, other than inspiring it. It stretches credulity to think that Joel McCrea would have pitched over his career to make a serial - he was far too big a star for any studio head to have considered that even for a minute.

This one really is 1937 movie magic!

A wildly improbable drama, the misspelled "Internes Can't Take Money" was the first in the "Dr.Kildare" movie series, which was subsequently recast with Lew Ayres in the title role and continued at the MGM studio, following this initial Paramount effort. Concocted by writer Max Brand, the story involves an honest young intern at a large hospital, who crosses paths with a widowed ex-con seeking to locate her three-year-old daughter, who was abducted by her deceased bank-robber husband. The recipe is an old one; toss in a couple of shady characters and a gangster with a heart of gold, who is embroiled in illegal betting, add a tolerant landlady and a kindly bartender, sprinkle with nuns, mix with unexpected twists, and bake until overdone.

Despite an uninspired title and a routine script, director Alfred Santell maintains a steady pace that will distract viewers from the at-times laughable plot turns that lead to a teary fade-out, provoked either by laughter or sentiment. Beyond the script, the film's technical aspects are quite good, especially the black and white cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl, who often dramatically captures Stanwyck garbed in deep black, contrasting with McCrea, dressed in his intern's whites.

Barbara Stanwyck plays the widow, Janet Haley, and the actress, at her sudsy distraught-mother best, is convincing in an unconvincing role. Joel McCrea is the original Dr. Kildare, a straight-arrow intern, poorly paid and burdened by work and rules, who seeks solace at a nearby bar, where his life takes a sudden turn. Stanwyck and McCrea, in their third co-starring film, work well together, and Stanwyck seems genuinely taken with McCrea during their first scene together. Attesting to what makes a film star a star, Stanwyck and McCrea add dimension and interest to otherwise cardboard characters in credibility-stretching situations. In addition to the two stars, the capable cast also includes Lloyd Nolan, Stanley Ridges, and Charles Lane. However, if not for the professionalism and charisma of the leads and supporting players, "Internes Can't Take Money" would be 80 minutes of laughable coincidences and plot turns, memorable only as the first in the Dr. Kildare movie series.

"Internes Can't Take Money" is the first Dr. Kildare movie and unlike the long string of Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie movies from MGM, this Paramount film has an entirely different cast, style and, in some cases, characters. It's really odd when you've seen the MGM films...and I think it's best to see the movie without trying to compare it to the later series.

While Joel MacCrea plays Dr. Kildare, in this case he's NOT a doctor right out of medical school but a full-fledged doctor at the hospital. And, there also is no cranky/avuncular Dr. Gillespie as his mentor.

While Kildare is a major character, the story seem to revolve more around Janet (Barbara Stanwyck)...a woman just out of prison whose baby was stolen from her by her rat of a husband. The husband is now dead and she has no idea where to find the girl. So, she spends much of the film looking in vain for the kid...and nice Dr. Kildare eventually helps her with this task...along with some significant help from a mobster (Lloyd Nolan)!

The style of this film is nothing like the later Kildare films and it's less a hospital movie and more a crime film. As such, it's enjoyable and well acted...though the story is, at times, a bit hard to believe. Still, it is worth seeing.