SYNOPSIS: Kildare falls for one of his patients, a brash "Cookie" society girl.
NOTES: This is the 10th entry in the series and the last with Lew Ayres. COMMENT: Immensely popular in America, the "Kildare" series didn't find its overseas public until aired on television in the mid-1960s. This entry is undoubtedly the best of the lot. It happened that Harold S. Bucquet, who had guided all M-G-M's previous episodes, made such a mess of this one that studio head Louis B. Mayer asked his favorite trouble-shooter, class "A" director Woody Van Dyke, to fix it up.
"Doctor" Van Dyke and his cameraman, M-G-M's ace cinematographer William Daniels, completed the film and re-shot many scenes. Van Dyke's eye for a good visual image is as alert as ever. He has also drawn marvelous performances from the players. It's hard to believe that Ayres, Barrymore and Kruger are playing the same characters they portrayed in earlier Kildares, their acting is so much more worthy of the word. The support players too are far more effective.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Woody was unable to re-shoot the whole picture. He was forced to include some of Bucquet's scenes. The joins are obvious, and the total result, alas, is still something of a mess. Even so, this Kildare is as good as the Metro series ever got. Incidentally, Bucquet actually pronounced his name, "Bew-Kay" ("bew" to rhyme with "new"), but I (and a lot of other people) always called him, "Mr. Bucket".
NOTES: This is the 10th entry in the series and the last with Lew Ayres. COMMENT: Immensely popular in America, the "Kildare" series didn't find its overseas public until aired on television in the mid-1960s. This entry is undoubtedly the best of the lot. It happened that Harold S. Bucquet, who had guided all M-G-M's previous episodes, made such a mess of this one that studio head Louis B. Mayer asked his favorite trouble-shooter, class "A" director Woody Van Dyke, to fix it up.
"Doctor" Van Dyke and his cameraman, M-G-M's ace cinematographer William Daniels, completed the film and re-shot many scenes. Van Dyke's eye for a good visual image is as alert as ever. He has also drawn marvelous performances from the players. It's hard to believe that Ayres, Barrymore and Kruger are playing the same characters they portrayed in earlier Kildares, their acting is so much more worthy of the word. The support players too are far more effective.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Woody was unable to re-shoot the whole picture. He was forced to include some of Bucquet's scenes. The joins are obvious, and the total result, alas, is still something of a mess. Even so, this Kildare is as good as the Metro series ever got. Incidentally, Bucquet actually pronounced his name, "Bew-Kay" ("bew" to rhyme with "new"), but I (and a lot of other people) always called him, "Mr. Bucket".