Copyright 12 October 1938 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 27 October 1938 (ran one week). U.S. release: 14 October 1938. Australian release: 9 February 1939. 8 reels. 81 minutes.COMMENT: Although exceptions were occasionally made for Blondie, Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and The Saint, series films were rarely contenders for even a supporting slot on all-important Saturday nights in Britain and Australia. Dr Kildare had a further impediment in that the setting itself had few glamorous associations for Australians - and still less for Britishers - during the dark days and nights of WW2.This one has some curiosity value, being the first of the M-G-M series. It was also the first feature film directed by Harold S. Bucquet, a graduate of the studio's shorts department. Bucquet's background was in scene design, but his directorial (or perhaps his health) problems surfaced in 1942 when Dr Kildare's Victory had to be completed and largely re-shot by W.S. Van Dyke. On the other hand, Bucquet did such sterling work on The Adventures of Tartu in 1943, he was handed two other prestige assignments, Dragon Seed (1944) and Without Love (1945), before his death in 1946 at the comparatively early age of 54.Alas, Young Dr Kildare is also saddled with a weak script. True, it does have a few interesting moments (Kildare peering through the door at his revived patient), but even some of these are ruined by Bucquet's mawkish tendency to over-emphasize. Only Nat Pendleton's gustoish playing of a muscle-bound ambulance driver and Monty Woolley's stuffed-shirt psychiatrist have any real appeal.

Although Max Brand's character of Dr. James Kildare first appeared over at Paramount's Interns Can't Take Money with Joel McCrea, the first of the classic Dr. Kildare movies was Young Dr. Kildare with Lew Ayres as the idealistic young intern. The series was done over at MGM and that most expensive of all studios gave a polished touch to even a series of B pictures.Young Dr. Kildare sets the series up with Lew Ayres newly graduated from medical school deciding to intern at Blair General Hospital in New York instead of starting practice over in the small Connecticut town with his parents Samuel S. Hinds and Emma Dunn. While there he comes to the attention of renowned doctor Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Leonard Gillespie who spends the whole film putting him through some paces as he decides whether this young man can cut it as his new assistant.Although Ayres's main challenge with purportedly mentally ill rich girl Jo Ann Sayers is not terribly convincing in its simplistic approach to her psychiatric problems which resulted in a suicide attempt the sincere playing of Ayres, Barrymore, and the rest cover a multitude of script holes. Walter Kingsford also makes his debut in the series as the officious hospital president Dr. Carew. Although a pattern is set with the Carew character here who realizes he's just a bureaucrat with an MD and he defers to Barrymore on medical questions.The Kildare series got a decent if not outstanding debut with Young Dr. Kildare.

Though this is a serviceable drama about a young doctor, the medical details are ludicrous--in the pre-CPR days, Kildare massages the back of a girl thought to be dead, instructing an onlooker to hold a mirror to her mouth to see if she's breathing. Eventually she does--after 15 or 20 minutes--without a suggestion of possible brain damage. Then the troubled girl is put into the hospital, tries to kill herself a second time, is saved by Kildare again, and then promptly diagnosed (apparently without any observation) by the resident psychiatric expert as schizophrenic. "But wait," I'm saying to myself at home, "she hasn't shown any symptoms of schizophrenia"--not even 1938-era understanding of schizophrenia.Fortunately young and earnest Dr. Kildare is able to protest this diagnosis and rapidly discover the real reason she's tried to commit suicide--which he debunks, leading all to a happy conclusion and no further cause for concern. Uh huh, it was all a misunderstanding and everything will be rosy henceforth--the formerly suicidal girl pops out of bed and falls into her fiancé's arms, all smiles.Right.

One of the great series shown on TV in my youth was Dr. Kildare with the outstanding Lionel Barrymore as the wise Dr. Gillespie. Each film gave insight into human nature and the medical profession without sex or swearing. Just plain good stories.It is a shame all Dr. Kildare films are not available on VHS. I do not understand why not Dr. Kildare always had great acting and great advice. America needs films like these today