Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day

Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day

Lobby card
Directed by Harold S. Bucquet
Written by Max Brand
Ormond Ruthven
Lawrence P. Bachmann
Screenplay by Willis Goldbeck
Harry Ruskin
Starring Lew Ayres
Lionel Barrymore
Laraine Day
Music by Bronislau Kaper and Lionel Barrymore
Cinematography George J. Folsey
Edited by Conrad A. Nervig
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
 August 22, 1941 (1941-08-22)
Running time
 83 min.
Country United States
Language English

Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day is a 1941 American drama film directed by Harold S. Bucquet, starring Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore and Laraine Day. This was the ninth of a total of ten Dr. Kildare pictures made by the MGM studios. When MGM decided to move up-and-coming star Laraine Day out of the "Dr. Kildare" series, the studio did so in a startlingly dramatic fashion.[1] Adding extra interest to this film in the Kildare series, Barrymore wrote the music credited to the Cornelia Bartlett character, and actor Red Skelton provides comic relief.

Plot summary

Lionel Barrymore and Red Skelton, whose film career was just beginning at the time

Dr. James Kildare (Lew Ayres) is finally marrying nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) and everyone at Blair General Hospital in New York is preparing for the wedding. The wedding renders mixed feelings for James' mentor, the wheelchair-bound Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who realizes his protégé will have less time for him.

While attending a concert on his own, Gillespie notices how the conductor, Maestro Labardi, has some kind of physical problem on stage. The next day Labardi (Nils Asther) comes to Gillespie for an examination. The maestro tells Gillespie that he is losing his hearing and the doctor becomes determined to help him. Gillespie is so devoted to this cause that he fails to go to a cancer specialist for his own examination.

James and Mary are at their wedding rehearsal in Connecticut when Dr. Lockberg (Miles Mander), the cancer specialist, contacts James and asks him to convince Gillespie to be examined. Worried for his mentor's health, James immediately goes back to New York and talks to Gillespie, pressuring him to see the specialist.

While Mary continues with the wedding preparations, James and Gillespie both try to solve Labardi's loss of hearing. When James misses out on a surprise party for his stag night, a radiant Mary goes instead. Tragically and unexpectedly, she is run over by a truck when she steps into the street with her mind on her wedding instead of traffic. Mary is rushed to the hospital, and when James hears about her condition he runs to her room. He arrives at her side just before she dies from her injuries. Her last words: "This is going to be a lot easier for me than it will be for you."

James is devastated by Mary's death and unable to continue his work at the hospital. Gillespie, who has been at a clinic for a month, receives a call from James' father, who tells him about his son's condition.

Gillespie decides to involve James in the Labardi case to take his mind off Mary and the accident. James comes to see Gillespie in his home, and his mentor tells him the story of a famous composer, Cornelia Bartlett, with whom he was in love years ago. She died from yellow fever, before Dr. Walter Reed found the cure for it. Reed was the one who convinced Gillespie to focus on his career instead of his lost love.

Jimmy reluctantly agrees to return to work at the hospital, just to help out on the Labardi case. He has a breakthrough on the case, discovering that it was a Vitamin B deficiency that caused the impaired hearing. They start to treat the conductor and soon his problems resolve. James and Gillespie attend a concert where Labardi conducts music written by Cornelia. In a winking bit of cinematic self-referentiality, after the concert Gillespie can't help but mention that he might have helped Cornelia write the musical score. James becomes convinced to go on with his life and career as a physician.[2]

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allmovie.com/movie/dr-kildares-wedding-day-v89928
  2. ↑ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/126/Dr-Kildare-s-Wedding-Day/

External links

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