The MGM Dr. Kildare movies were, I believe, second features, or Bs when released, but because it's MGM, they were more like B+. The series was used as a training ground for their young talent, such as Ava Gardner, Van Johnson, Red Skelton, and a host of others.
Watching the beginning of this particular episode, "Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day," we know something. 1) It's before the U.S. entered WW II because the orchestra is playing Wagner (verboten during the war, even German arias were taken out of the various aria compilations). We also know it because Lew Ayres (Dr. Kildare) is still in the series. 2) If you're a baby boomer and watched the TV show with Richard Chamberlain (and I owned an intern shirt), you know this: Mary (Laraine Day), Kildare's fiancée, is doomed.
The main plot concerns preparations for Mary and Jim's wedding, and there are two subplots. Dr. Gillespie is ill and Kildare is trying to get him to go to a sanitarium and be treated; and a conductor (Nils Asther) can't accept a lucrative radio contract because he's afraid that he's losing his hearing.
I read one review that complained bitterly about Dr. Gillespie being a curmudgeon. I don't think he overdid it. He was kind and gentle as well as tough, and the toughness was in character. I've always loved his relationship with the head nurse (Alma Kruger). There's such an affection there, and all they do is insult one another.
Barrymore, because of arthritis, was wheelchair-bound -- here he's actually credited with the music that's played, I believe at the end.
There is some lightness to this episode, though I could have done without the telephone booth scene. It's also sad, and I admit to shedding a few tears.
Lew Ayres, despite MGM getting rid of him when he became a conscientious objector, had a long and successful career, winning an Oscar for "Johnny Belinda" in the late '40s, and his career spanned from 1929-1996.
Entertaining and sad.
2 out of 2 found this helpful