Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941) User Reviews (11)

Best Dramatic Moments In the Kildare series

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 29 December 2011]

Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day marked the exit of Laraine Day from the series and out of James Kildare's love life. She felt she had enough of being the all American good girl nurse Mary Lamont and wanted some meatier parts. She got MGM to write her out of the Kildare series very permanently.

The usual medical problems are taking a backstage to the wedding preparations for Lew Ayres and Laraine Day. The lovebirds are finally going to tie the knot. Lionel Barrymore can barely keep Ayres's attention to business as he seeks a cure for the growing deafness of orchestra leader Nils Asther.

However when MGM wrote Day out of the series they gave her a dramatic ending, being hit by a truck the day before the nuptials. In doing so they gave the cast the finest dramatic moments in the entire series. I rate Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day right at the top.

But Doctor Gillespie! We've been waiting three years for a case of tularemia to show up in the city!

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 14 December 2007]

**SPOILERS** Finally agreeing to tie the knot, after a seven year courtship, the by now not so young Doctor Kildare, Lew Ayres, and the love of his life Nurse Mary Lamont, Larrine Day, have nothing but blue birds singing and blue and sunny skies ahead of them with absolutely no rain or dark clouds in sight.

Preparing for her forthcoming marriage, that's to take place the very next day, Mary walking down the street at night with her mind on her future husband Jimmy Kildare instead of the traffic steps off the curb and is run down by a truck fatally injuring her. Showing up at the hospital for a stag or bachelor party before he's hitched, to Mary Lamont, Dr. Kildare is devastated to find that Mary is near death from injuries suffered in a traffic accident. Even though the dying Mary, as well as his mentor Dr. Gillespie,Lionel Barrymore, told Jimmy Kildare to continue his work as a man of medicine he completely loses his interest in being a doctor and just slinks away into oblivion where no one not even his parents Dr. Stephen and Martha Kildare, Samuel H. Hinds & Emma Dunn,can find him.

It takes a lot of effort on the part of Dr. Gillespie to get Jimmy Kildare to forget his grief and get back to the business of helping people. It also takes, with Jimmy Kildare's insistence, the stubborn and bull headed Dr. Gillespie to agree to take time off from work and check into a sanitarium for the treatment of a possible cancerous tumor which his friend, and the administrate of the sanitarium, Dr. Lockerg (miles Mander) wanted him to do. The tumor luckily for Dr. Gillespie turns out to be benign.

After feeling that he just doesn't have it anymore Jimmy Kildare's life is turned around when he's given the task of curing famous and world renowned musical conductor Constanzo Lbardi,Nils Asther, from his tone deftness that is slowly driving the man, who lives only for his music, insane. Kildare reluctantly takes up Labardi's case and before you know it his ability to cure people comes back with, for lack of a better word, a vengeance.

It's too much spaghetti on the part of Labardi's diet that's causing his problem and with him cutting down on pasta, that he loves almost as much as music. Being put on a strict vitamin B1 treatment regiment Labardi's hearing is restored and so is the the talent that he has in putting so much joy into the hearts and lies of millions of his fans and music lovers.

In the end Jimmy, now again Doctor, Kildare finds himself and realizes what Mary Lamont told him on her death bed to continue his work in saving and making peoples lives, like conductor Labardi, easier and more bearable to live. Mary is gone forever from the grief-stricken Dr. Kildare's life but the way to remember her is not to feel sorry but to go on with his work. The work that Mary Lamont when she was alive saw as Jimmy Kildare's greatest gift. A gift what more then anything else had her fall in love with him.

Ironic Title

[romanorum1 · 6/10 · 11 January 2012]

So it is after a two-year courtship (1939-1941) that the youngish Dr. Kildare and beautiful nurse Mary Lamont will finally tie the knot. In preparation for the wedding, Blair Hospital is in a special excitement with medical personnel providing all sorts of pre-nuptial shenanigans. About an hour into the movie a horrible tragedy occurs when Mary, in a glow about her upcoming wedding the following day, walks into a moving truck. Her injuries are fatal. The rest of the film focuses on grief-stricken Dr. Kildare's recovery attempts, to recapture his will to go on with the rest of his life and do well for mankind despite his tragedy. That goal had been the dying Mary's last wish.

As usual there are several sub-stories, with the major ones involving Dr. Gillespie's possible carcinogenic brain tumor and brilliant music conductor Constanzo Labardi's hearing loss. These situations, unlike that of the ill-fated Mary Lamont, turn out positive.

Although this is a rather somber film, comedy relief is provided by Red Skelton; you may determine whether such relief is out of place or not. While we hate to see the loss of lovely Mary, the film is not without interest. One wonders what some folks of 1941 thought as they walked into a movie theater expecting a happy and gala wedding and instead found bereavement. As Mary dies the day prior to her wedding, the title seems odd, but maybe it focuses on the anticipation of what should be a grand event. This feature was Lew Ayres next-to-last appearance in the Dr. Kildare series, as he would depart in 1942.

Rather funny and rather dark at the same time....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 28 December 2011]

The previous episode of the Dr. Kildare series was the worst. "Dr. Kildare's Crisis" was a truly terrible film. Will "Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day" be yet another dreadful movie or will it mark the return of the series to its usual high quality standards?

Well, it IS a major improvement but also might shock you. On one hand, it has some wonderfully funny portions. The elevator bit is great and dialog such as the following are wonderful:

'....I'm not going to your place (even) if it's next to a nudist camp'.

'Six is too young to get married' 'The hillbillies DO'

On the other hand, midway through the film it becomes the darkest Kildare movie of them all....REAL dark. Have some Kleenex handy sort of dark! So, I do recommend you see it but also advise you to hold on--it's going to be a VERY bumpy ride. Overall, quite good and an odd combination of humor and depression!

By the way, Lionel Barrymore appears to really be playing piano at times in the film and he's also credited with a musical score in the credits. That's interesting.

acting good, plot good

[awdude · 4 December 2002]

I hadn't seen any Dr. Kildare movies till this one.

The young doctor's tragedy may have been a sad cliche, but the doctor's and nurses rallying around his recovery were nice to see. Good acting from Barrymore as usual. Many of the lines about death and duty were very good, ones to remember.

we know one thing going in, two if you're a baby boomer

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 20 October 2014]

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.

Marrying A Doctor

[DKosty123 · 6/10 · 11 October 2016]

The cast and talents here are more of the reason to watch. In the case of this one the script is not always good. In fact, the title turns out to be much different than in reality of the events of the film than one would expect.

Lionel Barrymore's Dr. Guillispie is here again as the wise older doctor again advising the younger Dr Kildare (Lew Ayres) on how to cope with being a Doctor and handling the other events in his life.

There is a comedy sequence featuring Red Skelton, some suitcases and packages, and a telephone booth which is a classic physical sequence which Skelton excelled at.

This one is really for fans of the cast and followers of the series as it really is a B- entry from MGM.

Notable for...well...that's a spoiler...so beware as you read this review

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 7 June 2018]

This film was well into the series of MGM films featuring Lew Ayres as young Dr. Kildare. It's notable for a rather unusual plot twist (at least for back then)...the death of a major character.

MGM wanted to elevate Laraine Day's status at the studio...so they kill here off...just before the wedding.

The film is also notable for being the last Red Skelton film before he graduated to being a rising star instead of a bit player.

The plot involves the preparation for Dr. Kildare's and nurse LaMont's wedding. But a medical case distracts Kildare. First, a famous conductor is losing his ability to hear sufficiently to continue to conduct. Nurse LaMont is struck by a truck and killed...and not having reading about this film before watching it...well, quite a dramatic plot twist! A devastated Kildare can't continue practicing medicine...but of course, Dr. Gillespie brings him back to sanity.

Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore are great, as they were throughout the series. And Laraine Day certainly had potential, but it seems to me it was never fulfilled in her career.

"Jimmy Kildare's meant for you...and you for him."

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 13 December 2014]

The wedding of Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres) and Nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) is fast approaching. There's excitement and happiness in the air as everybody prepares for the big day. But an unexpected tragedy leaves Kildare devastated. It's up to Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) to try and help the young doctor recover.

The eighth Dr. Kildare movie is the penultimate one for Lew Ayres, who would be forced out of the series after the next one. You would think that MGM knew far ahead of time that this would be the case, given how Lionel Barrymore dominates the screen time. The big news is that this was the last of the movies Laraine Day appeared in. MGM wanted to move her on to bigger and better things. Whatever the reason behind it, it was a bold choice to go the direction they went. The series had pretty good continuity and the events of this movie would still affect Kildare in the next film. The cast of regulars are all wonderful, going from comedy to tragedy without skipping a beat. Love the little girl who wants to marry Kildare and justifies the age difference because "hillbillies do it." It's probably Ayres' finest hour in the series, dramatically speaking. Red Skelton provides most of the comic relief. At one point in the film Dr. Gillespie relates the story about a composer he once loved. He plays some of her music on the piano. Barrymore wrote this music himself.

This is one of my favorite Kildare movies. The medical case isn't a big deal but the wonderful characters are what sell the story, as usual. Good writing, directing, acting....it's one of the best of the series. By the way, in the scene where Mary is trying on her dress and talking with Jimmy's mother, listen to the funny way the cook pronounces mayonnaise. Little things like that always give me a kick when watching older films.

The usual hospital shenanigans and a weepy love story too...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 9 March 2009]

Sorry, but these Dr. Kildare pictures have about as much resemblance to real life as any childhood fantasy. Gruff DR. GILLESPIE is really given too much footage in this outing and frankly, LIONEL BARRYMORE's grumblings get a bit tiresome after the first half-hour. He's the man who makes Ayres realize that despite his grief, he's still first and foremost a doctor.

LEW AYRES and LARAINE DAY do their usual competent jobs as the romantic leads in the series, with Ayres unable to find the time to attend to all the pressing details of an upcoming marriage. Laraine Day was so sick of her Kildare assignments at MGM, that the writers were assigned to write her out of the series so she could go on with her career in more than this one-dimensional role.

The nice supporting cast always helped make the series at least minimally entertaining. RED SKELTON's participation, however, seems a bit out of place in an extended gag scene with him guarding a whole bunch of suitcases while a possible thief watches silently nearby.

ALMA KRUGER, MARIE BLAKE, SAMUEL S. HINDS, MILES MANDER, FRANK ORTH and others give good support, while NILS ASTHER has the most interesting supporting role as a musical conductor who needs medical attention.

Summing up: A trifle of a B-film, the kind that played the lower half of a double bill in the '40s.

The Best of the Kildare Series

[OldHatCinema · 8/10 · 17 July 2019]

The big day has finally arrived! Dr. Jimmy Kildare is finally marrying Nurse Mary Lamont, and all his friends in the hospital are preparing for the big day. Dr. Gillespie is occupied with helping a well-known orchestra conductor who thinks he's going deaf, but that's not all Gillespie's busy with: he's also trying his best to talk and scheme his way out of going to cancer specialist Dr. Lockburg's sanitarium for a month. Everything's going just beautifully, until an utterly unexpected tragedy strikes the night before the wedding. Now it's up to good old Gillespie to bring Jimmy back to some semblance of reality.

This might be my all-time favorite in the Kildare series so far; I still have one more to go, plus five in the Gillespie series that I have yet to see. But one of the things that make this one so interesting is the musical theme inherent in the plot. Lionel Barrymore composed the music for this one, and plays it on the piano himself too. In real life, Lionel had a high regard for classical music and knew a lot about many famous composers. He composed some music himself, claiming that much of it was actually "stolen from real composers" (the way he states it in his autobiography "We Barrymores", written in 1951), and played the piano as well as the oboe!

So all that serves to contribute to a most interesting and well-above average entry for the Kildare series. I have always referred to Lionel as an acting genius, and it was funny to hear him call himself a genius in this movie, through the character of Gillespie of course.

It's also fascinating to discover a bit more about Dr. Gillespie's background and personal life. He talks about a girl he used to love, and how he ended up losing her...sounding much the same as what Kildare is going through when he tells him. He talks about how another brilliant, famous doctor helped him during that difficult time and convinced him to continue his career instead of giving up, and it also appears that Gillespie comes from a pretty well-to-do background, this being revealed when he asks Kildare to meet him somewhere to talk, and gives him the address for a big, lovely, rambling old house that turns out to be "the old Gillespie Place", his childhood home.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy one of the best films the series had to offer!