Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Willis Goldbeck |
| script |
Harry Ruskin , Willis Goldbeck, Lawrence P. Bachmann |
| music | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
| camera | George J. Folsey |
| cut | Ralph E. Winters |
| occupation | |
as well as without mention in the opening credits: Dorothy Adams , Pamela Blake , Georgia Caine , Wally Cassell , Edith Evanson , Sylvia Field , Paul Fix , Dorothy Morris , Sarah Padden , Arthur Shields , Harry Strang and Jacqueline White | |
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant is an American film drama in black and white from 1942. Directed by Willis Goldbeck , who also wrote the screenplay with Harry Ruskin and Lawrence P. Bachmann . The main roles were played by Lionel Barrymore , Van Johnson and Susan Peters . Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant is the eleventh film by Dr. Kildare series by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the second without Dr. Kildare.
action
At Blair General Hospital in New York , the head of the clinic, Dr. Walter Carew and Senior Nurse Molly Byrd oversee the health of Dr. Leonard Gillespie, the clinic's most renowned doctor. They think he's overworking. When he listens to a patient's breathing and falls asleep, the two insist that he get an assistant. Dr. Gillespie sees no need for this and protests briefly, but soon gives in. He's going to ask the new interns a question. Should someone answer this question correctly, he will use him as an assistant. Contrary to expectations, even three of the interns answered correctly, namely Dr. Randall Adams from Kansas, the Australian military doctor Dr. Dennis Lindsay and the Chinese-born Dr. Lee Wong Howe from Brooklyn. Since Dr. Gillespie does not want to decide, he first takes all three. He instructs Dr. Lee treated a deaf, two-year-old boy, and Dr. Lindsay is supposed to take care of a man with a rash. Before he became Dr. Adams is able to assign a patient, he is reminded that he wanted to congratulate Howard Allwinn Young, the son of one of his best friends, on the wedding. He learns that his wife Claire has suddenly lost her memories. He asks Howard to come with her to Blair General Hospital.
However, neither talking to Claire nor medical examinations can help Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Ames finding a reason for Claire's amnesia . Dr. Ames brings Claire back to her familiar surroundings, but she can't remember anything there either. Soon Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Ames got the impression that Claire was just simulating amnesia. After a visit to Claire's general practitioner, who is currently in the military, Dr. Ames that Claire had registered there as a widow with a toddler. Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Ames then confronts Claire with her suspicions and the information that causes Claire to faint. When she wakes up again, she says that when she was 16 she married a criminal. Shortly after the birth of their first son, her husband was shot in a robbery. She brought her son to live with her mother and then moved to New York where she became a fashion designer . Although she didn't want to, she fell in love with Howard. She wanted to inform him about her son, but she kept postponing it. It was only when she got married that she realized that she couldn't wait any longer. When she finally began to work towards this topic in a conversation, Howard immediately made a cruel joke about "second-hand women". It was then that she realized that he would never accept her son. Therefore, she now wants to discreetly withdraw from Howard, whom she still loves, and has therefore pretended to have lost her memories.
Shortly afterwards, Dr. Carew and Molly Byrd get the impression that Dr. Gillespie reacted in shock to this result, and worried about him. Both now want to know how Dr. Gillespie gets along with his assistants. But since they are both ashamed of it, they independently commission the medic Joe Wayman to spy on the four. Both also ask Joe not to tell the other about it, otherwise he will lose his job. Meanwhile, Dr. Ames felt he needed to find out more about Claire. He illegally obtained their medical records. It says that Claire cannot have any more children, but she doesn't know. When he hears about it, Dr. Gillespie immediately joined Howard to his office. He accuses him of being wrong with his wife and tells him that she can no longer have children. Since Howard wants to stay with Claire but also wants to have children, Dr. Gillespie palatable him an adoption. Only then does he tell Howard about Claire's son. Howard and Claire get back together. Since all three interns to Dr. Gillespie's satisfaction, he wants to keep them all. Dr. Lindsay has to cancel because his military superiors have called him back.
background
Occupation and technical staff
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant was Willis Goldbeck's first ever directorial work . He was previously responsible for the script in the Dr. Kildare series. Van Johnson and Keye Luke made their first appearance on the series.
For the production design in Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant were Cedric Gibbons and Edwin B. Willis responsible.
Filming
The production of Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant ran from August 13 to September 19, 1942. The film was shot in the MGM studios.
Premiere
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant premiered in December 1942 and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . There is no German version of the film.
reception
Reviews
Contemporary reviews
The contemporary critics attested Dr. Kildare's New Assistant to be just as entertaining as the other episodes in the series, standard entertainment. The funny moments predominate, but it never gets boring. The introduction of unnecessary characters is to be criticized, and the main topic is so complex that it can hardly be adequately represented in a film like this one.
Lionel Barrymore is as good as usual. Susan Peters delivers a serious and compelling performance, whereas Horace McNally (= Stephen McNally) is miscast. Otherwise, the cast or, more specifically, the supporting roles are explicitly praised. Willis Goldbeck, the production and George Folsey are all right. In contrast, the American Cinematographer (published by the American Society of Cinematographers ) highly recommends the film. It is a prime example of decorative lighting. George Folsey's interpretation of the movie's changing moods is also highlighted.
Modern reviews
Paul Mavis complained that the film was splintering more and more, which was not only due to the weak script, but also to the people behind the camera. The story of Claire's amnesia is completely uninteresting; the other two cases are predictable and also uninteresting, but at least real. He praised Keye Luke, who had to rant about the Japanese all the time, realizing that he wasn't one himself. Van Johnson, on the other hand, was just about okay with seeing nothing of the good actor he would later become. But the best is Frank Orth, who unfortunately made his last appearance in the series. Leonard Maltin found the episode satisfactory and gave it 2½ out of four points.
Philippa Gates said Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant reflects that because of the war, more attention was paid to collaboration than to ethnic backgrounds. This inclusionism does not necessarily have to go back to Hollywood, but was suggested to the producers by the United States Office of War Information . So Dr. Lee Wong Howe, American with Chinese roots, portrayed positively and nuanced. She also noted that Dr. Lee is seen in the film and by the critics as "Chinese", even though he was born in Brooklyn , studied "Western" medicine and speaks English but not Chinese.
Web links
- Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942). In: AFI Catalog. American Film Institute , accessed April 5, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d “Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant ”with Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson and Susan Peters . In: Harrison's Reports . November 14, 1942, p. 184 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed April 5, 2020]).
- ↑ a b c Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant . In: The Women's University Club in the American Association of University Women (Ed.): Motion Picture Reviews . December 1942, p. 5 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed April 5, 2020]).
- ↑ a b c d e Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant . In: Variety . November 11, 1942, p. 8 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed April 5, 2020]).
- ↑ Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant . In: American Cinematographer . June 1943, p. 215 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed April 5, 2020]).
- ^ Paul Mavis: Dr. Gillespie Film Collection (Warner Archive Collection). In: DVDTalk. November 12, 2014, accessed April 5, 2020 .
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide . Plume, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4 , pp. 183 (English).
- ↑ Philippa Gates: Criminalization / Assimilation: Chinese / Americans and Chinatowns in Classical Hollywood Film . Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 2019, ISBN 978-0-8135-8942-8 , pp. 193–196 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed April 5, 2020]).