Dr. Kildare: On a knife edge
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dr. Kildare: On a knife edge |
| Original title | Dr. Kildare's Strange Case |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 76 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Harold S. Bucquet |
| script |
Harry Ruskin , Willis Goldbeck |
| music | David Snell |
| camera | John F. Seitz |
| cut | Gene Ruggiero |
| occupation | |
as well as without mentioning in the opening credits: Donald Douglas | |
Dr. Kildare: Auf Messers Schneide (Original title: Dr. Kildare's Strange Case ) is an American film drama in black and white from 1940. Directed by Harold S. Bucquet . Harry Ruskin and Willis Goldbeck adapted the script based on the story Dr. Kildare's Girl by Max Brand . The main roles were played by Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore . Dr. Kildare: The fourth film by Dr. Kildare series by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .
action
At Blair General Hospital in New York , Dr. Gregory Lane was a talented and wealthy doctor who specializes in brain surgery. Dr. Leonard Gillespie and his assistant Dr. James Kildare refer a patient to him; they consider the operation dangerous, but also inevitable. The patient also insists on the operation, otherwise he would go blind. The nurse Mary Lamont, the mistress of Dr. Kildare is involved in the operation, which is proceeding largely as planned. Nevertheless the patient dies.
About the head of the clinic, Dr. Walter Carew, and Dr. Gillespie becomes Dr. Kildare made an offer for a very well paid position at the Messenger Institute. Mary Lamont is happy that she hopes Dr. Kildare will soon be able to marry her on this merit. But Dr. Kildare declines the offer as he still hopes to work as assistant to Dr. Gillespies still have a lot to learn. Soon, an unknown patient comes to see Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Kildare. For him, too, they see no alternative to an operation by Dr. Lane. The patient doesn't want to have an operation, at least not before next Friday, as he stammered awkwardly. Since the doctors do not think he is sane, Dr. Lane and Dr. Kildare him anyway. The operation succeeds, but the patient continues to look confused. Dr. Lane feels responsible for it. When Dr. Carew notices this, he suspends Dr. Lane in view of the many failures and announces further consequences. Dr. Kildare thinks the patient was confused before the accident; moreover, he has no fault either. Lanes noticed during the operation. His attempts to learn more about the patient, however, lead to nothing even with support. Therefore, encouraged by his mother, he now wants to try to cure the patient. To do this, he wants to use the new insulin shock therapy. Although he has read everything about it, he has not yet had any experience with it. His father, a resident doctor, was once involved in such a therapy; therefore he would like to benefit from his experience with it.
Although the father believes in the effectiveness of insulin shock therapy, he advises his son against performing it on a patient who has recently undergone surgery. Nevertheless, Dr. Kildare is doing the therapy, and he is doing it with Mary Lamont without telling anyone else. While the procedure, which lasts several hours, is caught by the senior nurse Molly Byrd. This warns Mary Lamont, but accepts the authority of Dr. Kildares and go again. After the successful therapy, Dr. Kildare will speak to the patient briefly. He then leaves the hospital immediately, but instructs Mary Lamont not to let anyone see the patient until he is back. But soon Dr. Carew see the patient. Mary tries to stop him, but only succeeds because Dr. Gillespie arrives and the two of them get Dr. Carew can hold back until Dr. Kildare returns with Mrs. Adams, the patient's wife. She had left her husband five years earlier, after which he was slowly going crazy. On Friday she wanted to visit him and talk about their future together. This clears the matter up with Dr. Carew opposite, and Dr. Lane is reinstated. Dr. Gillespie quits Dr. Kildare. When he asks him about it, it turns out to be an educational measure. The termination will be withdrawn, Dr. Kildare should take fewer risks in the future. Mary Lamont now wants to continue to rely on Dr. Kildare wait after seeing happiness in Mrs. Adams' eyes.
background
The novel on which the film is based, Dr. Kildare's Girl was published by Max Brand in April 1940 in the journal Photoplay .
Technical staff
For the production design in Dr. Kildare: The Razor's Edge was Cedric Gibbons and Edwin B. Willis responsible.
Filming
The production of Dr. Kildare: On the Razor Edge began in mid-January 1940. The film was shot in the MGM studios.
synchronization
The synchronization of Dr. Kildare: On the Razor's Edge was carried out in 1991 by Interopa Film GmbH in Berlin . The dialogue was directed by Hagen Mueller-Stahl , the dialogue script by Katrin Blass.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. James Kildare | Lew Ayres | Udo Schenk |
| Dr. Leonard Gillespie | Lionel Barrymore | Hans W. Hamacher |
| Mary Lamont | Laraine Day | Ulrike Möckel |
| Dr. Gregory Lane | Shepperd Strudwick | Klaus-Dieter Klebsch |
| Dr. Stephen Kildare | Samuel S. Hinds | Friedrich W. Building School |
| Martha Kildare | Emma Dunn | Christel Merian |
| Joe Wayman | Nat Pendleton | Detlef Bierstedt |
| Dr. Walter Carew | Walter Kingsford | Jürgen Thormann |
| Molly Byrd | Alma Kruger | Christine Gerlach |
Premiere
Dr. Kildare: On a Knife's Edge premiered on April 12, 1940 and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . The German premiere was on October 21, 1991 on ARD television .
reception
Reviews
Contemporary reviews
In his review for the New York Times , BR Crisler complains that nothing is going on in the series' films, except perhaps for future doctors who want to learn new methods. Otherwise it is about the same characters and the same story over and over again, only the patients and their symptoms would change. Even the relationship between Dr. Kildare and Mary Lamont stand still. The producers of the series don't move at all and earn a lot from it. Other reviewers find the film entertaining, interesting, and attractive. Like the other films in the series, it provides good mass entertainment because the characters act naturally and the medical topics are interesting and easy to understand. This would make the film as successful as its predecessor. In addition, Lionel Barrymore , but also Lew Ayres and the director Harold S. Bucquet are particularly praised.
Modern reviews
Leonard Maltin saw in Dr. Kildare: A riveting episode on a knife's edge and gave it 2.5 stars out of four. Cinema magazine , on the other hand, writes of "medicine from days long gone." Paul Mavis found the film particularly stupid, not because of the now-rejected views on schizophrenia and insulin shock therapy , but because of the ridiculous and unbelievable romantic scenes that were ridiculous as early as 1940 be. The problem is that the film is actually a comedy, and that's because of everyone except Kildare. Nat Pendleton and Blossom Rock show this very well, not to mention Lionel Barrymore. Lew Ayres, on the other hand, can be seen that the role did not challenge him very much.
Lesley L. Coffin saw Dr. Kildare: A growing focus on the relationship between Dr. Kildare and Mary Lamont. In this he saw the reason for the growing popularity of the series, after all, the later films were financially more successful than the first three.
consequences
Dr. Kildare: On a knife edge was later used as a hook for ethics in medicine. Joseph Turow is referring to the scene in which Dr. Lane operated on against the patient's wishes. This scene, which is undoubtedly meant to be dramatic, would seem downright amusing to current medical professionals, since such a decision is now clearly punishable. In the further text he compares the image, but also the diversity of doctors in the 1940s with those 60 years later. John K. Crellin records the scene in which Dr. Kildare undertakes an experimental treatment without informing anyone except a nurse about it, as an example of “heroic experiments on patients” and questions the social acceptance for it.
Web links
- Dr. Kildare: The Razor's Edge in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dr. Kildare's Strange Case at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- The film at Archive.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ Evelyn Herzog: Young Detective Kildare . In: Guy M. Townsend (Ed.): The Mystery Fancier . tape 7 , no. 2 . Wildside Press, 1983, ISBN 978-1-4344-0637-8 , ISSN 0146-3160 , pp. 9 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed December 8, 2019]).
- ↑ a b c Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940). In: AFI Catalog. American Film Institute , accessed December 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Dr. Kildare: On a knife edge. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on December 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Dr. Kildare: On a knife edge. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 8, 2019 .
- ^ BR Crisler: THE SCREEN; 'Dr. Kildare's Strange Case 'Is the Capitol's New In-Patient -' Shooting High 'at the Palace . In: The New York Times . April 12, 1940 ( online on New York Times [accessed December 8, 2019]).
- ^ John Kinloch: Reviews . In: The California Eagle . (English, online at Archive.org [accessed December 8, 2019]).
- ↑ a b “Dr. Kildare's Strange Case ”with Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore and Laraine Day . In: Harrison's Reports . April 20, 1940, p. 63 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed December 8, 2019]).
- ↑ a b c Dr. Kildare's Strange Case . In: Variety . April 17, 1940, p. 13 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed December 8, 2019]).
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide . Plume, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4 , pp. 185 (English).
- ↑ Dr. Kildare: On a knife edge. In: Cinema . Hubert Burda Media , accessed December 8, 2019 .
- ^ Paul Mavis: Dr. Kildare Movie Collection (Warner Archive Collection). In: DVDTalk. January 23, 2014, accessed December 8, 2019 .
- ^ Lesley L. Coffin: Lew Ayres: Hollywood's Conscientious Objector . University Press of Mississippi, Jackson 2012, ISBN 978-1-61703-637-8 , pp. 88–89 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed December 8, 2019]).
- ^ Joseph Turow: The Picture of Health: Medical Ethics and the Movies . Ed .: Henri Colt, Silvia Quadrelli, Friedman Lester. Oxford University Press, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-973536-5 , pp. 100-102 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed December 8, 2019]).
- ↑ John K. Crellin: Public Expectations and Physicians' Responsibilities: Voices of medical humanities . CRC Press, Boca Raton 2018, ISBN 978-1-315-35838-3 , pp. ? (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed December 8, 2019]).