Copyright 12 October 1938 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 27 October 1938 (ran one week). U.S. release: 14 October 1938. Australian release: 9 February 1939. 8 reels. 81 minutes.
COMMENT: Although exceptions were occasionally made for Blondie, Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and The Saint, series films were rarely contenders for even a supporting slot on all-important Saturday nights in Britain and Australia. Dr Kildare had a further impediment in that the setting itself had few glamorous associations for Australians - and still less for Britishers - during the dark days and nights of WW2.
This one has some curiosity value, being the first of the M-G-M series. It was also the first feature film directed by Harold S. Bucquet, a graduate of the studio's shorts department. Bucquet's background was in scene design, but his directorial (or perhaps his health) problems surfaced in 1942 when Dr Kildare's Victory had to be completed and largely re-shot by W.S. Van Dyke. On the other hand, Bucquet did such sterling work on The Adventures of Tartu in 1943, he was handed two other prestige assignments, Dragon Seed (1944) and Without Love (1945), before his death in 1946 at the comparatively early age of 54.
Alas, Young Dr Kildare is also saddled with a weak script. True, it does have a few interesting moments (Kildare peering through the door at his revived patient), but even some of these are ruined by Bucquet's mawkish tendency to over-emphasize. Only Nat Pendleton's gustoish playing of a muscle-bound ambulance driver and Monty Woolley's stuffed-shirt psychiatrist have any real appeal.
COMMENT: Although exceptions were occasionally made for Blondie, Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and The Saint, series films were rarely contenders for even a supporting slot on all-important Saturday nights in Britain and Australia. Dr Kildare had a further impediment in that the setting itself had few glamorous associations for Australians - and still less for Britishers - during the dark days and nights of WW2.
This one has some curiosity value, being the first of the M-G-M series. It was also the first feature film directed by Harold S. Bucquet, a graduate of the studio's shorts department. Bucquet's background was in scene design, but his directorial (or perhaps his health) problems surfaced in 1942 when Dr Kildare's Victory had to be completed and largely re-shot by W.S. Van Dyke. On the other hand, Bucquet did such sterling work on The Adventures of Tartu in 1943, he was handed two other prestige assignments, Dragon Seed (1944) and Without Love (1945), before his death in 1946 at the comparatively early age of 54.
Alas, Young Dr Kildare is also saddled with a weak script. True, it does have a few interesting moments (Kildare peering through the door at his revived patient), but even some of these are ruined by Bucquet's mawkish tendency to over-emphasize. Only Nat Pendleton's gustoish playing of a muscle-bound ambulance driver and Monty Woolley's stuffed-shirt psychiatrist have any real appeal.