Dark Delusion (1947)

The Dr. Kildare series, which morphed into the Dr. Gillespie series, has its last episode with "Dark Delusions." Filmed in 1947, it also stars James Craig as Dr. Coalt. Coalt is a brilliant doctor but a little too aggressive for a doctor starting out -- translation: he's in trouble with the upper crust.Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) sends Coalt to replace Dr. Art Baker in the country temporarily. There, his strong-mindedness and little regard for big monied people gets him embroiled in another tough case. The father of a young woman, Lester Matthews, wants to have his daughter (Lucille Bremer) committed, but Dr. Coalt won't sign the papers. He believes that her problem can be cured and sets out to gain the young woman's confidence and help her, despite opposition.A secondary plot concerns parents (Jayne Meadows and Warner Anderson) of a baby about to be adopted by them. In order to finalize the adoption, both parents have to pass a physical. The mother has her physical, but her husband keeps finding excuses not to have one. It's up to Keye Luke to get to the bottom of the problem.Good episode, but of the Ayres replacements, Craig was probably the most boring. The combo of Van Johnson and Keye Luke was the liveliest. I've never been a big fan of Van Johnson's, but he certainly brought lightness and charm to the proceedings.Good, glossy series in the MGM tradition.

In New York's Blair General Hospital, workplace of writer Max Brand's famous "Dr. Kildare", handsome recruit James Craig (as Tommy Coalt) is adored by young nurses, but has trouble getting along with his patients. There have been several complaints about Mr. Craig's poor bedside manner. Patients send protests to wise hospital head Lionel Barrymore (as Leonard Gillespie) regarding the new doctor's brash attitude. Craig is basically a good doctor – but he's a little bull-headed. When a nearby hospital asks Barrymore to "loan out" a surgeon for six weeks, he sends Craig. On the road, Craig meets a melancholy woman. Later, he discovers she is one of his new patients. Craig is immediately asked to co-sign papers committing gloomy Lucille Bremer (as Cynthia Grace) to a sanitarium. However, Craig has a feeling Ms. Bremer is more pretty than insane. He refuses to co-sign commitment papers...MGM looks to have been setting up an additional spin-off series with this entry, but this was the last of their "Kildare/Gillespie" films – which lost Lew Ayres in the leading role, years ago. Van Johnson' "Dr. Adams" replaced "Dr. Kildare" as the young surgeon, but checked out after becoming a major box-office star. "Dark Delusion" did feature Barrymore and the staff, but took the story to another hospital. The tone is morose, with both the hospital and Ms. Bremer photographed in sinister shadows. A couple years later, Mr. Ayres returned as "Dr. Kildare" in a radio series. By the 1960s, the doctor got a big shot in the arm on TV, in a popular series starring Richard Chamberlain. The highlights in "Dark Delusion" are Barrymore acting up his usual storm, Bremer's pointedly tight party dress, and the telephone chase scene wherein series regular Keye Luke "diagnoses" Warner Anderson's heart condition...Finally, there must be special mention of how director Willis Goldbeck and/or photographer Charles Rosher handle Craig and Bremer's climactic kissing scene – by spurting water in the lower left hand corner of your screen.**** Dark Delusion (6/25/47) Willis Goldbeck ~ James Craig, Lionel Barrymore, Lucille Bremer, Keye Luke

The last (and least) of the Dr. Gillespie series focuses on a young doctor played by James Craig. He's a jerk who keeps ticking off patients. So Gillespie sends him to a small town hoping that might improve his bedside manner. It doesn't really because Craig spends the whole movie investigating a schizophrenia case. He even commits crimes that would lose any real doctor his license and probably see him serving time in prison. So the initial premise isn't even followed up on. I'm not a big fan of Craig so you can imagine how I feel about a movie where he gets 3/4 of the screen time. I did enjoy Keye Luke, though. This is a lackluster end to the Dr. Gillespie series, which was originally the Dr. Kildare series. The first and possibly only movie to feature a wedding where the bride is in an iron lung. So there's that.

It's a pleasure re-discovering how well made these minor B films were at MGM. This is another entry in the Dr. Gillespie series at MGM, the ones without Lew Ayres as Dr. Kildare.Instead, JAMES CRAIG is a young doctor treating a very troubled young woman (LUCILLE BREMER) whose guardians want her committed to an asylum for observation. Craig immediately thinks otherwise, although why he's so sure of her sanity is hard to determine. That's one of the weaknesses of the story and he's rather stubborn in his conviction.LUCILLE BREMER plays the distraught patient as though she's seen too many Bette Davis movies. She paces about and stares into the camera lens with wide-eyed terror, all in what appears to be a pale imitation of Miss Davis. She even resembles the younger Davis physically in extreme close-ups.At Blair Hospital, Keye Luke and Lioneal Barrymore are on hand for some comic relief, as is Marie Blake as the switchboard operator and Alma Krueger as a stern and knowing nurse. Reliable character actor Henry Stephenson is the girl's guardian.JAMES CRAIG is stolid and solemn as the stubborn doctor and LIONEL BARRYMORE is his usual blustery self as Dr. Gillespie, but the story's resolution is just too patly contrived for believability, including the narcosynthesis explanation. JAYNE MEADOWS makes a nice impression in one of her more wholesome roles.As a simplistic B-film, it's of more than average interest.