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Dr. Kildare’s Strange Case (1940) is an American medical drama directed by Harold S. Bucquet. This fifth entry in the Dr. Kildare film series follows young Dr. James Kildare as he navigates professional rivalry, romantic tension, and a complex medical mystery. When an unidentified patient with a skull fracture refuses life‑saving surgery, Kildare and brain surgeon Dr. Gregory Lane clash over treatment, ethics, and responsibility. Meanwhile, Kildare’s mentor, Dr. Leonard Gillespie, pushes him to confront personal choices involving career advancement and his relationship with nurse Mary Lamont. The film blends emotional stakes with early‑20th‑century medical practices, including the dramatic use of insulin‑shock therapy.

Film Details
Year: 1940
Genre: Drama / Medical
Director: Harold S. Bucquet
Writers: Max Brand (story), Willis Goldbeck (story & screenplay), Harry Ruskin (screenplay)
Produced by: Harold S. Bucquet
Starring: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day
Cinematography: John F. Seitz
Edited by: Gene Ruggiero
Music: David Snell
Studio: Metro‑Goldwyn‑Mayer
Distributed by: Metro‑Goldwyn‑Mayer
Release Date: April 12, 1940
Runtime: 77 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English

#DrKildaresStrangeCase1940 #DrKildare #LewAyres #LionelBarrymore #MedicalDrama #MGM #1940sCinema #ClassicDrama #HaroldSBucquet #MaryLamont
Transcript
00:00:00The End
00:00:36The End
00:01:00General Hospital information
00:01:02No, sir, I can't ring Mr. Boyd's room
00:01:04No, they operated on him this morning
00:01:06Yes, an append...
00:01:07An append...
00:01:09Yes, they took it out
00:01:12McCallie
00:01:14If you're not busy tonight
00:01:16How about you and me grabbing a quick sandwich
00:01:18And catching the early show at a movie?
00:01:20Excuse me
00:01:22Lieutenant...
00:01:23Oh, hello, Irene
00:01:25Sure, I had a grand time last night
00:01:27I was out with Mr. Gustakis in the Pittsburgh
00:01:29First to a classy cocktail bar
00:01:32And then dinner at a hotel
00:01:33Where the soup was two dollars a plate
00:01:36And then to a nightclub
00:01:38With real champagne
00:01:40Well, goodbye
00:01:41See you later
00:01:42What were you saying about tonight, Joe?
00:01:45Oh, I...
00:01:46Nothing
00:01:47Nothing at all
00:01:49Good morning, Dr. Lane
00:01:51Morning
00:01:51Hi, Dr.
00:01:52Good morning
00:01:53Uh, has Nurse Mary Lamont checked in yet?
00:01:56Yes, ten minutes ago
00:01:57Oh, thank you
00:01:59You know, I got half the notion
00:02:00To take a good poke at that guy
00:02:01Trying to cut in on Doc Kildare's girl
00:02:04Control yourself, muscle-bound
00:02:06If your pal Kildare don't do anything about it
00:02:08Why should you stick your nose in?
00:02:09What's she giving him a towel for, anyhow?
00:02:11Why not?
00:02:12The way I see it
00:02:13There are only two things she can do
00:02:14Jump off a bridge over Jimmy Kildare
00:02:16Or go out with this guy
00:02:17In spite of the fact that he's single
00:02:19Rich and good-looking
00:02:20Yeah, he'll need his dough
00:02:21Up in brain surgery
00:02:23They're commencing to call him
00:02:24The Undertaker's friend
00:02:28Emergency
00:02:30Yes, Nurse Lamont
00:02:32Dr. Kildare
00:02:33Yes, he went past the desk
00:02:35But I don't remember if he was coming or going out
00:02:37Thank you, Sally
00:02:46Is Dr. Kildare in?
00:02:47Dr. Kildare is in Dr. Gillespie's office
00:02:49And everything is okay
00:02:51Gillespie shut himself up in the other room
00:02:53Thanks
00:03:05Mary, I get an hour off today
00:03:07How about having lunch?
00:03:08Jimmy, that'll be wonderful
00:03:10Hildare
00:03:11Uh, yes, Dr. Gillespie
00:03:14I have to make a phone call first
00:03:17Hildare
00:03:17Jimmy, Hildare
00:03:19Coming, Dr. Gillespie
00:03:21Mary, you have another date for lunch, haven't you?
00:03:24If you already have a date, then you mustn't break it
00:03:26Besides, I'm not sure Dr. Gillespie will let me off
00:03:29But Jimmy, you know
00:03:31Dr. Kildare
00:03:32Can't you hear me?
00:03:34I'll be right there, Dr. Gillespie
00:03:36No lunch, Mary
00:03:37Hildare
00:03:38This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of
00:03:45Jimmy
00:03:46You've had a pretty busy morning
00:03:48Why don't you
00:03:49What did you want, sir?
00:03:50You were saying something was ridiculous
00:03:52Ah, this report on Rufus Ingersoll
00:03:56Jimmy, Rufus Ingersoll's been examined by every department in this hand-painted institution
00:04:01Here are 27 different reports by 27 different doctors without a mistake in one of them
00:04:07Why, it's impossible
00:04:09Parker?
00:04:10Parker!
00:04:11Uh, Mr. Rufus Ingersoll should be treated with kindness, sweetness, and light
00:04:18Will you kindly send in Mr. Rufus Ingersoll?
00:04:21Yes, sir
00:04:23Let me handle this, you may
00:04:26Good morning, doctor
00:04:28Well, Mr. Ingersoll, good morning
00:04:31And how are you feeling today?
00:04:33Never a little better than my life
00:04:35Oh, that's fine
00:04:36That's fine
00:04:37Because your system's in a state of collapse
00:04:43Sit down before you fall down
00:04:46Mr. Ingersoll, you're suffering from a bad case of what we might call the dangerous age
00:04:53You've been living too young
00:04:55You've been eating too young
00:04:57You've been drinking too young
00:04:59You've been, yes, you've been thinking too young
00:05:02And all because you fancy yourself to be in love with a young girl in her twenties
00:05:08And what's the result?
00:05:10Your stomach is overworked
00:05:12Your heart is overstrained
00:05:14And your kidneys look like the Battle of Gettysburg
00:05:18My age has nothing to do with it
00:05:20I'm still a young man
00:05:21You're young enough to make a fool of yourself
00:05:23Dr. Gillespie, I came here for medical advice
00:05:26Okay, you take a large dose of common sense
00:05:30Of course, your personal affairs have got nothing to do with me
00:05:35But medically speaking
00:05:36My advice is that you should lead the life of a gentleman of fifty
00:05:41With his wife and children
00:05:43Otherwise, Mr. Ingersoll, one of these fine days you're going to drop dead
00:05:50Good day, Mr. Ingersoll
00:05:52This way
00:05:54Next patient
00:05:57Next patient
00:06:01Well, how can I examine you with your uniform on?
00:06:05Examine me?
00:06:06I don't understand
00:06:07Well, I call for the next patient
00:06:08And you pop in
00:06:09You must be the next patient
00:06:11Have you forgotten Mr. Grayson's waiting in the next room?
00:06:15Why in the name of common sense didn't you tell me?
00:06:17Because you told me
00:06:19Well, Rosie, shake your leg
00:06:21Yes, Doctor
00:06:21Wait a minute
00:06:22Tell Grayson we'll be in right away
00:06:24Yes, Doctor
00:06:25What's your opinion on Grayson?
00:06:27Do you think he's going blind?
00:06:30Well, case history shows an increasing pressure on the optic nerve
00:06:34Every indication points to an enlarged pituitary gland
00:06:36Well, that agrees with my diagnosis
00:06:39What do you prescribe?
00:06:41An operation
00:06:43Removal of the tumor
00:06:44Sooner the better
00:06:45You positive of that?
00:06:49Yes
00:06:50That's the only chance he has
00:06:51Outside of a miracle
00:06:53You're absolutely right
00:06:56But the final decision to operate is up to the surgeon
00:06:59Well, that's one thing we can do for Grayson
00:07:02Get him a good man
00:07:04Means you have an idea
00:07:06I wouldn't dare suggest it's anyone but you
00:07:08Dr. Gregory Lane
00:07:10Gregory Lane?
00:07:12Yes
00:07:12I know there's been some talk
00:07:14He's lost several patients in a row
00:07:16But people don't realize that sometimes patients die
00:07:19Because there's no chance of recovery
00:07:20What are you trying to prove?
00:07:22I'm not trying to prove anything
00:07:24But I feel positive that Lane's a fine surgeon
00:07:27And that the medical profession needs him
00:07:29Well, what brought Dr. Gregory Lane to your eagle eye?
00:07:32Didn't you once tell me he was the most promising young surgeon
00:07:35Ever came to this hospital?
00:07:37Oh, I did say he had a fine pair of hands
00:07:40But his judgment's worried me lately
00:07:43Well, there's one sure way to check on his judgment
00:07:47Oh
00:07:47Or see what he says about Grayson
00:07:50Aren't you always telling me that
00:07:52Anyone who agrees with you is a darn good doctor?
00:07:57Ah, you're getting too smart for me
00:08:00Go on, get in there
00:08:03Good morning, Mr. Grayson
00:08:05Well
00:08:09Mr. Grayson
00:08:12It's as bad as I thought, isn't it?
00:08:14Mr. Grayson, our advice is an operation
00:08:17A very delicate operation
00:08:21I understand
00:08:24I insist on the operation
00:08:25You see, I
00:08:26I'm not afraid of anything
00:08:28Except going blind
00:08:29We're going to send you to one of our very best brain surgeons
00:08:33Will you tell Dr. Lane
00:08:35I'll talk to him after his exam
00:08:37Mr. Grayson
00:08:38I'm very grateful to you both
00:08:40Never mind us, Mr. Grayson
00:08:42We'd be pretty bad doctors
00:08:44If we didn't do everything humanly possible for you
00:08:48I know that
00:08:49But we both know that the
00:08:51Final power of life and death
00:08:52Is still in the hands of the great healer
00:08:54Yes, Mr. Grayson
00:08:55That doesn't change
00:08:57Dr. Carew is on the phone, sir
00:08:58Thank you
00:08:59Well
00:09:01Good luck, Mr. Grayson
00:09:02Thank you, doctor
00:09:06Hello, Carew
00:09:13Well, I was the head of this gold-plated palace today
00:09:17Oh, oh, I'm fine, Lennard
00:09:19Mr. Paul Messinger just phoned
00:09:21You're doing vagal killdare out to the institute this afternoon
00:09:24Dr. Squires will show him the place and offer him the job
00:09:27Have you said anything to killdare about it yet?
00:09:30No, not a word
00:09:31But in justice to everybody
00:09:33I'm going to do my best to make him accept
00:09:36That's more than generous, Lennard
00:09:38If you lose him, I know it'll be an awful blow to you
00:09:41Blow?
00:09:43It'll be an earthquake
00:09:48Well, since you're not going to take your hour off
00:09:50Am I right?
00:09:52And I want to talk to you anyway
00:09:53Let's go and dig our graves a little deeper with our teeth
00:09:57Miss Parker?
00:09:59Lunch!
00:10:00Grat that molly bird
00:10:03If I don't drink at least one glass of milk a day
00:10:06She hides my cigarettes
00:10:08Yes
00:10:10I know it's good for me
00:10:11But, oh, I hate this stuff
00:10:15Yeah
00:10:22Yes
00:10:24What made you hesitate about Grayson, Jimmy?
00:10:28For a moment I wasn't sure
00:10:29What made you decide?
00:10:32That's my best thought on the subject
00:10:34That's the one most important thing for a doctor to know
00:10:37To face situations with nothing to lean on but what he's learned
00:10:44Yes, even in my short experience there have been times when my blood ran cold
00:10:47And yet you had to act like the Almighty
00:10:50With life in one hand and death in the other
00:10:52You had to do it and you did
00:10:54That's what I call being a born doctor
00:10:57Couldn't have learned that from you, could I?
00:10:59Mm-hmm
00:11:00Aren't you going to drink your milk?
00:11:03Oh, sure, sure, sure, sure
00:11:04But don't try and change the subject on me
00:11:09Jimmy, you'll make mistakes
00:11:10But let them be your mistakes
00:11:13Use your eyes, your heart, your brain, your instinct
00:11:17Make up your mind
00:11:18And then go ahead
00:11:24Do you think I'll ever learn half what you know?
00:11:27Yeah
00:11:28But you'll have to begin where I leave off
00:11:32And do you think you're being fair to me?
00:11:34To yourself?
00:11:35To the medical profession?
00:11:36Well, what do you mean?
00:11:38You haven't seen Dr. Lockberg in two months
00:11:40Why?
00:11:41Because I'm a good doctor
00:11:43And I know what's the matter with me
00:11:45Cancer isn't necessarily hopeless
00:11:49Well, every time I intend to call Lockberg up
00:11:53Something important turns up
00:11:55Nothing is that important
00:11:57Look, if I'm to finish any part of what you've started
00:12:00You'll have to stay here and teach me as long as you can
00:12:03All right, Jimmy
00:12:05I'll call him this afternoon to come over
00:12:07Well, I already told him to be here at five o'clock
00:12:10Why, you imp...
00:12:12Come on, come on, drink your milk
00:12:27Breast
00:12:28The things people do for the sake of their health
00:12:33Don't think you can hide from me, Dr. James Kildare
00:12:36Oh, here, Molly Bird
00:12:38This is my bedroom
00:12:39And even the superintendent of nurses hasn't got any right to come barging in the...
00:12:43Oh, be quiet
00:12:44Dr. Kildare, Nurse Morgan informs me that you supplied patient 1124
00:12:48With a new suit of clothes from the hospital emergency fund
00:12:51Oh, yes, I did
00:12:52But you see, Mr. Bird
00:12:53I see everything
00:12:54You had his own suit burned
00:12:55I ordered...
00:12:56That suit burned as a public precaution
00:12:59Oh, public precaution, my foot
00:13:01Well, the man had nothing more contagious than a broken arm
00:13:04I personally examined that suit of clothes and found definite traces of leprosy
00:13:11Leprosy?
00:13:12Leprosy
00:13:13Bubonic plagues, housemaid's knee, and a slight trace of Scandinavian hookworm
00:13:20Scandinavian hookworm, you fool
00:13:22Besides, Molly, there was a job waiting for him if he had a good suit of clothes
00:13:28Leonard Gillespie, you haven't drunk your milk
00:13:31Molly, no matter what else you can say about me, I'm a man of honor
00:13:35I said I'd drink one glass of milk, and one glass of milk I drank
00:13:41Give me my cigarettes, please
00:13:43Then how is the bottle still full?
00:13:48You'll drink this glass of milk or no cigarettes today
00:14:04Yeah
00:14:06Now give me my cigarettes
00:14:07Well, it's still in your pocket
00:14:09I forgot to take them out this morning
00:14:11What, friend?
00:14:13Well, you've been trying for 25 years to force somebody to take care of himself
00:14:18It's a little hard to break the habit
00:14:23Well, if you can get along without me for a while
00:14:25I'm supposing I run up and have a talk with Dr. Lane
00:14:27Yes, Grayson's in pretty bad shape
00:14:30Let me know when Lane wants to talk to me
00:14:32That's what I meant to do
00:14:33Then later in the afternoon, we're going for a drive in the country
00:14:37Well, now you're beginning to act sensibly, sir
00:14:39It'll do you a world of good
00:14:41Well, maybe
00:14:42I've ordered a nice big car
00:14:44So the three of us will be comfortable
00:14:46Three of us?
00:14:47Uh-huh
00:14:47You and me and Nurse Mary Lamont
00:14:51Yeah, well, why not Mary Lamont?
00:14:53She isn't engaged to Dr. Lane
00:14:56Even though she did go out with him last week
00:14:58What do you expect her to do?
00:15:00Die an old maid because you only get $20 a month?
00:15:04I don't expect her to do anything of the sort
00:15:07Well, Dr. Gillespie, I guess it's pretty obvious to you
00:15:11How I feel about Mary Lamont
00:15:12But I can't and I won't say anything to her about it
00:15:16After all, $20 a month is $20 a month
00:15:21We're ready, Dr. Lane
00:15:22Good, let's go then
00:15:23I want to see you after this operation
00:15:25Dr. Lane, a package arrived for me this morning
00:15:28It contained a dozen pair of beautiful silk stockings
00:15:31Silk stockings?
00:15:31Silk stockings
00:15:32I'd send them back except for three things
00:15:35I don't know where they came from
00:15:37I can't prove you sent them
00:15:39Besides, they're awfully pretty
00:15:40I don't know a thing
00:15:42But I'll admit anything if you'll have dinner with me tonight
00:15:44All right, Greg
00:15:47We'll celebrate a successful operation
00:15:49I need a successful operation
00:15:51Oh, it's only the fools who are talking
00:15:53Anyone knows mortality and brain surgery is high
00:15:56Yeah, but you can't explain that to a dead patient
00:15:59Dr. Gillespie still believes in you
00:16:00You're operating on his patient, aren't you?
00:16:03I still believe in myself, Mary
00:16:06But this time I've got to
00:16:09We've got an operation to do
00:16:10Come on, Nurse Lamont
00:16:13How are you feeling, Mr. Grayson?
00:16:17Sleepy
00:16:18Let's throw you a shot in the arm
00:16:20I'm going to do my best to fix you up as good as new
00:16:52Oxygen
00:16:54Oxygen
00:16:54Oxygen
00:16:54Oxygen
00:17:02Oxygen
00:17:26Adrenaline.
00:17:28Hurry.
00:17:43Never mind the adrenaline.
00:17:44Never mind the adrenaline.
00:17:44Never mind the adrenaline.
00:17:45Never mind the adrenaline.
00:18:01Never mind the adrenaline.
00:18:14Never mind the adrenaline.
00:18:15Jimmy, do you have a cigarette?
00:18:16Oh, Mary.
00:18:17Please, Jimmy, give me a cigarette.
00:18:21All right.
00:18:25By the way, Dr. Gillespie wants you and me to...
00:18:34Thank you, Mary.
00:18:36Dr. Lane, I was in the gallery and I...
00:18:39The operation was a success, but the patient died.
00:18:51Mary.
00:19:00They're so new, aren't they?
00:19:03Just off the assembly line this morning.
00:19:05Forty-one brand new lives.
00:19:08Thought it evens things up then.
00:19:09You mean about life and death?
00:19:11Hmm.
00:19:12I didn't think about it that way.
00:19:14I just happened to come here.
00:19:15Well, your instincts were right.
00:19:17The best place you could have come to.
00:19:19This is what it's really all about.
00:19:22Jimmy, Dr. Lane did everything he could.
00:19:25No one could have done anymore, could he?
00:19:26No one.
00:19:28See, Mary, I prescribed an operation.
00:19:30Lane agreed and performed it.
00:19:32We both knew how...
00:19:33How slim the chances were.
00:19:36That's our job.
00:19:37That's one of the hardest things we have to learn.
00:19:40I haven't learned it yet.
00:19:42Neither have I.
00:19:45Hmm.
00:19:46That's what people need.
00:19:47Pure, sweet air to fill your lungs with.
00:19:50And open up your pores to the sunshine.
00:19:54What's the matter with you, Mary?
00:19:56You look as if you hadn't opened a pore for months.
00:19:59I did surgery today under Dr. Lane.
00:20:02Now, Mary, that patient had one chance in a hundred of living through the operation.
00:20:06One chance in a million of living without it.
00:20:08You're absolutely right.
00:20:10I reported that fact to Carew, too.
00:20:12What did Dr. Carew say?
00:20:14Well, what could he say?
00:20:15Too many people dying.
00:20:17Dr. Gillespie, Greg needs help.
00:20:20Dr. Lane, I mean.
00:20:23You're right, Mary.
00:20:24Something ought to be done about it.
00:20:28Isn't anybody interested in where we're going?
00:20:30We're going to the Messenger Institute at the university.
00:20:34Who told you?
00:20:35It wasn't me, Dr. Gillespie.
00:20:38I suppose you told him why, too.
00:20:41No, sir.
00:20:42I didn't know that.
00:20:44Well, then I'll tell you.
00:20:46They're going to the Messenger Institute for Medical Research because I've got business there.
00:20:51And I'm taking you two along for the ride.
00:21:02Of Mr. Messenger's open-handed generosity, this building, with its magnificent equipment, is a shining example.
00:21:08Now, listen, Egghead.
00:21:12The eminent and imposing Dr. Squires was known as Egghead in medical school, for reasons you're both too young to
00:21:19know.
00:21:20Leonard, I once busted you in the snoop for that, and I'm just the guy who can do it again.
00:21:24Now, listen here, Squires.
00:21:26We all know this is the finest institute in America, but come to the point.
00:21:32Very well.
00:21:33The point is, I have a job for Dr. Kildare.
00:21:37A job for me?
00:21:38Well, if it hadn't been for me, it's taken him two hours to tell you that.
00:21:43Dr. Kildare, Mr. Messenger feels that he owes to you his daughter's sanity.
00:21:48Perhaps her life.
00:21:49Yours was a remarkable instance of correct diagnosis and treatment.
00:21:53I congratulate you.
00:21:54Well, tell him the job pays $500 a month.
00:21:56$500 a month?
00:21:58And you'll have a free hand here to pursue whatever research you choose.
00:22:02And if you attend your knitting, when you're an old married man, you'll inherit Egghead's job.
00:22:07$20,000 a year.
00:22:08That ain't hay.
00:22:12Well, why don't you say something?
00:22:14Don't stand there like a bump on a log.
00:22:18Well, it's the sort of thing you can dream about.
00:22:22I...
00:22:23Dr. Gillespie, you knew all about this?
00:22:26That means you want me to take it?
00:22:28No, I wanted to take it.
00:22:29Do you hear that, Egghead?
00:22:31These youngsters are hard to please.
00:22:34Show them the house that goes to the job.
00:22:36House?
00:22:37Oh, yes.
00:22:38Shall we go see it?
00:22:39I've ordered some tea.
00:22:40Tea.
00:22:42When I first knew him, he thought clean shirts were effeminate.
00:22:47Now he drinks tea.
00:22:52It fits the messenger's idea that a man does his best work when his home surroundings are ideal.
00:22:59Thank you, George.
00:23:00You think you could be happy here, Dr. Gildare?
00:23:03Happy way?
00:23:04He'd be crazy if he couldn't.
00:23:06Well, you show around, Jermaine.
00:23:08It's your party, you know.
00:23:09I feel a little tired.
00:23:12I think I'll stay here and have a spot of tea with Dr. Squire.
00:23:17Maybe a crumpet or two.
00:23:22Well, Egghead, how am I doing?
00:23:24If I hadn't known differently, I'd have thought you really wanted him to take the job.
00:23:28This is the greatest opportunity Jimmy will ever have in his life.
00:23:32And if he takes it, all I've planned will come tumbling down around my ears.
00:23:39All jokes aside, Leonard, won't you have a cup of tea?
00:23:43Suppose I get you a glass of milk.
00:23:44Milk?
00:23:46I'm so full of milk now, I'd be afraid to meet a cat.
00:23:49Yes.
00:23:53Isn't it lovely?
00:23:54It isn't true.
00:23:55This sort of thing doesn't happen.
00:23:57But it is true.
00:23:59You have everything in the world ahead of you.
00:24:01I wonder.
00:24:02Dr. Gillespie wants you to take it, doesn't he?
00:24:05Does he?
00:24:06He even bragged about the salary, you remember that.
00:24:08Right now, I'm not thinking about the money.
00:24:11But you must think about it.
00:24:12It's your future, your whole life.
00:24:15Who was it that wanted you to see this house?
00:24:17It was Dr. Gillespie, wasn't it?
00:24:19Yes, Mary.
00:24:21He even talked about the future.
00:24:22That's what he said.
00:24:24I wish I knew what he was thinking.
00:24:29Well, should we look at the living room?
00:24:32Mary, you have dinner with me tonight.
00:24:34I've got a date.
00:24:37I'll get out of it, Jimmy.
00:24:39Hey, break it up, you two.
00:24:44Dr. Kildare, I think we'll be ready for you to move in, say, next Monday.
00:24:48You're very kind, Dr. Squires.
00:24:50Mr. Messon's generosity is tremendous, but I'm afraid I'll have to think it over and let you know.
00:24:58Of course, Dr. Kildare, think it over.
00:25:01Will you have a cup of tea?
00:25:03Say, Egghead, I think I'll take that milk now.
00:25:15I've already ordered the steaks.
00:25:17Are you hungry?
00:25:17Ah, good.
00:25:22Mary, did I ever tell you what my mother said to me when I left for New York?
00:25:26Several things.
00:25:27Which one?
00:25:28Well, she said you'll never get anywhere trying to be anybody but Jimmy Kildare.
00:25:33Jimmy Kildare is all right with me.
00:25:38Over the past hour, I've been trying to be someone else.
00:25:42Why, Jimmy?
00:25:44Because if I were someone else, maybe I'd have brains enough to say this in a different way.
00:25:51Say it your own way.
00:25:54I'm not going to take the job at the Messenger Institute.
00:26:06Mr. Martin, report to Superintendent Byrd's office right away.
00:26:14Tony, if we had a patient in this hospital as weak as your copy,
00:26:17we'd give him a blood transfusion and send for his relatives.
00:26:20I don't blame the nurses for squawking.
00:26:23Nurses are just like husbands.
00:26:24You can abuse them, insult them, work them to death, jump all over them, they'll take it.
00:26:28But give them a bad cup of coffee and you've got a revolution on your hands.
00:26:31Come in, Mary.
00:26:33I'll be down at the kitchen in ten minutes and show you how to make coffee.
00:26:39You sent for me, Miss Byrd?
00:26:42Lamont, I'm promoting you to staff surgical nurse permanently.
00:26:47Wait a minute, it's not that big an honor.
00:26:51I'm sorry, Miss Byrd.
00:26:52Of course, you'll have to be more careful about our rules.
00:26:55For instance, I know that you accepted some silk stockings for a member of our staff.
00:27:00I'm sorry. I'll send them back.
00:27:03Hmm.
00:27:04Before okaying this promotion, I must know that you plan on staying with this institution.
00:27:09I guess I'll be here forever.
00:27:11Because I certainly would not give this chance to a girl who's liable to quit her job to get married
00:27:15or something.
00:27:17I'm not figuring on getting married.
00:27:19No. No, child.
00:27:23I don't know why I'm so silly.
00:27:25Well, I know.
00:27:27I warmed it out of Dr. Gillespie about Jimmy Kildare and the Messenger Institute.
00:27:31And this can only mean that he didn't decide the way you wanted him to.
00:27:37I kept hoping again.
00:27:39Hope.
00:27:40The only man in the world?
00:27:43It's not true, Mary.
00:27:45It's never true.
00:27:46If it were nine out of ten women in this world, it'd never get married.
00:27:51And we women can be thankful that fate fixed it that way.
00:27:55Because so many times, so pitifully many times, Cinderella can't have her prince.
00:28:03And if there were no other man in the world for her, how would the Cinderella's end up?
00:28:08Like me, Mary.
00:28:11I'm 49 years old, and what have I got in life?
00:28:16Bad coffee.
00:28:19No, Mary.
00:28:20Give any woman a decent husband with a clean shave and a pretty good chance of getting on in this
00:28:25world,
00:28:25and she'll come so close to thinking it's love that she'll fool him and herself.
00:28:32I never thought about it like that.
00:28:34Well, try thinking that way.
00:28:37And stop eating your heart out.
00:28:40Now get out of the mark and get to bed.
00:28:42Report to surgery at 9 a.m.
00:28:43Good night.
00:28:44Well...
00:28:45I said good night.
00:28:49Mary, don't send back those stockings.
00:28:52I can't.
00:28:54I have one pair on.
00:29:01Hello?
00:29:03Superintendent Byrd speaking.
00:29:05Beginning tomorrow morning, Nurse Mary Lamont starts as staff surgical nurse.
00:29:08Salary increase accordingly.
00:29:10She is to be assigned to Dr. Gregory Lane.
00:29:20If that's you, Nosy Parker, I'm taking a bath.
00:29:24If it's you, Molly Byrd, I'm not smoking a cigarette.
00:29:29Anyone else can go shoot themselves.
00:29:32Me.
00:29:33So what do you mean, barging in here at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning?
00:29:37What do you think this is, a six-day bicycle race?
00:29:39Well, it's only a quarter after 10.
00:29:41What do you want in the middle of the night?
00:29:44I'm not going to take the messenger job.
00:29:47Why, you unmitigated young upstart.
00:29:51Do you realize, Jimmy, you'll never have another opportunity like that as long as you live?
00:29:56Look, I'm staying here because I'm selfish.
00:29:59Ever since I was a kid, I've known I wanted to be some kind of a doctor, but I didn't
00:30:02know what or where.
00:30:04Now I do know.
00:30:06I want to be a diagnostician, and you're the only one that can teach me.
00:30:10Jimmy, I'm the happiest guy in the city.
00:30:13As a matter of fact, I've been sitting right here since 6 o'clock waiting for you to come in
00:30:17to tell me your decision.
00:30:18I'm sorry, I've been a little busy.
00:30:21None too pleasantly, maybe, you know.
00:30:24Well, you know.
00:30:26Oh, I've got a note from Carew's office.
00:30:29Seems I'm behind in my surgery, and they want me to catch up right away.
00:30:32Do you mind if I borrow the...
00:30:34No, don't take anything you want, Jimmy.
00:30:36Yes, he's been raising change with me about that, too.
00:30:39Yes, I'm stuck tomorrow morning.
00:30:41Assisting Dr. Lane.
00:30:43Well, perhaps I could arrange to have you transferred to someone else.
00:30:48No, no, no thanks.
00:30:50Say, what's the matter with this fellow Lane, anyway?
00:30:52I've heard he inherited a lot of money, and yet he wants to stick around this skating rink.
00:30:57No, no, that's not true.
00:30:58He's had money all his life, but he happens to want to be a surgeon.
00:31:01He also happens to be interested in Mary Lamont.
00:31:04Or I'll fire three or four of my bed stooges.
00:31:07Isn't that Mary Lamont's business?
00:31:09You have no regrets about that, Jimmy?
00:31:11Dr. Gillespie, if I've told you once, I've told you five times that Mary Lamont...
00:31:15All right, all right, all right.
00:31:17Don't bite my head off.
00:31:20Furthermore, Dr. Gillespie, it's past your bedtime.
00:31:23All right, Papa.
00:31:25I'll go to bed like a good boy, and I'll be kind to dumb animals, and I'll wash behind the
00:31:30ears.
00:31:31Who do you think you are, Molly Bird and long pants?
00:31:37Blair General Hospital emergency.
00:31:38Just a minute.
00:31:41Hello, Irene.
00:31:42As I was saying, last night, Joe Wayman and me start.
00:31:45Me and that new blue chiffon, and Joe, mind you, he's actually in a tuxedo.
00:31:50When all of a sudden, I find I'm paralyzed from the waist down.
00:31:54No, I didn't touch a drop.
00:31:56Just one little glass of Irish lemonade in Mike Ryan's place.
00:31:59But was Joe Wayman nice?
00:32:01He never said one word about me spoiling his evening.
00:32:05Not the guy said emergency.
00:32:08Emergency, one coming up.
00:32:09Funny thing, no identification.
00:32:11Nothing but a key and a $5 bill.
00:32:13Did he go through all his pockets?
00:32:15What pockets?
00:32:15All he had on was an overcoat over some pajamas and a pair of pants.
00:32:19You know, Sally, I got it all figured out what was the matter with you last night.
00:32:23It was something you drank the night before with that guy from Pittsburgh.
00:32:26I'll bet it was.
00:32:27But gee, Joe, you were so sweet.
00:32:30Carrying me home and singing like an angel all the way.
00:32:41Did the surgery be?
00:32:43One coming up?
00:32:44Okay.
00:32:46There's a case coming up from emergency.
00:32:51Good morning, doctor.
00:32:52Oh, good morning, doctor.
00:32:54I'm assisting you.
00:32:54I have some surgery to catch up on.
00:32:56Oh, I'm glad to have you.
00:32:57I had some pretty unkind thoughts about you last night, Kildare.
00:33:01Last night?
00:33:02Yes.
00:33:02I had a date with a very pretty girl for dinner right up to dinner time.
00:33:06Oh, I'm sorry.
00:33:07Maybe you are, but I still had dinner alone.
00:33:10Well, it's nice having you around.
00:33:11I can keep my eye on you.
00:33:15Here's the x-ray doctor.
00:33:17Increasing intracranial pressure, false slowing, temperature rising.
00:33:26We'll, uh...
00:33:27We'll have to operate to save his life.
00:33:29I...
00:33:30I'll get him set.
00:33:33What day is this?
00:33:35What day is this?
00:33:36Wednesday.
00:33:37Wednesday?
00:33:39Good.
00:33:40I thought for a moment I'd missed it.
00:33:42Missed what?
00:33:43Friday.
00:33:43Friday noon.
00:33:45I've got to...
00:33:46Now, look, you have a head injury.
00:33:49A skull fracture.
00:33:50And I'm afraid we'll have to operate.
00:33:52Operate?
00:33:54What's this for?
00:33:55It's to help you rest.
00:33:56To quiet your nerves.
00:33:58How bad is my hip?
00:34:04Why don't you just put yourself in our hands?
00:34:06We'll do everything that possibly can be done.
00:34:08You mean I might die?
00:34:10With an immediate operation, you have a very good chance of pulling through.
00:34:13That won't be operated on.
00:34:14I've got to get out.
00:34:15Oh, if you get up now, you may not live to reach the street.
00:34:18That's five years of dying.
00:34:20I won't be operated on.
00:34:22Oh, you want to live, don't you?
00:34:24No, if I couldn't die now, I've got to live till Friday.
00:34:28What about Friday?
00:34:30Who are you?
00:34:31What's your name?
00:34:33Perhaps we can help?
00:34:34How could you too?
00:34:44Well, this heart's strong anyway.
00:34:47I'll tell him to get ready.
00:34:49Wait a minute.
00:34:55Maybe we'd better put him under observation for a couple of days.
00:34:58What?
00:34:59Why?
00:34:59Why, he needs an immediate operation and you know it.
00:35:01No, I don't.
00:35:01I'm not sure.
00:35:03How can I be sure when Grayson and the others...
00:35:06I don't know what to do, Kildare.
00:35:08Do what your own judgment told you to do in the first place.
00:35:11Operate.
00:35:12But my judgment's been wrong.
00:35:13Not in Dr. Gillespie's opinion.
00:35:16Dr. Gillespie?
00:35:17Yes, he thinks you're a fine surgeon.
00:35:19Says you have the best hands in the hospital.
00:35:22He said something else too.
00:35:24He said there are times when we have to act.
00:35:26With life in one hand and death in the other.
00:35:28And that the true test of a doctor is his faith in his own judgment.
00:35:31Even though he knows someone's going to die if he's wrong.
00:35:35We'll operate immediately.
00:35:42This patient has refused the operation, but I take full responsibility.
00:36:13That's it.
00:36:15Take him away.
00:36:18How's the pressure?
00:36:19Fine.
00:36:28I don't think I could have done that without those words you said.
00:36:31Oh, you did a fine job, Doctor.
00:36:33Thanks.
00:36:33As far as I'm concerned, everything's going to be alright, I think, from now on.
00:36:36I'm sure it is.
00:36:37It was a long session.
00:36:39Well, it's time for lunch.
00:36:40I'm on office call this afternoon.
00:36:41Nine o'clock tomorrow morning, please, Doctor.
00:36:43Yes, Doctor.
00:36:44It was a beautiful operation, Doctor.
00:36:46Maybe now we'll have something to celebrate.
00:36:48Let's.
00:36:48Tonight?
00:36:50All right.
00:36:51It's worth it.
00:36:57Dr. Gildare.
00:36:58Yes, Dr. Crowe.
00:36:59I'm very pleased you've decided to remain with us.
00:37:01Wait.
00:37:01No, no.
00:37:02No explanations are necessary.
00:37:03I understand.
00:37:04Where's Dr. Lane?
00:37:05Oh, he's just left for lunch.
00:37:07I wish you'd been there.
00:37:08You'd have seen the kind of brain surgery you read about.
00:37:10Is that so?
00:37:11Well, I trust you're right.
00:37:13Doctor, because of these somewhat unusual circumstances, I'd like to have your personal
00:37:17report on this case.
00:37:18Well, Dr. Lane has office duty, so naturally I'll be watching it.
00:37:21Very good.
00:37:26You're coming out of it now.
00:37:27Breathing easily and naturally.
00:37:29Mm-hmm.
00:37:43What day is it?
00:37:44What day of the week?
00:37:46It's Thursday.
00:37:47Thursday.
00:37:48Thirsty.
00:37:49Not Friday.
00:37:50No, it's Thursday.
00:37:52It put me in the wrong day.
00:37:54The wrong day of the week.
00:37:55Easy there.
00:37:57It's the wrong day.
00:37:59Friday's the day I want.
00:38:00Well, tomorrow will be Friday.
00:38:02You can't trick me.
00:38:04It'll always be Thursday.
00:38:06You've locked me up in the wrong day of the week.
00:38:08Careful now.
00:38:11Got to break through.
00:38:13Got to break through to Friday.
00:38:15Get me a hypo of morphine and a restraining sheet quickly.
00:38:19There isn't the time to break through yet.
00:38:21I'll tell you when the right time comes.
00:38:23You'll tell me?
00:38:24Yes, I promise.
00:38:25We'll start planning right now.
00:38:27If you lie still and help save your strength.
00:38:31Who are they?
00:38:32Oh, they're going to help us plan.
00:38:35And I'd better give you this.
00:38:36You'll need all the strength you can get.
00:38:39Close your eyes.
00:38:41That's it.
00:38:45Get that restraining sheet on him quickly.
00:38:49Doctor.
00:38:49What's wrong?
00:38:50Uh, there's some mental disturbance.
00:38:52I had to give him a hypo.
00:38:55Couldn't it be the effect of the anesthetic?
00:38:57I'm afraid there's no doubt.
00:38:58His mind's gone.
00:39:01But if you hadn't operated, he'd be dead now.
00:39:04His brain's dead.
00:39:05What good if the rest of him survive?
00:39:08You were there killed there.
00:39:09You saw everything.
00:39:10I didn't make a single mistake, did I?
00:39:11Not one.
00:39:12Well, then how's the patient?
00:39:14I met the restraining sheet.
00:39:15Yes, I thought it was wise.
00:39:17The patient showed signs of becoming violent.
00:39:19Violent?
00:39:21Dr. Lane, what is this?
00:39:23Do you mean to say that your patient has lost his mind?
00:39:25Apparently.
00:39:26Apparently.
00:39:27Dr. Lane wasn't here when the patient recovered consciousness.
00:39:29But you had the patient restrained.
00:39:30Because in your opinion, he's now deranged.
00:39:33Yes.
00:39:34I see.
00:39:35Dr. Lane, remove your patient to a private room.
00:39:38It's the least we can do.
00:39:39Then I'll see you in my office.
00:39:41Dr. Crew, you'll want me there too, won't you?
00:39:43No.
00:39:44This is Dr. Lane's responsibility only.
00:39:46Oh, nevertheless, I'd like to be there.
00:39:49Don't stick your neck out, you're there.
00:39:50It's my neck.
00:39:52Dr. Lane, I freely concede that a doctor constantly has to make decisions.
00:39:56To operate or not to operate.
00:39:58But also, he must be right when he makes those decisions.
00:40:01Otherwise, we...
00:40:02Wait a minute!
00:40:03I'm in on this.
00:40:05What have I missed?
00:40:07I just left your patient.
00:40:08He's as mad as a march hare.
00:40:10What were you saying, Crew?
00:40:12Dr. Lane has made one too many mistakes.
00:40:14Dr. Gillespie, I was just saying that in this last case, I urged Dr. Lane to operate.
00:40:18I hesitated a moment, but the decision to operate was my own.
00:40:21Well, then why is Kildare on the carpet?
00:40:23He isn't.
00:40:24He insisted on being present.
00:40:25Look, let me settle this thing once and for all.
00:40:28I decided to operate, and in a similar case, I'd do it again.
00:40:31Good.
00:40:31Now we know where we stay.
00:40:33Right.
00:40:34Dr. Lane, errors of judgment are difficult to prove.
00:40:37But in this case, you also performed the operation without the patient's permission,
00:40:41violating his legal right.
00:40:42His legal right to die?
00:40:43If you please, Dr. Gillespie.
00:40:45You, Dr. Lane, have placed this institution in a very serious position.
00:40:50You're suspended from duty pending a hearing before the hospital board tomorrow, Friday at noon.
00:40:55I'm sorry.
00:40:56You may go.
00:41:02Dr. Carew, I'd like your permission to testify at that board meeting.
00:41:05I can't permit that.
00:41:06And how would you possibly help Dr. Lane?
00:41:08Well, I don't know.
00:41:11He don't know.
00:41:12He wants to prove the operation didn't make the patient insane, but he don't know how to do it.
00:41:17Come on, Jimmy.
00:41:18Now, wait a minute.
00:41:20Suppose the man was insane before the operation.
00:41:23Suppose, for instance, he was suffering from schizophrenia.
00:41:25Oh.
00:41:27Bobbycock.
00:41:28I don't think the hospital board would be interested in your theories.
00:41:31Your request is denied.
00:41:33But after he came out of the anesthetic, he spoke incoherently of Friday.
00:41:37And before the operation, he made it very plain that Friday was more important to him than living.
00:41:42Now, he's a psychiatrist.
00:41:44If you concern yourself further in this case, neither of us can save you from the unpleasant medical and criminal
00:41:50consequences.
00:41:50Gildare, you seem to forget one thing.
00:41:54Dr. Lane went ahead after the patient had refused the operation.
00:41:58But if the man was insane, he had no legal right to refuse the operation.
00:42:02Which left the decision up to the doctor.
00:42:04Now, he's a lawyer.
00:42:06Now, he's a lawyer.
00:42:07I consider the matter settled, Dr. Gildare.
00:42:10Which is the way a high-class gentleman says, get out of my office and mind your own business.
00:42:15Come on, kid.
00:42:18Can you get along without me for the rest of the day?
00:42:20Oh, I guess so.
00:42:22It might be a good idea.
00:42:24Go on out and take in a show.
00:42:26Forget all about this little difficulty.
00:42:29No, I don't think it's so little.
00:42:30Maybe I haven't been here long enough to get the hospital viewpoint.
00:42:33But if Lane's kicked out, it'll look as though he murdered those patients.
00:42:36And we know he didn't.
00:42:38Are you going back to your office?
00:42:39No, I'm not.
00:42:40Get your hands off my chair.
00:42:41Oh, I'm sorry.
00:42:43I'll see you tomorrow.
00:42:44Where are you going?
00:42:45I don't know.
00:42:45Maybe I'm going to make a fool of myself.
00:42:47I don't doubt that, but how?
00:42:49I'm going to find out who this mysterious man is.
00:42:52So that I can prove he was mentally deranged before Lane operated.
00:42:56Now, he's a detective.
00:42:58Listen, Sherlock Holmes.
00:43:00There are seven million people in this town.
00:43:02How do you expect to track down the identity of one unknown lunatic?
00:43:07If you get yourself tangled up in this Lane affair, you might as well hunt yourself a new job.
00:43:12Because I need an assistant that works for me.
00:43:16Now, play that on your harmonica.
00:43:21Walter, you're a great man.
00:43:23A magnificent man to head this hospital.
00:43:26But you don't know any more about handling Jimmy Kildare than I do.
00:43:32I'm upset myself.
00:43:33I hate to have to do this to a nice young fellow like Lane.
00:43:36In the old days, they used to draw and quarter them.
00:43:39Nail up their heads on London Bridge.
00:43:41Today, they're not that merciful.
00:43:43When they kick over the traces, we have to throw them out.
00:43:45Let them die broken hearts.
00:43:48Listen, Mr. Gustalgason.
00:43:50You may be a big man in Pittsburgh, but you're no gentleman.
00:43:53You, you, you gorilla.
00:43:55You take a girl out and fill her full of fancy soup and poison champagne,
00:43:58and the next night, I can't move a muscle.
00:44:01Oh, I'm all right today.
00:44:02No thanks to you.
00:44:04But from now on, I'm sticking to hamburger and lemonade with a square-shooting guy
00:44:07that wouldn't even think of playing a dirty trick on a working girl.
00:44:10Goodbye, rat.
00:44:13Emergency.
00:44:14No, I haven't seen Dr. Kildare for an hour.
00:44:16He went out of here in a street close.
00:44:18Said he was off for the day.
00:44:20Sure.
00:44:20If I see him, I'll tell him.
00:44:27Sullivan's Cafe.
00:44:29No, Sally, Dr. Kildare is not here, but we're expecting him immediately.
00:44:34Sure, I'll give him your message.
00:44:36Hello, hello.
00:44:36Sally.
00:44:37Sally, here's the doctor.
00:44:38Here's the doctor.
00:44:41Hi.
00:44:41Mike.
00:44:42Hey, can Joe Wayman or Foghorn come back yet?
00:44:44No, my friend.
00:44:45It was no easy task you gave them.
00:44:46Finding out about this mysterious, crazy man is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
00:44:50Oh, don't I know it.
00:44:51His clothes are just stock garments sold by the thousands.
00:44:54The locksmith you left the key with says it's from any one of a million doors in New York.
00:44:58That is, if it's not from Chicago or Boston.
00:45:01That's what I was afraid of.
00:45:06Mother.
00:45:09Mother.
00:45:10Mother.
00:45:11For goodness sake, what are you doing here?
00:45:12Is nothing wrong?
00:45:13Where's father?
00:45:14I'm fine.
00:45:15Nothing's wrong.
00:45:16Your father has to bring a patient to see Dr. Gillespie.
00:45:18Well, well, Mrs. Kildare, you're looking young enough to be your own daughter.
00:45:22Only then you'd be your own mother.
00:45:23And you don't look old enough for that.
00:45:25I bet you tell that to all the girls.
00:45:27I do.
00:45:27And I tell them all to make themselves at home.
00:45:29Thanks, Mike.
00:45:31My, my.
00:45:33Things must be pretty slack with you big city doctors.
00:45:35I don't know.
00:45:37Tell me.
00:45:38Are you well and happy?
00:45:40Why shouldn't I be both?
00:45:42Well, if it simply said yes, I'd have known you were.
00:45:45But, uh, what's the trouble?
00:45:47Well, Mother, I think you are a mind reader.
00:45:49Yes, I, I am a kind of a crossroads.
00:45:52Nobody ever accomplished anything without passing crossroads.
00:45:55The only question is which road do you take?
00:45:58It's not as simple as all that.
00:46:00Doing right is always simple.
00:46:01It's only the wrong thing that takes working out.
00:46:04Oh, excuse me, Doctor.
00:46:05Oh, hello, boys.
00:46:06Did you, uh, oh, Mother, allow me to present Mr. Joe Wayman and, uh, Mr. Foghorn Murphy.
00:46:12Foghorn?
00:46:13What's your real name?
00:46:14Harold.
00:46:14I prefer Foghorn.
00:46:15So do I.
00:46:16How do you do, Joe?
00:46:17Awfully glad to see you.
00:46:18I've heard a lot about you and your monkey wrench.
00:46:20Oh, those stories are exaggerated, Mrs. Kildare.
00:46:23I never even owned a monkey wrench.
00:46:26Well, sit down, fellas.
00:46:28Tell me, did you find out anything?
00:46:30The boy's been getting some information for me.
00:46:33Oh, about those crossroads?
00:46:34Me and my pals made a house-to-house canvas of the neighborhood where your screwball was run over.
00:46:39We found one house where a guy had disappeared.
00:46:41Oh, go on.
00:46:43This mug disappeared in 1911 with a blonde in the Sunday school collection.
00:46:47Hear, hear, hear.
00:46:48I was a blonde myself at 16 and no peroxide either.
00:46:51And the prettiest one in town, Albert.
00:46:53The prettiest one in the state, Harold.
00:46:55J. Harold.
00:46:56J. Harold.
00:46:57Oh, excuse me.
00:46:58I won't say another word.
00:46:59I dug up that truck driver that clipped your guy.
00:47:02At first he wouldn't talk.
00:47:03Then he, uh, he changed his mind.
00:47:06But he don't know who the guy is or anything about him.
00:47:10Oh, who put that thing in my pocket?
00:47:13Why am I always someplace else when there's a good fight?
00:47:15Let me know next time you're in town.
00:47:17I'll shock someone for you.
00:47:21Well, Doc, I'm sorry we weren't much help.
00:47:24It was kind of tough without knowing the guy's name or anything.
00:47:27Oh, that's all right, fellas.
00:47:27Thanks a lot anyway.
00:47:29Uh, goodbye, Mrs. Kildare.
00:47:30We're swell meeting you.
00:47:31Oh, and if you ever need a taxi, we're just calling or next on that foghorn.
00:47:36I'll take Mrs. Kildare in the ambulance if she has to go anywhere.
00:47:38Where is?
00:47:39Thank you, gentlemen.
00:47:40I'll accept both invitations, providing you let me drive.
00:47:43That's a day.
00:47:47Well, now you're stuck, aren't you, son?
00:47:50Yes, mother.
00:47:51Right now I am in trouble.
00:47:54There's one way out, but it's awfully dangerous.
00:47:57Excuse me.
00:47:58I'm awfully sorry the boys couldn't help.
00:48:00But always remember one thing, Dr. Kildare.
00:48:03Trouble is nothing new for the likes of you and me.
00:48:05The Irish ain't been out of trouble for 1,100 years.
00:48:08Thanks, boy.
00:48:10You said something about, uh, dangers, Jimmy.
00:48:12Dangers to do what?
00:48:16Well, to cure an insane man before Friday.
00:48:20So they're curing insane people now, are they?
00:48:23Hmm.
00:48:23It's an almost fantastic thing.
00:48:25Called the insulin shock cure.
00:48:27It's a gamble.
00:48:28Only two things to think about in a gamble.
00:48:31What have you got to win?
00:48:32What have you got to lose?
00:48:33Lose?
00:48:34Everything.
00:48:35My job.
00:48:36Another doctor's career.
00:48:38Maybe the patient's life.
00:48:39But think of what you've got to win, too.
00:48:41Oh, I'm not thinking about you and the other doctor.
00:48:43But the poor man.
00:48:45You can give him a new life.
00:48:47And everything God meant people to enjoy.
00:48:50You're slow to decide, son, because you think you're all alone in this.
00:48:55But you're not.
00:48:56There's a man over in that hospital that just fine a doctor has ever helped the ailing.
00:49:01Oh, I know.
00:49:02But I can't ask Dr. Gillespie to help me.
00:49:05Who's talking about Dr. Gillespie?
00:49:07I mean your own father.
00:49:10Oh, of course.
00:49:12Well, now the only thing to figure out is how to get a hold of him without Dr. Gillespie suspecting.
00:49:17Get to work, son.
00:49:18I will.
00:49:20I'll be seeing you, pal.
00:49:21Mm-hmm.
00:49:22Oh, that's funny, mother.
00:49:24Whenever I know that I'm right with you, I can generally manage to work out everything else.
00:49:35Joiner?
00:49:37Joiner?
00:49:38Mm-hmm.
00:49:39Oh, I wonder if you'd do a favor.
00:49:41For me, it's awfully important.
00:49:42Precisely 6.30, I'm leaving here to meet a young female person whose boyfriend is confined to room 714 with
00:49:48a broken leg.
00:49:49Until then, I'm going to lie quietly and conserve my manly figure.
00:49:53Oh, you're going to make a phone call for me, and then you're going to take a walk for about
00:49:56half an hour.
00:49:57And furthermore, the young female person has bright yellow hair and practically no brains.
00:50:02Dr. Joiner, if the young lady is free for the evening because her boyfriend has been forbidden visitors, by your
00:50:09orders, of course, I could easily report that.
00:50:11Oh, no, wait. Don't shoot. Who do you want me to phone?
00:50:14Gillespie's waiting room.
00:50:18Oh, Dr. Stephen Kildare. Just a minute, please.
00:50:22Hello.
00:50:24Yes.
00:50:25Yes, I am Stan.
00:50:28Well, just as soon as I finish here.
00:50:32Pardon me, that's, uh...
00:50:34That is my wife.
00:50:35Oh.
00:50:36You see, uh, the rash hangs on in spite of everything that I've done, although it's confined to our hands.
00:50:42Well, it's obviously a skin allergy.
00:50:44Allergy?
00:50:45Well, that might take months to identify.
00:50:47Tell me, Mrs. Cray, what do you do with yourself? How do you spend your time?
00:50:51I don't do anything, as long as I get my check from my son, keep the frost off my petunias,
00:50:58and play a little mahjong in the evening.
00:51:00Mahjong.
00:51:03Mahjong.
00:51:04See, I've heard of trouble with mahjong sets.
00:51:07The lacquer contains sap from a Japanese tree of the Shumack family.
00:51:12That could count for the skin disease.
00:51:14I could believe anything about that mahjong set.
00:51:17My daughter-in-law sent it to me.
00:51:19Uh, Julia, you didn't take it with you to the Yellowstone last summer, did you?
00:51:23I did not.
00:51:24What?
00:51:25You can't play mahjong on a horseback.
00:51:27You see, when she came back, her hands were all cleared up.
00:51:30Well, there you are, Dr. Stephen, you got it.
00:51:33Suppose we keep Mrs. Cray here for a couple of days and fix up this rash, and then when you
00:51:37go home, take up solitaire.
00:51:40In the meantime, we'll put her across the hall in that nice big room.
00:51:45And thank you.
00:51:48As long as Dr. Stephen did all the work, I don't owe you a cent.
00:51:53Goodbye.
00:51:55Sit down.
00:51:56Well, uh, I'm ever so much obliged to you, Dr. Gillespie.
00:52:00I, uh, well, I've got to run along now.
00:52:02I'll, uh, I'll be back.
00:52:06Next patient.
00:52:09No, no, hold the next patient.
00:52:12Come in.
00:52:13Say, Parker, did you notice that I said anything to offend Dr. Stephen?
00:52:18Or was it my imagination that he was acting strangely?
00:52:21I wouldn't know anything about that.
00:52:23But if it was his wife on the phone, he's married to a woman with a bass voice.
00:52:29Hello, Jimmy.
00:52:30Oh, hello, Dad.
00:52:31What is all this?
00:52:33Please sit down.
00:52:34Inquire all the mysteries.
00:52:35Anything wrong?
00:52:37Dad, what do you know about the insulin shock cure for insanity?
00:52:40Insulin shock?
00:52:41What?
00:52:41Why?
00:52:42Well, tell me, have you ever actually seen a cure affected?
00:52:45Yes, I have.
00:52:46It was one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen in all my life.
00:52:50Ah, but it worked, didn't it?
00:52:52Yes.
00:52:53Yes, it worked because it was, it was performed under the most ideal circumstances.
00:52:57With cases that had every chance of surviving.
00:53:00Well, then you've never seen insulin tried when the patient wasn't in perfect physical shape.
00:53:04Oh, no.
00:53:05No, in case of any injury, especially to the head or the brain, they wouldn't dare.
00:53:12But, Jimmy.
00:53:14Stop dodging the issue.
00:53:16If you need any help, I'm your father.
00:53:18I'm sorry.
00:53:19This is my problem.
00:53:20I know it is, Jimmy.
00:53:21And I don't want to interfere.
00:53:23I'll tell you how you can help me.
00:53:25I've read everything about insulin shock.
00:53:27I know all the theories.
00:53:29But I want you to tell me everything you saw.
00:53:32Don't leave out one detail.
00:53:34Right from the beginning.
00:53:35Well, Jimmy, insulin shock causes the patient to revert backwards through every stage of evolution.
00:53:42At the dictates of his shocked brain, his human body attempts to simulate all the actions and mannerisms of each
00:53:49successive step.
00:53:50Back through the ape, the bird, lizard, fish, and so forth.
00:53:54This abnormal effort involves the most, all the most horrible convulsions.
00:54:12Nice work, Mary.
00:54:13It was easy enough to switch places with Irene.
00:54:15She was dying to get the night off.
00:54:18Look, Jimmy, I haven't said a word about this to anyone.
00:54:20You know I wouldn't.
00:54:21But are you sure you want to do this?
00:54:23Oh, we've been all through that before.
00:54:25No, we haven't.
00:54:27Are you doing this because of Gregory Lane?
00:54:30None of this is Lane's fault.
00:54:33Nothing more than that?
00:54:34Mary, there's a man in there.
00:54:36And if his particular problem isn't solved by tomorrow, he stands a good chance of being a miserable object the
00:54:41rest of his life.
00:54:43Tomorrow's Friday.
00:54:44And I have to find out what that means to him before it's too late.
00:54:47Here we go.
00:55:01I don't know a thing about this insulin business.
00:55:04Well, I know that a terrific shock will sometimes drive a person crazy.
00:55:08An overdose of insulin apparently works just the reverse.
00:55:12The tremendous shock it gives seems to drive the crazed brain back to sanity.
00:55:17Suppose he dies.
00:55:19Let's try supposing he'll live.
00:55:21But what about you if he does die?
00:55:24Get his arm ready.
00:55:44How long does it take?
00:55:49Five hours.
00:55:51Five hours.
00:55:54Five hours.
00:55:58Five hours.
00:56:11Two and a half hours.
00:56:13It ought to be at least two hours more before the effects are penetrated into the deepest part of the
00:56:18brain.
00:56:19How will we be able to tell?
00:56:21If I'm right, his actions ought to tell us.
00:56:27See, the theory is that buried deep in the human brain is the primitive brain of our earliest ancestors.
00:56:35Now, the action of the insulin on that basic part must be what restores the patient's sanity.
00:56:43Because what actually happens, no one knows.
00:56:51Here it comes, Mary.
00:56:59It's working.
00:57:12You see, the brain is starting to travel backwards.
00:57:15The body is compelled to follow.
00:57:25The hands are beginning with first primitive movements.
00:57:28It's as an ape might cling to a tree.
00:57:36Compulsions are a necessary part of the process.
00:57:39The body is desperately trying to obey the impossible commands of the brain.
00:57:53You see, over thousands of years of human evolution, the progress of frantically fighting, the muscles must have passed.
00:58:03The brain is saying you're no longer a man.
00:58:06You're an animal.
00:58:13Pupils are dilated.
00:58:16Pulses are increasing.
00:58:28Dr. Kildare.
00:58:30What do you want?
00:58:31There's been a change of nurses in this case without my knowledge or permission.
00:58:35I did that.
00:58:36Dr. Kildare, what you're doing with this patient is between you and your conscience.
00:58:40Or between you and Dr. Carew, which might be worse.
00:58:43Molly, please.
00:58:45Well, personally, I think you were born to be hanged.
00:58:51Do you think she'll tell anybody?
00:58:53Tell the pillow.
00:58:54Watch it here.
00:58:56Jimmy, how long do these convulsions keep up?
00:58:59Well, it may get less.
00:59:01It may grow worse.
00:59:03We won't know until the fourth hour.
00:59:23How long has it been since he's moved?
00:59:26Oh, for an hour.
00:59:31It's time.
00:59:33Glucose and tube ready.
00:59:35Glucose?
00:59:37Yes.
00:59:40Temperature.
00:59:44This can't be right.
00:59:46Eighty-six.
00:59:47Nobody can live at that temperature.
00:59:49Eighty-six.
00:59:52Seems impossible, but it's true.
00:59:55These cases can survive temperatures that otherwise would mean certain death.
01:00:03Reaction to light.
01:00:07Lead and corneal reflexes sluggish.
01:00:10Ready with the glucose.
01:00:12Give me the tube, quickly.
01:00:14His brain is completely released.
01:00:17If we let him stay too long, we'll never get him out of it.
01:00:35Why doesn't he move?
01:00:37It'll take a little while for him to absorb the glucose.
01:00:40The insulin's burned out every bit of sugar in his body.
01:00:43The glucose will restore it.
01:00:44In what?
01:00:46Well, the miracle of insulin shock is that one minute you have this and the next minute.
01:00:53If you're lucky, you have a sane and normal person.
01:00:57But if he doesn't come out of it, then we'll have killed him.
01:01:05Can you hear me?
01:01:07How are you?
01:01:09How do you feel?
01:01:11If I only knew his name.
01:01:13Listen, it's Friday.
01:01:18Jimmy, he's dead!
01:01:19Are you quiet!
01:01:20Can you hear me?
01:01:21How are you?
01:01:23Can you hear me?
01:01:24How are you?
01:01:28Can you hear me?
01:01:30How are you?
01:01:32Can you hear me?
01:01:33Can you hear me?
01:01:34How are you?
01:01:37I'm all right, I guess.
01:01:45Milk and jelly sandwiches right away, please.
01:01:48Jelly sandwiches?
01:01:50Jelly sandwiches and milk.
01:01:51Nothing else.
01:01:52Right away.
01:01:52Yes, Doctor.
01:01:54Yes, Doctor.
01:01:57Yes, Doctor.
01:02:06Feel more like yourself now?
01:02:08I mean, it hurts a little.
01:02:11Under the circumstances, that's hardly surprising.
01:02:15You remember me, don't you?
01:02:18Yes, you're the doctor that wanted to operate on me after I was hurt.
01:02:23That's right.
01:02:26Feel able to answer a few questions?
01:02:29Mm-hmm.
01:02:31Jelly sandwiches.
01:02:34Jelly sandwiches.
01:02:36Do you want the jelly inside the sandwiches, or do you want it on the outside?
01:02:40Oh, that's ridiculous.
01:02:41Not in this crazy place.
01:02:42I make coffee for the king.
01:02:44He raises my salary.
01:02:46I make coffee for the general.
01:02:48He kisses me on both cheeks.
01:02:50I make coffee for Molly Bird.
01:02:52She sends it for my relatives.
01:02:54Take them away.
01:02:59He's fine now, Mary.
01:03:01Just give him that food and don't let anyone talk to him until I get back.
01:03:04Back?
01:03:04Where are you going?
01:03:05I've got the answer to this whole business.
01:03:06The thing that was locked up in his poor, twisted brain.
01:03:09Now, listen, Mary.
01:03:10There's no time to explain now.
01:03:11But remember one thing.
01:03:13No one's to see him, and no one's to talk to him.
01:03:15Because if anyone questions him before I get back, it's liable to ruin everything.
01:03:19Do you understand that?
01:03:20Yes, doctor.
01:03:21There you are.
01:03:32Good evening, huh?
01:03:34Miss, uh...
01:03:35Miss Lamont, isn't it?
01:03:37I want to examine your patient.
01:03:38Well, uh...
01:03:39Or the hour may be a bit unusual, but this is a very unusual case.
01:03:44And, uh, while I'm in there, you might get me a little bicarbonate for soda.
01:03:48I've, uh, I've just come from a doctor's banquet.
01:03:50Dr. Crewe, the patient mustn't be disturbed.
01:03:53Indeed?
01:03:53Who said so?
01:03:54Doc...
01:03:56Dr. Hepworth, the staff physician on the case.
01:03:58Oh, that's all right.
01:03:59I spoke to Hepworth at seven o'clock.
01:04:01Told him I was coming in.
01:04:02Yes, but, um...
01:04:03He came back after that.
01:04:05But Hepworth told me he wasn't coming back until morning.
01:04:10What is this?
01:04:12I just left Hepworth at the banquet.
01:04:15Oh, it must have been some other doctor.
01:04:17What other doctor?
01:04:19Well, I don't know his name.
01:04:21It's quite obvious something under water is going on here.
01:04:24I intend to find out for myself.
01:04:26Well, well, well, well, well.
01:04:28Wait outside, Conover.
01:04:30Yes, sir.
01:04:31Why, Walter, he looked positively beautiful.
01:04:33This is not the time or place for jokes, Leonard.
01:04:35Well, you must have been joking just now when I came in.
01:04:39Wasn't he, Mary?
01:04:39Leonard, in order to testify properly before the hospital board,
01:04:43I must have complete knowledge of this patient's condition.
01:04:46Well, that's not unreasonable, Mary.
01:04:48But, Dr. Gillespie, the patient mustn't be disturbed.
01:04:51It couldn't be that Dr. Kildare told you not to let anybody in, could it?
01:04:55I don't know a thing, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you.
01:04:58I'd better go in and find out.
01:04:59No, no, wait a minute.
01:05:00Come on, Mary.
01:05:01You might as well tell us.
01:05:02Otherwise, Dr. Gillespie will have the right to go in there.
01:05:06That's just what Jimmy wants to avoid, isn't it?
01:05:12Dr. Kildare administered insulin shock.
01:05:17I can't believe it.
01:05:19And he did a magnificent job of it.
01:05:21I'll believe that when I examine the patient.
01:05:23Ah, Walter, I wouldn't go in there if I were you.
01:05:26I know I wouldn't.
01:05:27And I was practicing medicine when they were telling you to keep your thumb out of your mouth.
01:05:32Where is Jimmy?
01:05:33I don't know.
01:05:34This is the most outrageous thing I've ever heard.
01:05:36Oh, you ain't heard nothing yet.
01:05:38What's the last thing Kildare said?
01:05:40Give him the jelly sandwiches and don't let anyone near him until I get back.
01:05:44Jelly sandwiches?
01:05:45Of course, jelly sandwiches.
01:05:47You're a doctor, remember?
01:05:49In spite of that outfit, jelly sandwiches are exactly the right thing to increase the sugar content.
01:05:55Oh, yes, yes, of course, jelly sandwiches.
01:05:57Oh, make it peanut butter if you want, only let's get on with it.
01:06:00What else, Mary?
01:06:01That's all I know, except the patient in there is as sane as you are.
01:06:05Me or Carew?
01:06:12Dr. Kildare.
01:06:13Dr. Kildare, you're suspended from further duty and...
01:06:16Just one moment.
01:06:17Nurse, has anyone been in that room?
01:06:19Not a living soul, doctor.
01:06:21And you're not going in until I know all about this?
01:06:23No, I know, but...
01:06:24Mrs. Adams is.
01:06:26She has a legal right to see her husband.
01:06:28Will you come in now, please?
01:06:31And everything's going to be all right if you'll just remember.
01:06:39Oh, my dear.
01:06:43I've come back, Henry.
01:06:46Back to stay.
01:06:48If you're going to stay, everything will be all right now.
01:06:52Now, Kildare, just to satisfy the curiosity of the senile old man...
01:06:58Make it too senile, old man.
01:07:00That'll take you in, Walter.
01:07:03Of course, the treatments will have to be continued.
01:07:06Adams has been a mental case for months.
01:07:08The result of the separation from his wife.
01:07:10Oh, you don't have to hit me over the head with a bottle.
01:07:13I know the rest of it, too.
01:07:14Yes, it seems his wife had sent him a letter suggesting a reconciliation.
01:07:18And Friday was the day they were to meet.
01:07:20Walter?
01:07:20Walter, it wouldn't surprise me if you could see through the holes in a ten-foot ladder.
01:07:26Jimmy, how long did he wait for her to come back?
01:07:29About five years, Mary.
01:07:32Well, at least I think it's been established that Dr. Lane's operation did not cause schizophrenia.
01:07:37Or do I have to hit you over the head with a bottle?
01:07:40What can I say?
01:07:41I've been wrong.
01:07:44Sometimes I wish that anybody but me was running this hospital.
01:07:47Walter, in the boss's job, even when you're right, you're wrong.
01:07:50Thanks, Leonard.
01:07:52Regardless of the hour, I shall go immediately to Dr. Lane and offer him my personal and professional apologies.
01:07:57Which will make me very happy.
01:07:59Well, that's fine, because Dr. Kildare's working for you, beginning tomorrow morning.
01:08:04Working for me?
01:08:05Yes, Kildare, I warned you.
01:08:07You're no longer my assistant.
01:08:09You're fired.
01:08:10Oh, come on, Walter.
01:08:11This has been a nice little case.
01:08:13But a million people in New York would need doctors.
01:08:17Perhaps if we get a little sleep, we can help them.
01:08:19Yes, but, Leonard, half the time, I don't know whose side you're on.
01:08:24Well, three-quarters of the time, I don't know myself.
01:08:30Jimmy, did you hear what he said?
01:08:32It just doesn't make sense.
01:08:34Well, let's not talk about it now.
01:08:36But all your plan's all you'd hope to do.
01:08:39Say, I have half a notion to go up and give that rambunctious old fossil a piece of my mind.
01:08:44Keep your shirt on, Mary.
01:08:45Oh, you men make me tired.
01:08:49What is it, Jimmy?
01:08:51You asked me how long he waited for her.
01:08:54Yes, five years.
01:08:56Well, Mary, the reason I've never said anything to you about anything...
01:09:01is because I didn't think it fair to even ask you if you'd be willing to wait as long as
01:09:05we'd have to wait.
01:09:07Perhaps I'm going too fast.
01:09:08There's a good-looking guy in this hospital named Gregory Lane who was in fine favor with the powers of
01:09:13being and had a lot of money.
01:09:14Well, maybe we can find a nice girl to introduce him to.
01:09:17Oh, then I presume we're engaged to be married.
01:09:20Jimmy, I saw the look on Mrs. Adams' face and five years are going to be just nothing.
01:09:28Well, then when you wait just five minutes, I'll be right back.
01:09:31Oh, now where are you going?
01:09:33I'm going to give that rambunctious old fossil a piece of my mind.
01:09:36Hold everything.
01:09:45I suppose you thought I was going to take that crack of yours lying down.
01:09:48Nine goes on to ten.
01:09:51And isn't it nice to be alone?
01:09:53Well, I want to tell you something.
01:09:55You can't fire me because I won't be fired.
01:09:58And if you do fire me, I won't stay fired.
01:10:01Oh, the Lone Ranger, huh?
01:10:04Hi-o, Silver.
01:10:09You make me feel like a fool.
01:10:11You said you were going to make a fool of yourself, didn't you?
01:10:14Well, who was it that said you have to have an instinct for diagnosis and the courage to follow it
01:10:18up?
01:10:20I did.
01:10:21Well, every instinct I had told me that Dr. Lane was a good surgeon.
01:10:25Why, you little pipsqueak.
01:10:28If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have got the first base.
01:10:31You?
01:10:32Yes, sir.
01:10:33Who was it that had you notified that you were behind in surgery?
01:10:37Mahatma Gandhi?
01:10:39Who was it that had you assigned to Dr. Lane?
01:10:42Little red riding hood?
01:10:43Who gave Dr. Hepworth tickets to that banquet?
01:10:47Santa Claus?
01:10:48No, lame brain.
01:10:50Even you couldn't have gotten away with that insulin business without my full authority back of you all the time.
01:10:58Of course, Molly Bird helped a bit.
01:11:01She made me drink two quarts of milk.
01:11:05Yeah.
01:11:06You're still fired.
01:11:08Why?
01:11:09Well, because you're not always going to be lucky.
01:11:13Someday, some of those fantastic crusades of yours are going to kick back on you and crucify you.
01:11:19And then what'll be the good...
01:11:22And then what'll be the use of my teaching my job to a man who's going to end up by
01:11:27having his head nailed on London Bridge?
01:11:30It's funny.
01:11:31You never think of that once you get started.
01:11:33Young Dr. Kildare, you've got a single-track mind.
01:11:37Well, I'm trying to be like you.
01:11:41There's only one man in the world like me.
01:11:46Me.
01:11:47Well, I wish you'd act more like it sometimes.
01:11:49Boy, I haven't made a mistake since 1926.
01:11:52Except you.
01:11:53Now, what about Dr. Lockberg?
01:11:54Well, what about Dr. Lockberg?
01:11:56I saw him last night at five o'clock.
01:11:58You made the appointment.
01:11:59And instead of letting him examine you, you spent the entire time teaching him to play double solitaire and smoking
01:12:05cigarettes.
01:12:06Well, Jimmy, suppose I promise you to see Lockberg three times a week and you can stay in the room.
01:12:13Huh?
01:12:13That is, provided you'll promise not to make a fool of yourself more than three times a year.
01:12:19Why do you think I came up here?
01:12:20What do you think?
01:12:21I've been waiting up here all dressed up in tight pants.
01:12:25Jimmy, for the love of Pete, give me a cigarette, will you?
01:12:28Mr. Lockberg, I guess there's only one thing left to do now, and that's tell Dr. Lane about Adams.
01:12:43I'll go do that now.
01:12:44Oh, no, no, no, no.
01:12:45No, that'll keep until tomorrow.
01:12:47Oh, no, it won't either.
01:12:48Lane's waiting in his room.
01:12:49I telephoned him when I left for Mrs. Adams.
01:12:51Well, I'll go along with you.
01:12:52Well, I think you better know.
01:12:53Oh, yes, yes, yes.
01:12:54Carnival?
01:12:56Carnival?
01:12:56Where is that sleepy rascal?
01:12:59Well, I'll give you a hand.
01:13:00Unless you'd rather not.
01:13:02No, no, no.
01:13:02Well, go ahead, Jimmy.
01:13:04You're going to push.
01:13:05As long as I know you're back there, I know you're not going to miss you.
01:13:19Oh, I could see the whole thing coming.
01:13:21The trouble with you is, Jimmy, you've got one of those honest faces.
01:13:24A man can look at you and almost tell exactly what you're thinking.
01:13:27Well, I'm different.
01:13:29Pokerface Gillespie, they call me.
01:13:32Know everything and show nothing.
01:13:34That's me.
01:13:34It's like a sixth sense.
01:13:36I can tell exactly what's going on all the time.
01:13:39Behind my back or through a stone wall.
01:13:42For instance, at this moment, Jimmy, you're wishing you could shake me and join that Lamont girl.
01:13:47Isn't that what you're thinking?
01:13:50Isn't that what you're thinking?
01:13:52Answer me!
01:13:53No, boss, it ain't.
01:13:54I'm not.
01:13:56I'm not right.
01:14:05All right.
01:14:05Bye.
01:14:05Bye.
01:14:08Bye.
01:14:10Bye.
01:14:12Bye.
01:14:18Bye.
01:14:20Bye.
01:14:30The End
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