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The Secret of Dr. Kildare

Play trailer Poster for The Secret of Dr. Kildare 1939 1h 24m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Young Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres) presses his exhausted mentor, Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), to go on a much-needed vacation while he takes a case caring for the daughter of Wall Street tycoon Paul Messenger (Lionel Atwill). Kildare pretends to be a friend of the family to examine Nancy (Helen Gilbert) and learns she has blinding headaches. After the housekeeper confides that she has told Nancy she has a tumor like the one that killed her mother, Kildare struggles to make a proper diagnosis.

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The Secret of Dr. Kildare

Critics Reviews

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Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid It's all pretty silly, but the actors project just the right tone, avoiding life-or-death hysterics and keeping a sly edge. Jun 9, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Steve D It is fine but the series is becoming repetitive. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/11/24 Full Review Audience Member An okay movie. I was a bit annoyed that Dr. Kildare didn't really have any kind of deep dark secret, or any secrets at all, really. I did enjoy the movie, though, it was charming and dramatic. Of course, I knew what was wrong with Dr. Kildare's patient two scenes before he did, so he seemed like an idiot, as did some of the other characters sometimes. This movie started out trying to be a dark dramatic adventure, but ended up a sweet happy family friendly drama instead. It's interesting, but disappointing. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member THE DR. KILDARE MOVIES ARE YET ANOTHER ENJOYABLE FILM SERIES. THIS ONE IS PRETTY AVERAGE FOR THE SERIES, BUT STILL QUITE GOOD. LIONEL BARRYMORE IS ALWAYS GOOD TO WATCH, LEW AYRES IS GOOD AS WELL. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Secret of Dr. Kildare

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Cast & Crew

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Harold S. Bucquet

Director

Lew Ayres

Dr. James "Jimmy" Kildare

Lionel Barrymore

Dr. Leonard Barry Gillespie

Lionel Atwill

Paul Messenger

Laraine Day

Nurse Mary Lamont

Helen Gilbert

Nancy Messenger
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The Secret of Dr. Kildare

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Movie Info

Synopsis Young Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres) presses his exhausted mentor, Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), to go on a much-needed vacation while he takes a case caring for the daughter of Wall Street tycoon Paul Messenger (Lionel Atwill). Kildare pretends to be a friend of the family to examine Nancy (Helen Gilbert) and learns she has blinding headaches. After the housekeeper confides that she has told Nancy she has a tumor like the one that killed her mother, Kildare struggles to make a proper diagnosis.
Director
Harold S. Bucquet
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 12, 2019
Runtime
1h 24m
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