source: Cynthia's Secret

Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) has enough of the young aggressive unconventional Dr. Tommy Coalt (James Craig). He sends him as short term replacement for a local small town doctor. He is asked to commit young socialite Cynthia Grace (Lucille Bremer) to an insane asylum but Coalt insists on searching for a cure of her disturbing behavior. I don't know if this film is medically sound. I would have preferred a murder mystery, or maybe she's lying, or at least a cinematic multiple personality. I want something more dramatic. The movie goes off on a detour with a phone chase in the third act. It's like the writer knows that the movie needed some action to spice things up. Apparently this was the last film in the franchise which created Dr. Kildare. I can see this more as a TV medical drama. As a cinematic film, it's lacking.

"Dark Delusion" was the final film in the Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie series. Most likely it was because it lost a LOT of money and the studio realized it was time to call the series quits. Amazingly enough, it's actually a good film...a worthy installment in the series. So why was it a failure? I assume folks just got tired of the films and even with a good film, the series had just petered out. Dr. Tommy Coalt (James Craig) is a very competent doctor, though his manner is a bit abrasive. So, Dr. Gillespie thinks the young doctor could benefit from a change of pace...something to help improve his people skills. So, Dr. Coalt is sent to fill in for a general practicioner in another town...and, not surprisingly, there end up being some serious problems. In particular, a rich man is trying to have his daughter institutionalized because she's assume to be insane...but Dr. Coalt won't sign off on this commitment. Another problem, and a much more minor one involves a man needing a medical certificate in order to adopt a baby...but, oddly, the man keeps putting off getting a physical! This certainly is NOT a dull film. While some of the psychological aspects of the story are out of date, the notion of a doctor NOT wanting to just institutionalize someone is a good thing as back in the day such commitments were overused. Overall, a decent installment in the series...and one unfairly hated when it was released.

(Some Spoilers) The last of the MGM Dr. Kildare series without Dr. Kildare has to do with Kildare's replacement at Blair General Hospital Dr. Tommy Coalt, James Craig. Dr. Coalt a bit unorthodox in his methods in treating patients, one where he has a paralyzed bride recover from her deep depression by having her attend her own wedding in an iron lung with Dr. Coalt acting as the best man. Having numerous complaints and threats of law suits against his hospital because of the bullheaded Dr. Coalt the big boss Dr. Gillespie, Lionel Barrymore, has him farmed out to the out of the way place in the country called Bayhurst feeling that he can't do any damage there, or so her thought. With one of the towns doctor Dr. Burson, Art Baker, going on a two month vacation to war ravaged Europe Dr. Coalt is immediately put in charge of his practice and his star patience Bayhurst socialite Cyntaia. Cynthia had been declared insane by the Grace family doctor Dr. Biddle, Henry Stephson, and what was needed was Dr. Coalt to do the same thing, in writing, to put her way in a sanitarium until she recovers which probably would be never. Dr. Coalt refuses to sign the papers declaring Cynthia mentally unstable until he gives her a complete examination. This her father Mr. Wyndham Grace, Lester Matthews,throw a fit feeling that there's more going on between his daughter and Dr. Coalt then a doctor patient relationship and threaten to have him disbarred. As you would expect from the previous actions of Dr. Coalt he's not at all intimidated by Mr. Grace and his political connections in and out of Bayhurst and as usual does "his thing" instead regardless of the consequences. Still having Cynthia under his care, Mr. Grace had since cooled down a bit, Dr. Coalt starts to backtrack and finds out the truth about the reason for her mental condition. It leads to when she fell on her head from a fall off a horse she was riding. This was all accomplished with the help of Dr. Gillsepie, who showed up unexpectedly, and a dose of truth serum as well as putting a confused Cynthia under hypnosis. Realizing the delicate and dangerous condition that Cynthia was suffering from, a blood clot on the brain, Dr.Coalt had her virtually kidnapped taking Cynthia to to an obscure hospital in Brooklyn where he operated on her removing the blood clot and bringing Cynthia back to normal. Both the operation and flight out of town wasn't as easy as it looked taking some two months. This made Dr. Coalt a fugitive from the law facing at least 20 years for kidnapping as well as losing his license to practice medicine. Showing up back in Bayhurst Dr. Coalt has a big surprise for the very distraught, and about to belt him in his mouth, Mr. Grace and he shows him his daughter in perfect health as a normal person instead of having to be committed for life in a sanitarium as Mr. Grace was about to have done to Cynthia. In the end everyone is happy with Dr. Coalt taking over Dr.Burson's, who retired to Florida to go fishing, practice at Bayhurst with Cynthia completely overcoming both her illness and psychosis. The best thing,, besides Cynthias miraculously recovery, to happen in the film is old Dr. Gillespie finally hitting it big with a one million dollar contribution for his hospital. The donor being one of his most famous and eccentric admirers a little guy, Ben Lessy, who thinks that he's Napoleon Bonaparte! Like they say anything is possible in the movies.

The final film of the gang at Blair General Hospital takes place with Dr. Gillespie having a new protégé in James Craig who is a brilliant guy, but who already has the bedside manner of Lionel Barrymore in Dutch Uncle mode. Craig's stepped on the toes of a few patients and Barrymore's solution is to send him on an 8 week vacation to the country where he can take over Dr. Art Baker's practice temporarily. It doesn't take long for Craig to get in hot water in the country. The daughter of the town's wealthiest citizen Lester Matthews has been behaving erratically. Matthews wants to have her committed and he has his own physician Henry Stephenson ready, but it takes two doctors to commit and Craig does not think that Lucille Bremer belongs in an asylum. Craig takes a very big chance with this case, enough to get him tossed out of the profession it he's wrong. He's got another crisis as well this one involving young married couple Warner Anderson and Jayne Meadows adopting a baby. Apparently the law requires a physical examination on the grounds of an adopted baby should have two healthy parents officially confirmed that way. Anderson is under the belief he has a heart condition for reasons never told by the film and he won't get a checkup. That one gets farmed out to Keye Luke. The Blair General Hospital group may have ended its cinematic run on the big screen. But in the early 60s it was revived on television most memorably with Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey playing Gillespie without a wheelchair. One comment I do have to say. Some kind of purple heart should go out to Nell Craig who played Nurse Parker who was Gillespie's personal nurse. The abuse that woman took from that man. She must have held him in great personal and professional esteem. I would have walked off that job in a New York minute. The Kildare/Gillespie films were products of MGM's B picture unit. But even with that they had a certain MGM class to them. Dark Delusion was a fine one for the series to end with.

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.

Lionel Barrymore and Alma Kruger are fantastic in this film. It is too bad the film didn't just focus on them. The main storyline isn't fleshed out and you end up not caring. Alma and Lionel make it worth a watch.

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.

This is mainly the story of a doctor in his efforts to help his patient, Cynthia.The reasons why he do this are unclear, and this is what the movie is all about. Also, the telephone scene with Mr. Selkirk and Dr. Lee is just hilarious. The story is important, too, because it points out how a serious illness can be misdiagnosed -although things have changed a lot since 1947, it could still happen.