ReaderKenka
Let's be realistic.
Robert Joyner
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Nicole
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
blanche-2
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.
bkoganbing
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.
krorie
The last of the highly successful Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie series which foreshadowed the later popularity of medical shows on TV, "Dark Delusion" has its moments, though overall routine with the psychological mumbo jumbo at times unintentionally humorous. The most entertaining scenes are the ones with veteran character actor Keye Luke as Dr. Lee Wong How, especially the part where he tries to convince a heart patient that he really isn't a heart patient; and the teasing confrontations between Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) and Nurse 'Nosey' Parker--almost a comic version of Nurse Ratched before her time. The character of Napoleon portrayed by Ben Lessy is fun to watch, in particular his final appearance.The story centers as always on the medical staff and patients of Blair General Hospital. This time a new doctor, Dr. Tommy Coalt (played by the somewhat bland James Craig), is having serious bedside-manners problems since he always tells the truth the way he sees it to patients and staff alike. How do you get rid of an unwanted employee without causing an unnecessary blowup? Either promote him to a higher level bureaucratic position where he becomes nothing more than a highly paid pencil pusher or send him to a nowhere place such as Bayhurst where nobody cares, just thankful there's a physician in town.But Dr. Coalt is still an unruly colt. This time he takes on the entire medical profession by becoming involved with a young lady, Cynthia Grace (Lucille Bremer),who has been diagnosed as having a mental problem. Dr. Coalt is determined to cure her without confining her to an institution the way her family doctor has advised. Cynthia's father has also been persuaded to institutionalize his daughter. Sent by Dr. Gellispie to appraise the situation, Dr. Lee Wong How (Luke) reports back by telephone, "The good news is Dr. Coalt is not in jail yet." The acting is mixed. Barrymore, Luke, and Jayne Meadows give the best performances. Why Jayne Meadows couldn't make it as a viable screen personality is a mystery. Perhaps she reminded the movie goers of too many other actresses in comparable roles.If you're a fan of the series, then "Dark Delusion" will be enjoyed. For others, the going may be rough in spots but the high points will still be high points.
sol1218
(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.
