''Between Two Women'', made in 1945, was the sixteenth film in the Dr. Kildare series. It was the fourteenth of fifteen in which

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blyth; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

starred as Dr. Leonard B. Gillespie. The film following was ''

Dark Delusion ''Dark Delusion'' is a 1947 American drama film directed by Willis Goldbeck and starring James Craig, Lionel Barrymore, and Lucille Bremer. Produced and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was the last film in the Dr. Kildare film series which ...

'' (1947), which was the last in the Dr. Kildare series released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

(MGM). This was the last of

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American actor and dancer. He had a prolific career in film, television, theatre and radio, which spanned over 50 years, from 1940 to 1992. He was a major star at Metr ...

's character, Dr. Randall 'Red' Adams, also seen in three previous Kildare films.

Plot

This episode in the series should have been called ''Between Three Women'', because there are plot strands involving three, not two, women. Dr. Gillespie's (

) assistant, Dr. Red Adams (

), is still fending off the romantic advances of beautiful blond socialite and social worker Ruth Edley (

Marilyn Maxwell Marvel Marilyn Maxwell (August 3, 1921 – March 20, 1972) was an American actress and entertainer. In a career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War ...

), who finally succeeds in winning Red's heart. The second woman is a pretty night club singer Edna (

Gloria DeHaven Gloria Mildred DeHaven (July 23, 1925 – July 30, 2016) was an American actress and singer who was a contract star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Early life DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor-director Carter De ...

), who collapses suddenly one night after a show and cannot understand why she is no longer able to eat. Red finds out that a complicated subconscious obsession is the cause. The third woman is Sally (

Marie Blake Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald (August 21, 1895 – January 14, 1978), also known as Blossom Rock, was an American actress of vaudeville, stage, film and television. During her career she was also billed as Marie Blake or Blossom MacDonald. He ...

), the reliable and wise-cracking switchboard operator in all of the episodes. Sally is stricken with

Bright's Disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine. It was frequently accompanied ...

and refuses to let anyone besides Red operate on her ailing kidney. Things turn out well for Red and all three women. There are some scenes in the singer's night club that draw inspiration from the country's immersion in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. As part of a "

home front Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system for their military. Civilians are traditionally uninvolved in com ...

" money raising contest to help the war effort, Ruth bids extravagant amounts of money for the chance to kiss Red in public. (Allmovie.com's synopsis of the movie has Red romantically involved with ailing socialite Cynthia Grace (

Lucille Bremer Lucille Bremer (February 21, 1917 – April 16, 1996) was an American film actress and dancer. Biography Bremer was born in Amsterdam (city), New York, Amsterdam, New York, but soon moved to Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where ...

), who supposedly suffers from a life-threatening blood clot, but this is the plot for ''

''.)

Cast

Production

The draft script included a plotline involving twin sisters, one of whom is pregnant, that Dr. Adams and Dr. Gillespie believe are the same person. The doctors describe various tests in a comedic competition to prove whether she is pregnant. After reviewing the script, the

Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Fo ...

, which enforced the

Hays Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as th ...

, objected to details about pregnancy and

pregnancy test A pregnancy test is used to determine whether a person is Pregnancy, pregnant or not. The two primary methods are testing for the pregnancy hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)) in blood or urine using a pregnancy test kit, and scanning ...

s. To avoid any financial impact from a rejection of the finished film, MGM eliminated the twins plotline in a script rewrite.

Reception

According to MGM records the movie was the most popular in the series yet, in part because of the rising popularity of Van Johnson. The film earned $1,896,000 in the United States and Canada, and $386,000 elsewhere, making a profit of $1,184,000, a remarkable figure for a

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

References

External links

* * * 1945 films 1945 drama films American black-and-white films American drama films Films about surgeons Films directed by Willis Goldbeck Films set in New York City Films set on the United States home front during World War II Films set in hospitals Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films Films scored by David L. Snell {{1940s-US-drama-film-stub