REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1939, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“CALLING DR. KILDARE.” There was a large audience at the Regent Theatre on Saturday night which had placed before them an excellent sequel to the former Dr. Kildare picture in “Calling Dr. Kildare." Lionel Barrymore, as the cantakerous but human old doctor, guides Lew Ayres through another tempestuous adventure in “Calling Dr. Kildare,” second of the new medical-detective series. Ayres, as young Dr. Kildare, gets into trouble with the police when, infatuated by pretty Lana Turner, he hides and cares for a wounded murder suspect. So there is nothing to do but find the real murderer to clear the boy. He sets out to do it, solves the riddle, then finds he has lost the girl he did it for. The wily old Dr. Gillespie gets him out of his troubles in a deft dramatic twist. Ayres, who rapidly rose to romantic prominence through the first “Kildare” picture, plays his character with ease and conviction. His scenes with Lana Turner, playing the girl who deceives him, are poignant. Barrymore extracts the last morsel of both comedy and drama from his role of the crippled old physician who tries to teach the boy to follow in his footsteps while there is still time. Several new characters are added to the “Kildare family,” including Alma Kruger, the hard-boiled head nurse with a touch of sentiment, and pretty Laraine Day, playing the young nurse with whom a future romance with Ayres is hinted in the story. Nat Pendleton and Marie Blake again provide the comedy as the ambulance driver and the telephone girl in the hospital, and Bobs Watson, as the little crippled boy, has a dramatic scene with Barrymore. The excellence of “Calling Dr Kildare” is a notable exception to the general rule that sequels are never as good as the original. The hectic life in a great hospital, the struggles of science, the turbulent night life of New York, all combine to provide thrills, heart throbs and comedy in this fast-moving romance. For an entertainment even greater than its predecessor, patrons should see "Calling Dr. Kildare.” A superb array of short featurettes completes the programme. One of the supporting featurettes, is the latest, newsreels by air of European developments.