Psycho Killer Loose at Blair Hospital!

Metro Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942) Now That Ayres is Out



Murder We'd Forgive, But Wrecking a Department Store's
Electric Train Display? --- Unpardonable!

What drama went on behind scenes of this one! It was written and partially shot as another Kildare, then Pearl Harbor happened and Lew Ayres declared Conscientious Objector status. That gave him poison oak amongst showmen, and outraged patronage all but wove the hemp. One thing was sure: Lew was off the staff at Blair General, but was that sufficient cause to dump a lucrative series? Crusty Lionel Barrymore stayed aboard, no need to worry about him called up and refusing induction. It was therefore simple matter of Kildare out and giving Gillespie the lead, provided there was attractive youth to don scrubs and be guided by scenery-chawing Barrymore (I can hear directors: Great Lionel, but give it more!).

Lure for ladies here is Euro import Philip Dorn, being road-tested in a handful of Metros to see if he could be another Charles Boyer, or closer match Paul Heinried. Dorn's Blair residency was a one-off, the Gillespies finding their level when likeable Van Johnson and Keye Luke joined staff later. Barrymore impresses for all but doing slapstick from the wheelchair --- his reaction to electric shock nearly results in backflip and reaction worthy of Babe Hardy in similar discomfit. It isn't all laughs of course, as ingénue Donna Reed has unwisely affianced herself to psycho killer Phil Brown, who clubs a cute cocker spaniel in the opener scene (that nearly made me turn the movie off) and later destroys electric trains in a dazzling 40's store window display --- murder we'll accept, but not offing doggies or wrecking O gauge treasures. The serial murder stuff is actually pretty chilling; there's even a closed door and pull-back that Hitchcock would use verbatim in much later Frenzy (did he see Calling Dr. Gillespie and remember?).