Internes Can’t Take Money *** (1937, Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Lloyd Nolan, Stanley Ridges) – Classic Movie Review 11,302

Joel McCrea is the first Dr Kildare, who treats and falls for Barbara Stanwyck…

Director Alfred Santell’s 1937 black and white hospital drama Internes Can’t Take Money [You Can’t Take Money] stars Joel McCrea as young interne doctor James Kildare, who treats and falls for bank robber’s ex-con widow Janet Haley (Barbara Stanwyck) and tries to help her get her daughter back from the mob with the aid of a gangster Hanlon (Lloyd Nolan) on whom he has done emergency surgery in a tavern back room.

This exciting first film from the Dr Kildare stories of Max Brand mixes the hospital and gangster genres to considerable effect, throwing in operations, sentimentality and a typically gripping performance by Stanwyck and an earnest, rock solid one by the always-underrated McCrea, both cast ideally in the third of their six films together. Nolan is effective and Stanley Ridges is also useful as slimy villain Innes.

Running just 78 minutes, it is a B-movie but with A-movie stars and production values, an attractive combination.

It is based on a story by author Frederick Schiller Faust, writing as Max Brand.

The film can’t have taken enough money either. It disappointed at the box office, failing to meet its commercial expectations, so no sequel followed. MGM acquired the rights and took over Dr Kildare from the Paramount Pictures studios that did it here and, with the help of author Max Brand, reworked it as a long-running series, crucially adding the new Dr Gillespie character.

It is followed by Lew Ayres’s debut as Dr Kildare in Young Dr Kildare (1938). After its success, MGM went on to make nine Kildare films, plus six films centering on Gillespie.

It was retitled You Can’t Take Money in the UK, where Internes were unknown.

Also in the cast are Lloyd Nolan, Stanley Ridges, Lee Bowman, Irving Bacon, Fay Holden, Pierre Watkin, Charles Lane, Steve Pendleton [Gaylord Pendleton], Jack Mulhall, Lee Phelps, Eddie Dunn, Ellen Drew, Barry Macollum, James Bush, Nick Lukats, Anthony Nace, Frank Bruno, Agostino Borgato, Helen Brown, May Carlson, Harvey Clark, Yvonne Dunkerley, Lillian Harmer, Elmer Jerome, Priscilla Lawson, George Lynn, Lon McAllister, John Skins Miller, Charles R Moore, Frances Norris, Sarah Padden, Jean Peterson, Jack Raymond, Alexander Schoenberg, Charles Sherlock, Gertrude Simpson, Donna Staley, Charles Sullivan, Harry Tyler, May Wallace, and Lillian West.

Internes Can’t Take Money [You Can’t Take Money] is directed by Alfred Santell, runs 78 minutes, is made and released by Paramount, is written by Rian James and Theodore Reeves, based on a story by Max Brand, is shot in black and white by Theodor Sparkuhl, is produced by Benjamin Glazer, is scored by Gregory Stone, and is designed by Hans Dreier.

It was released in the US on April 16, 1937.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,302

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com