Fantastic!

A Disappointing Continuation

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Lyle Talbot came to Hollywood after having his own stock company to answer the "we need good stage actors" call and happened to catch the eye of William Wellman who immediately started using him. This film wasn't Wellman directed (it was a Phil Rosen picture) but it did have ravishing Thelma Todd in a rare main role, in fact the title role!!Even though Dr. Cromwell (Talbot) is acquitted of a malpractice suit, his reputation is in tatters with only the gawkers and gossip mongers willing to wait in his clinic all day just for a chance to view him. When a pushy reporter posing as a patient gets Cromwell to open up his heart he feels betrayed and is only too willing when an aviator buddy convinces him to fly to places unknown.Cromwell is the only person to walk away from the crash and into a small Yukon outpost where he tries to keep his identity a secret - in fact the beautiful Klondike (Todd) gives him the idea by commenting that he couldn't be that "killer doctor"!! And how have they been able to get all the up to date mainland news?? That is all through Jim Armstrong (Jason Robards) who before he was stricken down with an unknown disease (the same one that Cromwell had operated on that caused him all that trouble) he was an engineering wizard who has built radios in every room. His father (good old Henry B. Walthall) guesses Cromwell's true identity and begs him to operate on Jim, saying he will accept any outcome.There has to be a villain and the splendid Jason Robards is a great one - initially hiding his surliness under his affliction, he can't hide his "megalomaniac" nature when the operation is a success - but is it?? Jim realises that if he shows how well he is he will lose Klondike, so he decides to stick to his wheelchair (and only walk at night). The thrilling ending features Cromwell, minutes from death at the hands of maniacal Jim - will he be saved with only the radio sound waves to help him???Priscilla Dean who was a huge star in the teens and twenties - she was Universal's biggest female star until the arrival of Laura La Plante - she played the feisty reporter!! Recommended.

This film and the serial, "The Mysterious Pilot" (1937), plus a documentary short produced by Lockheed around 1940 are the only movie appearances of Captain Frank Hawks, a daring test pilot who was killed in 1937 when an allegedly safe-as-houses airplane he was piloting, crashed. Would you believe, this movie anticipates this real life event? Early on, the character Hawks plays, dies in a crash. That's a shame because Hawks is not only a fascinating person, he's easily the best actor in this film. True, Lyle Talbot is reasonably competent, Thelma Todd looks good (but is not as charismatic as usual) and there is a great performance by Jason Robards as the afflicted Jim Armstrong. And yes, the original screenplay by Tristram Tupper does have some attention-grabbing twists, while Phil Rosen's fluid direction is considerably more involving than his usual humdrum approach! Available on a very good Alpha DVD.

This film really doesn't get going good until half way through its 66 minute running time when doctor Lyle Talbot, having lost his medical license, ends up in the Klondike (falling in love with a woman named Klondike, ironically), and ends up operating on the crippled fiancée of that young lady (Thelma Todd in a rare dramatic role) who is unaware of the feelings between her and his doctor. At first, the people who save Talbot are unaware of his real identity, having been interested in his case because of the similar connection between the case which caused Talbot to loose his medical license and Todd's fiancée. But somehow (perhaps because of a cut scene in the available print?) this is suddenly revealed, and the fiancée's moralistic father (Henry B. Walthall) begins acting as everybody's conscience, especially the doctor's, emotionally forcing him to perform the operation even though he's lost his license.From the time Talbot's plane makes an emergency landing in the Klondike through the silly ending where Talbot is made to believe he has been accused of deliberate murder of the unseen patient he was on trial for, this film actually is quite interesting, although the film has little to no action whatsoever, mostly medical ethic talk about what lead to him loosing his medical license. Then, the film takes on a sudden cartoonish turn which makes it loose every sense of credibility it had gained after the turn to the more interesting second half. The performances of Talbot and Todd are acceptable, but Walthall seems to be overplaying the part as if he was still working in silent movies. Jason Robards Sr. plays his wheelchair bound son initially with much subtlety that totally disappears at the end into a sublime ridiculous performance.

Solid little Monogram drama with very original story and denouement. Lyle Talbot, who would appear in anything, even a notorious Edward Wood picture, stars with considerable intelligence and sincerity. Hard-working Thelma Todd has a serious role and both leads are appealing together. Henry B. Walthall (another veteran who didn't know how to retire) supports, as does Gabby Hayes and Jason Robards Sr.The start is a little shaky, with some awkward staging, but after it gets into its stride I can say that this has much to recommend it. The attitude of Klondike's cast, and its out-of-the-rut story, is what makes it all work.