**SPOILERS** With his top kick or head man at Blair General Hospital Dr. Kildare, or better yet actor Lew Ayres, off to war as a conscientious objector, driving ambulances on the front lines, Dr. Gillespie, Lionel Barrymore, is desperate to find his replacement. After searching high and low among his hundreds of interns Dr. Gillespie boils his search down to two candidates for Dr. Kildare's job doctors Randall "Red" Ames, Van Johnson, and Lee Won How, Keye Luke.
Giving the two young doctors the task of finding a cure to a assigned patient's illness within a specific amount of time, like he's conducting some kind of game show or scavenger hunt, Dr. Gillespie will choose as his assistant the one who finds the cure first. A cocky Dr. Lee gets the job of finding out why little Mary Jones, Patrica Barker, is allergic to sugar like candy and sweet potato's. Red on his own takes up the task of finding out why this young woman-who refuses to reveal her name-Jean Brown played by Ava Gardner is walking and driving around dead drunk yet doesn't have a single drop of alcohol in her system?
Wise old and manipulative Lenny Gillespie is really in favor of Red taking Dr. Kildare's place as his #1 assistant but Lee is determined to beat him to it by finding out what's the reason for Little Mary's acute anti-sugar problem. Meanwhle Red has his hands full with finding out the cause of beautiful brunette Jean's non-existent alcoholism which in fact turned out to be an anti-depression pill Jean had given to her by a friend of her's at a party she attended! Where at the same time Red's having this gorgeous blond Ruth Edley, Marilyn Maxwell, hounding him day and night to go out on a hot date with her! That on his measly $20.00 a month salary as an intern!
As things tuned out Lee beats Red out in finding the cure, with Dr. Gillespie subconsciously tipping him off, for his patients, Litte Mary,illness and thus is to be rewarder in being Dr. Gillespie head man at Blair General. Lee also clues in Red, by showing him a nine year-old boy playing hop-scotch on the sidewalk, to what's the reason for Jean's drowsiness as a result of her pill popping which has to do with her depression over her mothers Mrs. Brown, Barbara Brown, arthritic condition.
As it turned out the arthritis caused Mrs. Brown's right leg to be shorter then her left leaving her confined in a wheelchair for years. All Red now had to do is fit Mrs Brown with a special set of custom made shoes, at his bear bones salary where did he get the cash to buy them?, and everything including Jean's depressive state of mind, as a result in caring for her mother, would turn out fine.
Red now feeling that he lost out to his colleague Lee in being top assistant to Dr. Gillispie, not knowing it was in fact Dr. Gillespie not Dr. Lee who came up with the cure for Litte Mary's illness,is ready to pack it in and join the US Marine Corps to fight the Japs in the far off South Pacific. It's then that Dr. Gllespie comes to his rescue pulling strings in getting Lee drafted into the Chinese Army as a field doctor on the front lines! Something that Lee wanted even more then being Dr. Gillespie's assistant!
There's still the messy matter of Ruth messing up Red's mind by wanting him to hook up with her, for life, endangering his career in medicine! It's here that Dr. Gillespie, with a little help from his friends, saves Red's neck, as well a everything below it, in getting him out of that "terrible terrible jam" in a way that only he knows how.
Giving the two young doctors the task of finding a cure to a assigned patient's illness within a specific amount of time, like he's conducting some kind of game show or scavenger hunt, Dr. Gillespie will choose as his assistant the one who finds the cure first. A cocky Dr. Lee gets the job of finding out why little Mary Jones, Patrica Barker, is allergic to sugar like candy and sweet potato's. Red on his own takes up the task of finding out why this young woman-who refuses to reveal her name-Jean Brown played by Ava Gardner is walking and driving around dead drunk yet doesn't have a single drop of alcohol in her system?
Wise old and manipulative Lenny Gillespie is really in favor of Red taking Dr. Kildare's place as his #1 assistant but Lee is determined to beat him to it by finding out what's the reason for Little Mary's acute anti-sugar problem. Meanwhle Red has his hands full with finding out the cause of beautiful brunette Jean's non-existent alcoholism which in fact turned out to be an anti-depression pill Jean had given to her by a friend of her's at a party she attended! Where at the same time Red's having this gorgeous blond Ruth Edley, Marilyn Maxwell, hounding him day and night to go out on a hot date with her! That on his measly $20.00 a month salary as an intern!
As things tuned out Lee beats Red out in finding the cure, with Dr. Gillespie subconsciously tipping him off, for his patients, Litte Mary,illness and thus is to be rewarder in being Dr. Gillespie head man at Blair General. Lee also clues in Red, by showing him a nine year-old boy playing hop-scotch on the sidewalk, to what's the reason for Jean's drowsiness as a result of her pill popping which has to do with her depression over her mothers Mrs. Brown, Barbara Brown, arthritic condition.
As it turned out the arthritis caused Mrs. Brown's right leg to be shorter then her left leaving her confined in a wheelchair for years. All Red now had to do is fit Mrs Brown with a special set of custom made shoes, at his bear bones salary where did he get the cash to buy them?, and everything including Jean's depressive state of mind, as a result in caring for her mother, would turn out fine.
Red now feeling that he lost out to his colleague Lee in being top assistant to Dr. Gillispie, not knowing it was in fact Dr. Gillespie not Dr. Lee who came up with the cure for Litte Mary's illness,is ready to pack it in and join the US Marine Corps to fight the Japs in the far off South Pacific. It's then that Dr. Gllespie comes to his rescue pulling strings in getting Lee drafted into the Chinese Army as a field doctor on the front lines! Something that Lee wanted even more then being Dr. Gillespie's assistant!
There's still the messy matter of Ruth messing up Red's mind by wanting him to hook up with her, for life, endangering his career in medicine! It's here that Dr. Gillespie, with a little help from his friends, saves Red's neck, as well a everything below it, in getting him out of that "terrible terrible jam" in a way that only he knows how.