Plot
Mary Fanshawe (Fay Wray) is a dedicated, professional supervising nurse in an urban hospital. She is very friendly with one resident, Dr. Preston (Walter Byron), although it is clear that she is not his sole object of attention. Fanshawe reprimands one young nurse, Doris Andros (Mary Carlisle) for her careless attitude, but she is unaware that Andros and Preston are seeing one another in secret. Fanshawe is far less friendly with young Dr. Jim Barclay (Ralph Bellamy) despite his attentions toward her. Barclay, though, is also distracted by tensions with his superior, Dr. Walter Selby (Walter Connolly), who rejects the younger man's suggestions of trying more modern medical and surgical techniques.
During a crucial operation that Selby had insisted on performing himself, he finds himself unable to continue and hands the procedure to Barclay, who succeeds with a radically new technique, calmly observed by Fanshawe, who is acting as head nurse. Selby is forced to concede that his own time as a lead surgeon and hospital head has passed. Later, when a patient nearly commits suicide because of a mistake made by Andros, Barclay discovers the nurse with Preston, who was supposed to be on rounds in the ward, together on the hospital's rooftop.
Barclay attempts to cover for his fellow doctor, but when Andros learns she is to be fired, she threatens to expose the deceit. In the end, both Andros and Preston are forced to leave, with Fanshawe and Barclay now ready to collaborate both professionally and personally.
Vina Fay Wray was a Canadian/American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed one of the early "scream queens".
Ralph Rexford Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned 62 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and awards, including a Tony Award for Best Dramatic Actor in Sunrise at Campobello and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for The Awful Truth (1937).
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"Kaleidoscope in "K"" is a novella by author A. J. Cronin, initially published in 1933 in Cosmopolitan magazine. All of the action unfolds within twelve hours in a London hospital, and the story centers around the conflict between a young surgeon, Dr. Barclay, and the hospital chief, Dr. Selby. A subplot is the rivalry between Barclay and a playboy physician, Dr. Preston, as they vie for the attentions of Miss Fanshawe, an attractive nurse. The story comes to a tense climax as Barclay prepares for a delicate brain operation, a revolutionary procedure to which Selby is opposed. The story was also printed in book form by various publishers, and it was also adapted into a 1934 film, Once to Every Woman.
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