Klondike

Klondike is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Phil Rosen about a man who is put on trial for manslaughter after a surgery on a patient's brain goes awry. The film is also known as The Doctor's Sacrifice in the United Kingdom. It was silent film star Priscilla Dean's final film. Plot Doctor Robert Cromwell (played by Lyle Talbot) is charged with murder when a patient dies after an experimental operation to remove a brain tumor. His pilot friend, Donald Evans (Frank Hawks), convinces "Doc" to join him on a trans-Pacific trip as a means to start a new life. They plot a flight path across the Bering Strait, but rough weather blows them off course and they end up in Alaska. There the doctor is faced with a new dilemma. Mark Armstrong (Henry B. Walthall) begs the doctor to attempt the operation on his son Jim (Jason Robards Sr.) who is crippled by a similar brain tumor. When the doctor refuses, Mark accuses him of wanting his son to die, because he is in love with Jim's fiancée, Klondike (Thelma Todd).