NIGHT NURSE
US, 1931, 72 minutes, Black and white.
Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable, Charles Winninger, Vera Lewis, Blanche Frederici, Charlotte Merriam.
Directed by William Wellman.
Night Nurse was a popular piece of entertainment in 1931. Running for just over 70 minutes, it shows how much can be crammed into a brisk screenplay. The first 30 minutes is standard hospital drama, so popular from that time on. There is a change of gear in the second half with the nurse working in a family and uncovering a plot about trying to destroy children for a trust fund. The two halves don't fit together particularly well, however the pace is quick and the audience is carried along.
The film opens with a tour de force ride in a speeding ambulance through the streets of 1931, indicating the change of techniques from silent films to sound. Direction is by William Wellman, who made the first Oscar-winning film, Wings, and who also made The Public Enemy at this time. The film stars Barbara Stanwyck and shows her vigour from the early '30s. Joan Blondell has the usual wisecracking supporting role. Clark Gable, on loan from M.G.M., has a small role as a brutal chauffeur.
The film is crisp as well as sentimental, showing both American sentiment and toughness. (There is a fair amount of changing clothes by the heroines of the film - something which would be looked at and changed with the coming Motion Picture Code.)
1. Popular 1931 drama? From a popular novel? The range of popular ingredients?
2. Warner Bros. style, black and white photography, sets? The new sound techniques, epsecially the opening? Editing and pace? Score?
3. Compressing a great amount of detail into a short running time? The two separate halves? Working dramatically well or not?
4. The ambulance, the hospital, Laura and her interview with Miss Dillon and being rejected, bumping into Dr Bell, Miss Dillon's change of approach? Meeting Nurse Moloney, sharing the room, the rules, the attentions of the interns, throwing the slipper at Miss Dillon, on night shift, the work with the babies, the operation, the passing the exam, swearing the oath?
5. Helping Pal, the bootlegger, his wound, keeping it quiet, his gifts? Laura meeting him later, liking him? His forcing Dr Bell to go to the help of the children?
6. The job for Laura, with the little girls, the help of Moloney, the mother drinking, the drunk man with her, Nick and his toughness, pushing her round, the fight, her going in anger to Dr Ranger? Dr Bell's advice, her going back, helping the children, Mrs Maxwell and her worries, the information about the trust, the milk bar? The trust money, Nick? Laura confronting the mother in the nightclub?
7. Dr Bell, his help, the happy ending?
8. 1931, the world of nurses, Barbara Stanwyck's tough heroine, sentiment and comedy, plots and crime? Of historical interest?
