9. Night Nurse
Night Nurse is a delightful pre-Code 1931 film starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, and a very young and un-mustachioed Clark Gable.
The plot, though, thin is pretty entertaining. The film starts out with a (what must have been at the time) very dramatic rendering of an ambulance driving up to a hospital and rushing into a hospital, establishing the scene. Laura Hart (Stanwyck) is applying to be a nurse, but unfortunately she hasn't graduated from high school (!) or have a very good recommendation (apparently grocers can't recommend people for nursing) and is turned away from the night nurse position. However, she runs into a gentleman in the revolving door into the hospital, and Laura gets a recommendation from him. It turns out he's not just a random stranger entering the hospital -- he's Dr. Bell, an important bigwig at the hospital!
Laura gets assigned a roommate -- J.B. (Blondell) -- who shows her the ropes of nurse school. There is also much undressing involved, and Laura shows off her cute underwear. Eventually, Laura and J.B. are working the emergency room and a victim of a bullet wound (Lyon) shows up. The doctor is busy with other things, and Laura tends to him -- and is convinced to skip reporting his accident to the authorities. Hes a bootlegger and she flirts with him a little bit.
Later Laura serves on a surgery team -- her last test before becoming a true nurse. She almost faints when the surgery is unsuccessful, but she manages to get through it with the help of her friend. Then the nurses get to take the Florence Nightingale pledge -- and now they are officially nurses!
Laura becomes a night nurse for some kiddies -- kids that are suspiciously not getting well -- but they are healthy enough to jump around on the bed! The kiddies are scared of Nick, who is not a nice man. Later, after the kiddies go to bed, Laura ends up helping a mysterious woman passed out on a polar bear rug after a man comes to her for help. After undressing the mysterious woman, Laura is attacked by the man -- but then someone (Gable) comes in and takes charge! Wash her stomach out, he commands (shades of D.O.A.!). It turns out he's Nick...the chauffeur. But Laura won't do it without a doctor's order and continues to try to call the hospital. Nick won't have any of it and eventually he knocks her out and carries her away.
Later Laura finds out that the mysterious woman is the kiddies' mother, and that Nick has her under his spell -- as well as a lot of liquor. She ends up taking care of mom again, and has the best line after the mom passes out again -- "You mother!" Ah, the way Stanwyck curls her lip! Classic! Nick continues to be menacing, especially in his sexy black chauffeur outfit, complete with jodhpurs.
Eventually Pal, the bootlegger, shows up with a delivery for Nick and mom. The kiddies aren't doing well, and Laura is convinced they need a milk bath. (Why milk, I dont know. Perhaps it's a 1930s cure that isn't used any more.) Pal says that he knows a couple of guys, and brings back several gallons of milk. Laura puts one of the kiddies on the stove in a big milk bath, but Nick finds her and puts an end to the nursing efforts. All the milk goes down the drain!
Eventually Dr. Bell shows up at the kiddies' house at the insistence of Pal. The kiddies need a blood transfusion -- and he doesn't know what type they are. But Laura does -- they're type 4A -- just like her! But then POW! the doctor is knocked out by Nick. And then Laura is knocked out! But Pal comes to the rescue -- complete with a gun and he gets Nick out of the house.
In the end, all ends happily. Laura ends up leaving with the bootlegger, and the ambulance goes on another run to the hospital. Ah, we're right back to where we began!
Night Nurse was fairly entertaining, especially since it was only about an hour and a half. My first reaction -- dang, Barbara Stanwyck is young! Clark Gable was extremely good at being menacing, and I love his line "I'm Nick...the chauffeur!" Quality! And there is lots of undressing -- the girls had nice underwear back in the '30s.
The plot, though, thin is pretty entertaining. The film starts out with a (what must have been at the time) very dramatic rendering of an ambulance driving up to a hospital and rushing into a hospital, establishing the scene. Laura Hart (Stanwyck) is applying to be a nurse, but unfortunately she hasn't graduated from high school (!) or have a very good recommendation (apparently grocers can't recommend people for nursing) and is turned away from the night nurse position. However, she runs into a gentleman in the revolving door into the hospital, and Laura gets a recommendation from him. It turns out he's not just a random stranger entering the hospital -- he's Dr. Bell, an important bigwig at the hospital!
Laura gets assigned a roommate -- J.B. (Blondell) -- who shows her the ropes of nurse school. There is also much undressing involved, and Laura shows off her cute underwear. Eventually, Laura and J.B. are working the emergency room and a victim of a bullet wound (Lyon) shows up. The doctor is busy with other things, and Laura tends to him -- and is convinced to skip reporting his accident to the authorities. Hes a bootlegger and she flirts with him a little bit.
Later Laura serves on a surgery team -- her last test before becoming a true nurse. She almost faints when the surgery is unsuccessful, but she manages to get through it with the help of her friend. Then the nurses get to take the Florence Nightingale pledge -- and now they are officially nurses!
Laura becomes a night nurse for some kiddies -- kids that are suspiciously not getting well -- but they are healthy enough to jump around on the bed! The kiddies are scared of Nick, who is not a nice man. Later, after the kiddies go to bed, Laura ends up helping a mysterious woman passed out on a polar bear rug after a man comes to her for help. After undressing the mysterious woman, Laura is attacked by the man -- but then someone (Gable) comes in and takes charge! Wash her stomach out, he commands (shades of D.O.A.!). It turns out he's Nick...the chauffeur. But Laura won't do it without a doctor's order and continues to try to call the hospital. Nick won't have any of it and eventually he knocks her out and carries her away.
Later Laura finds out that the mysterious woman is the kiddies' mother, and that Nick has her under his spell -- as well as a lot of liquor. She ends up taking care of mom again, and has the best line after the mom passes out again -- "You mother!" Ah, the way Stanwyck curls her lip! Classic! Nick continues to be menacing, especially in his sexy black chauffeur outfit, complete with jodhpurs.
Eventually Pal, the bootlegger, shows up with a delivery for Nick and mom. The kiddies aren't doing well, and Laura is convinced they need a milk bath. (Why milk, I dont know. Perhaps it's a 1930s cure that isn't used any more.) Pal says that he knows a couple of guys, and brings back several gallons of milk. Laura puts one of the kiddies on the stove in a big milk bath, but Nick finds her and puts an end to the nursing efforts. All the milk goes down the drain!
Eventually Dr. Bell shows up at the kiddies' house at the insistence of Pal. The kiddies need a blood transfusion -- and he doesn't know what type they are. But Laura does -- they're type 4A -- just like her! But then POW! the doctor is knocked out by Nick. And then Laura is knocked out! But Pal comes to the rescue -- complete with a gun and he gets Nick out of the house.
In the end, all ends happily. Laura ends up leaving with the bootlegger, and the ambulance goes on another run to the hospital. Ah, we're right back to where we began!
Night Nurse was fairly entertaining, especially since it was only about an hour and a half. My first reaction -- dang, Barbara Stanwyck is young! Clark Gable was extremely good at being menacing, and I love his line "I'm Nick...the chauffeur!" Quality! And there is lots of undressing -- the girls had nice underwear back in the '30s.
posted by Rebecca at 11:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home