gavin6942 A nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.The film was considered risqué at the time of its release, particularly the scene where Barbara Stanwyck is seen in her lingerie. Clark Gable portrays a vicious chauffeur gradually starving two little girls to death. According to Robert Osborne, the part of "Nick the Chauffeur" was originally intended for James Cagney, but his success in "The Public Enemy" prevented his accepting a supporting role, paving the way for Gable. Strong supporting roles like this allowed Gable to become a leading man...I feel like Barbara Stanwyck needs more love. She had a 60-year career, was a leading lady, and even had own television program for a while. And yet, she doesn't seem to have ever become an icon, someone who carries on in pop culture. I love her in everything she does, but I doubt that 1 out of 10 people know her or would recognize her. And that is a shame.

Scott44 ***User reviewer Ron Oliver ("Tough Stanwyck Drama", Ron Oliver from Forest Ranch, CA, 9 February 2004) has a nice review. Dougdoepke ("It Ain't Young Doctor Kildare", dougdoepke from Claremont, USA, 14 January 2007) has a good commentary focusing on the upcoming Hays Code repression. Reviewer Mucifer ("why this is the best film ever (especially if you are a pediatric night nurse)", mucifer, 8 November 1998) discusses this as a cult film for hospital workers. Barnesgene ("Effect on Farmers", barnesgene from Virginia, U.S., 19 July 2007) discusses the film's societal distance from rural America.*** "Night Nurse" (1931, William A. Wellman), a lurid medical drama/thriller, is "pre-code" naughtiness. Arriving three years before the Hays Code, and during the full wrath of the Great Depression, it speaks for the huddled masses and moral transgressors both. As if thumbing his nose at the restrictions to come, Wellman's "Night Nurse" provokes the self-ordained moral watchdogs of the 1930s in many ways. Even the central heroine (Lora Hart, played by the indubitable Barbara Stanwyck) will show leg and/or maintain a relationship with a young bootlegger/gangster if it benefits her.Lora, young and under qualified, uses her feminine wiles to obtain a job in a hospital as a nurse. (The highly regimented work conditions recall sweatshops.) She is taken under the wing by Nurse Maloney (Joan Blondell). While trying to evade a pair of grabby male interns, the two violate hospital rules and are punished with night duty. During one shift Lora violates hospital rules again by not reporting her treatment of a bootlegger with a gunshot wound. The bootlegger is grateful for Lora's discretion and falls in love with her. Soon after, Lora is transferred to a bizarre, nightmarish mansion. In the manor are a group of drunken adult aristocrats who party perpetually. In a quiet room away from the ongoing party, Lora is charged with tending two bedridden toddler sisters who are heirs to a fortune. Lora discovers the children are being deliberately starved to death. She then realizes she has uncovered a very dark criminal conspiracy that involves a chauffeur and the children's doctor. (BTW, the medical wisdom of curing a hungry child with a therapeutic milk bath instead of a solid meal is possibly controversial today.)The cast, led by 24-year-old Stanwyck, is great. Stanwyck, who happens to undress before the camera on multiple occasions, is a very beautiful but tough presence. While having empathy for her patients she is capable of standing toe-to-toe with Nick (Clark Gable), the brutal chauffeur. Gable's bestial character, who strikes women without hesitation, might have been very frightening for the time; he's psychotic and instinctively murderous. Gable, not yet a big film star in 1931, has a screen presence that mesmerizes even today.Joan Blondell, portraying Lora's streetwise nursing friend Maloney, is also beautiful and her character is daring. The two nurses are like sisters, just like the siblings in the mansion. Ben Lyon is Mortie, the likable bootlegger. At the film's conclusion, his romantic relationship with Lora reaches a very high level of moral ambiguity. How we feel ethically about the final reveal is very unusual for cinema of any period.As tough as Lora reveals herself to be, she has some beautiful lines that may have offered hope to downtrodden audience members of the time. I like how Stanwyck expresses her economic desperation to Maloney with a world-weary but still hopeful voice. I also love her signature reply to Maloney: "in a big way, sister."Cinephiles who wish to see a solid, Depression-era medical thriller with tenuous ethical boundaries should see this. Does a milk bath cure the malnourished? Are there circumstances which warrant breaking rules? The answer to both is: In a big way, sister.

mark.waltz ...and lingerie's of silk and satin...Roommates Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell get to show off their fine figures in this pre-code drama of sin discovered in the service world of nursing by a recent graduate of a hospital nursing school. Stanwyck seems to have luck on her side everywhere she goes; Rejected by the hard-nosed head nurse (Vera Lewis) on her way in, she bumps into chief of staff (Charles Winninger) on her way out, and before you know it, she's in training, oiling babies, assisting in surgeries and breaking curfew to have a night out on the town. Then, when she gets on her first case, it's as a private nurse to some mal-nutritioned children, victimized by a sinister chauffeur (a very young Clark Gable) and determined to expose the doctor on the case as a quack who shouldn't only loose his medical license, but end up in jail as well.Stanwyck's tough persona was established early on in her career, and here, she's nobody to mess with. She slaps down mashers, gets right into Gable's face, and even risks loosing her career by standing up for what she believes is right. This has some delightfully tough dialog, with Stanwyck and Blondell trading some wonderful wisecracks, yet their friendship never suffering even with all the acid dripping. Blondell is a far cry from her matronly character actress days, an absolute delight as the best pal a tough-talking nurse could have, and the two ladies suit each other very well. Gable's character is even more amoral than any of the early roles he played over at MGM, while Charlotte Merriam as the drunken mother of the two exploited children and Blanche Friderici as the seemingly sinister housekeeper offer convincing performances as well. This is topped off by one of the most delightful pay-offs in pre-code, giving Stanwyck's love interest (Ben Lyon) a great exit line.

manuel-pestalozzi Anyone who thought exploitation movies were invented in the 1960s will know better after having watched Night Nurse. It's a strange mix of comedy, drama and mild sleaze. The story is pretty weak but for fans of Barbara Stanwyck this is an absolute must see. Her performance is very energetic (aggressively shoving her face very close to that of other people, punching big guys, hurtling bottles of champagne around etc.) and she really comes through as a sensuous – albeit tough as nails - nurse. For some time she must wear a tiny band aid on her chin which makes her even more attractive. Joan Blondell is also great as her gum chewing friend, setting the standard for vulgarity. The movie basically deals with the ethics of the medical profession which is treated with amazing cynicism. The highlight for me was the conversation between the excited Stanwyck character and an older Pappy-type doctor. The nurse suspects foul play in a particular medical case and Pappy tries to calm her down with sensible arguments. The nurse quickly loses her patience and her temper, shouting. „Aw, ethics, ethics, ethics! I'm through with ethics!" It's really a well played scene which brings the character and temperament of the nurse to the fore and reflects the atmosphere of the whole movie. I also liked the unethical doctor with his facial twist and snazzy uniform which must have influenced people who created the wardrobe for Starship Enterprise. His big office has very elegant Art Deco trappings and is in stark contrast to the rather cramped conditions in the ethically operated hospital shown in this movie.