bkoganbing The White Angel which was a film about the crucial years in the life of Florence Nightingale when she during the Crimean War popularized the career of nursing for women and sanitary hospitals. Her work in Great Britain and Clara Barton in the USA during the Civil War set the standards for the nursing profession as we know it now.Nightingale came from an upper class background and that probably stood her in good stead because someone who had to worry about how the next month's rent was to be paid or the next meal coming from could not have taken on what she did or faced down the sexist attitudes of her age.The British cinema did the best version of her life in 1951 with Anna Neagle playing Nightingale. Besides Florence herself the real name of only one other character is used, that of Lord Raglan the Commander of the British forces in the Crimea played here by Halliwell Hobbes. The real players are used in the Neagle film.This was a change of pace for Kay Francis who usually was more glamorous in her roles than here. Francis reminds me a lot of Rosaland Russell when she did Sister Kenny.This was part of Warner Brothers biographical films of the late 30s and The White Angel was the only one to have a female subject. The White Angel bogs down a bit in spots and for a more accurate film the Neagle picture is better. Still this is reasonably entertaining and Kay Francis fans will like it.

MartinHafer Kay Francis was cast as Florence Nightingale and the film shows Florence from the time just before she dedicated her life to nursing to just after her return from the Crimean War. Francis' acting and that of most of the supporting actors was good--the dialog and details left a bit to be desired.Hollywood sure loved bio-pics in the 30s and 40s and churned out gobs of them. The problem, though, is that while many were very entertaining, they also played rather fast and loose with the facts as well as had very, very high "schmaltz" levels on many occasions. In other words, the celebrities being portrayed were very often over-idealized and seemed more like living saints than 3-dimensional heroes. While Florence Nightingale was an absolutely amazing woman and deserved to have a film made about her, all too often the film degenerated into idol worship. My favorite over-the-top moment was when Flo entered the dilapidated hospital and the man ran screaming "water!!!"--what an amazingly unsubtle moment! While the general facts in the film are correct, the way they were realized on screen, at times, made me laugh. This is really a shame, as the real story of this woman should be good enough! As for me, I'd like to see a more realistic and less predictable treatment of her long life.

Bolesroor In the grand tradition of biography pictures that sanctify their subjects comes "The White Angel," the "true" story of the lady with the lamp, the nurse who revolutionized nursing, Miss Florence Nightingale. Why does Hollywood insist on sanitizing and sweetening the lives of real people? The most blatant example of this is probably "Private Parts"- the life story of Howard Stern- which turns America's favorite sexually-stunted shock-jock bully into a misunderstood merry prankster, a teddy bear of a man fighting the good fight against prudes and censors. Right.I caught "The White Angel" on TCM late one evening. It begins with Florence Nightingale- "Flo" to her contemporaries- rejecting tradition and refusing to marry and settle down. She senses a greater purpose and a place for women in military medicine. [In actuality Florence and her sister were encouraged to pursue education by their forward-thinking father.] As played by Kay Francis, Ms. Nightingale is a humorless, passionless saint with absolute confidence in her methods and philosophy. Kay plays the role as if she's riding a heroin high- deeply centered and somewhat removed. With the success of the film riding on this lead performance, we're left with a fascinatingly anti-climactic picture. There is little if any dramatic conflict in the film- it has all the suspense of a book report. The encounters between Florence and other characters are all laughably wooden. Her antagonists openly profess their resentment of her to her face and she sits stoic, with eyes-wide, accepting the abuse and calmly declaring her intentions to proceed. In one particularly action-less sequence, Florence and her nurses storm the supply tent after the clerk tells them it's closed. "Does the war close at seven?" Florence asks, "Do they stop bringing in the wounded at seven?" Before the bureaucrat gets the chance to answer, Florence has delicately and glamorously stepped past him, forcing her way inside with the help of the other nurses.That's the most exciting moment in the movie.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stops by to gawk at her heroism and write the poem that would immortalize her. Crusty wounded soldiers smile at her tenderness as she walks the hospital halls at night checking on her patients. I had trouble keeping mine. The story seems SO glossed-over and tidy (even for a biopic of the 30's) that one can't help but feel cheated by fabricated elements as well as the absence of significant actual events. When Florence arrives at the military hospital a soldier informs her that 57% of all wounded men die even under medical care... the trouble is we're never given an updated number as to a soldier's chance of survival. This is especially ironic due to the fact that a)Florence's Nightingale's arrival and improvement of the military medical system surely improved the survival rate and b) Nightingale herself was famous for her statistical analysis and record-keeping of mortality rates and other social phenomenas. Disappointing.The film is ultimately a waste; it is predictable and pre-digested, not even diverting enough to hold my attention. Who knew changing the world could be so boring? Grade: C

mark.waltz Warner Brothers in the 1930's was known a lot more than their Busby Berkley musicals and gangster dramas. They filmed a successful series of biographies, from George Arliss' "Disraeli", "Voltaire", and "Alexander Hamilton", to Dolores Del Rio's "Madame DuBarry". When Paul Muni had a hit with his performance as Louis Pasteur, Warner Brothers decided to give their biggest leading lady, Kay Francis, the chance for hers as "the lady with the lamp", Florence Nightingale.This was a departure for Kay, who had appeared in a series of romantic dramas which for the most part had not done all that well at the box-office. The rising success of another Warner Brothers contract actress Bette Davis had Francis desperate to do something other than suffer in mink. Unfortunately for Kay, the film was released in July when the majority of the audience-teenagers-wanted action and adventure, not a history lesson. Then, there were the reviews, which were respectable-for the film's overall production, but not for Kay. They all mostly agreed that Kay was badly miscast as the noble Florence. The film begins with wealthy young Florence fixing the broken leg of a dog, then deciding, much against the wishes of her family, to enter nursing. She is appalled by nursing conditions, and does all she can to change them. Cleaning out the drunk and cruel harpies which seem to represent 75% of the nursing profession, Florence finds an ally in a kind-hearted nun (Eily Malyon) who becomes her assistant. War erupts, and Florence works at the front harder than any of the women she hires. Of course, this takes a toll on her health, as does the presence of doctor Donald Crisp who objects to her methods.I agree with the critic's conception of Kay's miscasting as Florence. While I don't know what she looked like in real life, something tells me that the nursing uniforms worn by Kay were not nearly as glamorous looking. Only in a Kay Francis movie can the heroine walk through a dirty hall of sick soldiers looking as if she's heading out to a nightclub. Kay's makeup never falters, even in her sickly state. It's not that Kay's performance is bad; something tells me that she was never able to sink her teeth into this role as Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck would have done. Sadly, the failure of this film seemed to doom Kay's remaining days at Warner Brothers to long-suffering mothers or romantic heroines. Seen today on Turner Classic Movies, "The White Angel" can easily impress its audience with its overly noble portrayal of a saintly woman who changed the nursing profession single handidly. When compared to the Paul Muni and George Arliss bios, where it lacks is in the lack of a presence of a strong leading lady. Kay Francis still remains one of my favorites, and as a movie, this is enjoyable, but she's still Kay Francis, regardless of the lack of sables and minks. The story of Florence Nightingale had several other attempts on screen: in a 1950's English film with Anna Neagle; and on TV in the 80's with Jacqueline Smith. Just the mentioning of the last one makes me ask the question: didn't the people who made that version read the reviews of this one?