Night Nurse (1931)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

One of my all time favorites.

Absolutely the worst movie.

The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

This one is definitely a guilty pleasure. It has to be. There are so many moments of obvious exploitation of young actresses Barbara Stanwyck (24 years old) and Joan Blondell (25), and they're all done in an amateurish way by director William A. Wellman, that you may find yourself chuckling at how over-the-top this pre-Code film is. We see Stanwyck undress to put on her new nurse's uniform, while Blondell eyes her up and down, and later takes off her garter for her. We see the two of them return from a night of carousing, and while getting undressed for bed, with Blondell's backside takes center stage. We see Blondell slipping on a uniform for surgery with the help of an assistant. And we see Stanwyck changing into her uniform, again while Blondell looks on admiringly. That's four underwear scenes, and all in the first 30 minutes! The movie does settle in to a plot, with the pair tending to a couple of trust fund babies who are being starved to death by none other than Clark Gable, who is quite sinister. In one scene Gable even knocks Stanwyck out, as Wellman dishes up a side of violence to go with the sex. As it plays out, it's all pretty ridiculous, but the star power of the film is hard to resist. I adore Stanwyck and Blondell, so confess this is not an unbiased review! I loved the chemistry Stanwyck had with Ben Lyon, the bootlegger she befriended on the job, and Blondell is a firecracker in every scene she's in. I found myself torn between being mesmerized by them and hooting over the movie's silliness, including an ending that was comically abrupt. Despite all that, it's probably must-see for anyone who likes pre-Code films, simply for how over the line the filmmakers wanted to take it, and with three superstars early in their film careers. It was certainly entertaining.

...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.

A good but not great entry into the Stanwyck canon. In this one she becomes a nurse and gets into some predictable and some unpredictable situations - odd how customs of an earlier generation can seem quaint and out-of-date to succeeding ones. Often its seems they had short-cuts to solutions of dilemmas - medical and legal, for instance - that take us a great deal of time nowadays. Suffice it to say that she is the main reason to see this peculiar '30's artifact, and she delivers another startlingly plucky performance - as always,she is not as fragile as she seems.Check out Clark Gable in a one-dimensional performance as a brutal chauffeur, before he hit stardom. Ben Lyon does a very agreeable turn as her bootlegger boyfriend. And, not to mention the dependable Joan Blondell as her best pal.Don't get me wrong, it's interesting enough. It's just that the subject matter is way off the beaten track. Makes you wonder,did this type of situation ever arise in the '30's, or any other decade?

A tawdry and downright disturbing pre-code film that stars Barbara Stanwyck giving one hell of a ferocious performance.Stanwyck plays the titular night nurse, assigned to care for the two small children of a negligent and drunken floozy. The children's' father is dead; the family chauffeur, played by a hateful Clark Gable, is running things, and he wants the children to die so that he can collect the trust money that was intended for them. Therefore, the children are wasting away from starvation while a useless maid dithers around and Stanwyck tries to get the hospital to intervene.The film would probably be instantly forgettable if not for the fierce performance of Stanwyck, who throws herself (quite literally) into the role of savior, taking punches, getting thrown into a wall, all while dishing out some punches of her own. This is film-making of the sensational Warners variety, featuring lots of suggestive dialogue, shots of Stanwyck and her nurse buddy, the saucy Joan Blondell, in their underwear, and a world in which things like murder are o.k. as long as they're done for the right reason. The movie is certainly no masterpiece, but it does have that energy and sizzle that characterized Warners films from this time period, and it is effective on its own modest terms.Grade: B+