Night Nurse (1931 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Night Nurse is a 1931 American pre-Code crime drama mystery film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell and Clark Gable. The picture was based on the 1930 novel of the same name written by Grace Perkins, later Mrs. Fulton Oursler (under the pen name Dora Macy). The film was considered risqué at the time of its release, particularly the scenes where Stanwyck and Blondell are seen in their lingerie.
Plot
Lora Hart (Barbara Stanwyck) applies for a job as a trainee nurse in a hospital, but is rejected by the Superintendent of Nurses, Miss Dillon (Vera Lewis), for not having graduated from high school. A chance encounter with the hospital's chief of staff, Dr. Arthur Bell (Charles Winninger), in an uncooperative revolving door, gets that requirement waived.
Lora's roommate and fellow nurse, Miss Maloney (Joan Blondell), becomes her best friend. Lora is assigned to night duty in the emergency room. One night, Lora treats bootlegger Mortie (Ben Lyon), for a gunshot wound and earns his gratitude by letting herself be persuaded not to report it to the police as required by law. He also admires the pretty young nurse.
After she passes her training, Lora is hired for private duty, looking after two sick children, Desney and Nanny Ritchie. She moves into the Ritchie mansion, where there is always a party going on. The children's socialite mother, Mrs Ritchie (Charlotte Merriam), lives in an alcoholic stupor, infatuated with the brutish chauffeur Nick (Clark Gable). When a drunken guest tries to molest Lora, Nick knocks him out. When Lora refuses his demand that she pump out the stomach of a very drunk Mrs. Ritchie, he knocks her out and takes her to her room.
The Ritchie family physician is "society doctor", and apparent drug addict, Dr. Milton Ranger (Ralf Harolde). Lora becomes alarmed by Dr. Ranger's treatment of the children, because she sees that they are being slowly starved to death, but she is unable to get anybody to take her seriously. She quits and takes her suspicions to Dr. Bell. He is initially reluctant to interfere with another doctor's patients, but eventually advises her to return to her job so she can gather evidence. She persuades Dr. Ranger to take her back.
Nanny Ritchie becomes so weak, Lora fears for her life and tries unsuccessfully to get Mrs. Ritchie to show any concern. By chance, Mortie is delivering liquor to the perpetual party at the mansion. Desperate, Lora sends Mortie for milk for a milk bath for Nanny, a folk remedy recommended by the frightened housekeeper, Mrs. Maxwell (Blanche Friderici).
Mrs. Maxwell gets drunk and confides her suspicions to Lora. The girls have a trust fund from their late father. Nick ran over and killed their sister with his car, and with Dr. Ranger's connivance, is deliberately starving the little girls to death. The trust fund will pass to the drunken and infatuated Mrs. Ritchie, and murderously vicious Nick will marry her for the money.
After being threatened by Mortie, Dr. Bell shows up and examines Nanny. However, when he tries to take Nanny to the hospital, Nick knocks him out. Mortie stops Nick from interfering any further, and Nanny's life is saved by an emergency blood transfusion provided by Lora.
The next day, Mortie gives Lora a lift in his car. To allay her worries, he informs her that he told some of his friends that he didn't like Nick. Elsewhere, an ambulance brings a corpse dressed in a chauffeur's uniform to the hospital's morgue.
Cast
- Barbara Stanwyck as Lora Hart, the night nurse
- Ben Lyon as Mortie, a bootlegger
- Joan Blondell as B. Maloney, another nurse
- Clark Gable as Nick, the Ritchie family chauffeur
- Blanche Friderici as Mrs Maxwell, the Ritchie family housekeeper
- Charlotte Merriam as Mrs Ritchie
- Charles Winninger as Dr. Arthur Bell, director of the hospital
- Edward J. Nugent as Eagan
- Vera Lewis as Miss Dillon, the hospital's Superintendent of Nurses
- Ralf Harolde as Dr. Milton A. Ranger, private physician to the Ritchie family
- Walter McGrail as Mack, a drunk
- Allan Lane as Intern
- Willie Fung as Hospital Patient
- Jim Farley as Policeman (uncredited)
