Barbara Stanwyck plays a “Night Nurse” who is sent to care for two ailing children of an affluent family, and begins to suspect foul play in the youngsters’ health problems. No one believes her, and her only ally is a bootlegger whom she treated in the hospital. This riveting crime drama thriller from Warner Bros. Pictures was superbly directed by William A. Wellman (“A Star is Born” 1937), from an outstanding screenplay by Oliver H. P. Garret and Charles Kenyon, adapted from the 1930 novel “Night Nurse” by Dora Macy.
Stanwyck’s supporting cast includes Ben Lyon as the bootlegger friend, Joan Blondell as a fellow nurse, Clark Gable in a rare role as the heavy, and a host of others. As this movie was produced in Pre-Code Hollywood (1929-1934), Stanwyck and Blondell were filmed in their lingerie, considered risque for its time. “Night Nurse” and the violent “Public Enemy,” also from Wellman, were both cited as examples of the need for the Hays Code, adopted in 1934 and rescinded in 1968.
Night Nurse (1931)
cinema
My Review
Barbara Stanwyck plays a “Night Nurse” who is sent to care for two ailing children of an affluent family, and begins to suspect foul play in the youngsters’ health problems. No one believes her, and her only ally is a bootlegger whom she treated in the hospital. This riveting crime drama thriller from Warner Bros. Pictures was superbly directed by William A. Wellman (“A Star is Born” 1937), from an outstanding screenplay by Oliver H. P. Garret and Charles Kenyon, adapted from the 1930 novel “Night Nurse” by Dora Macy.
Stanwyck’s supporting cast includes Ben Lyon as the bootlegger friend, Joan Blondell as a fellow nurse, Clark Gable in a rare role as the heavy, and a host of others. As this movie was produced in Pre-Code Hollywood (1929-1934), Stanwyck and Blondell were filmed in their lingerie, considered risque for its time. “Night Nurse” and the violent “Public Enemy,” also from Wellman, were both cited as examples of the need for the Hays Code, adopted in 1934 and rescinded in 1968.