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Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Blanche Frederici, Clark Gable, Joan Blondell

When nurse Lora Hart accepts a private nursing job, caring for the children of a wealthy alcoholic, she becomes convinced that the children are being intentionally starved.

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68% liked it

719 ratings

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80% liked it

5 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 15 min.

Directed by: William A. Wellman

Release Date: January 1, 1931

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Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell Night Nurse (1931).
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Flixster Reviews (57)

  • groaningbitch
    April 28, 2008
    groaningbitch
    "night nurse" is another piece of work made in the pre-code period of the 30s, and barbara stanwyck glitters with her inner strength as the heroine who practices the justice among immoral debauchies of a disorientated world under probation. then you might also be amused to glimps...( read more)e the young clark gable without his trademarked mustache.

    stanwyck plays lora hart (which means a pun for heart to suggest her characteristics), who is a compassionate young woman who aspires to nuture others as pleasure. so she enlists in the hospital with the help of surgeon dr. bell as a registered nurse. and joan bondell is her wisecracking confidante who provides mostly the comic relief in the script, such as their habit to imitate the throat-cleaning sound, bondell's chewing-gum vivacity and stanwyck's frequent remark "says me in a big way, sister." and also stanwyck's merciful generosity leads to the friendship or potential love interest of a decent-hearted bootleger, played by ben lyon, who would be the savior later in the flick.

    so both bondell and stanwyck pass their tests of ordeals to be the night nurses, then they encounter a job concerned with their professional ethics. they're dispatched with a cse of two sick young girls who have been starved deliberantly to death so their mother and her paramour chauffer(clark gable) could obtain their father's trust fund inheritage. the flick is related to the forbidden subjects of prosmiscuity, illict affairs, alcoholism and child abuse then.

    clark gable makes a riveting entrance as the bully man in dragon-embroidered robe, impressing the audience with a certain degree of menace as the brutal villain who smacks stanwycks, and the issue of violence on women is not a pleasant theme for the censor as well. gable shows his darker side of cad convincingly for sure.

    "night nurse" is certainly a relish to look at, and you see stanwyck ballistically slaps the rotten mother who disregards the children, that would be a kick for sure.
  • DrStrangeblog
    October 15, 2008
    DrStrangeblog
    'Night Nurse' A Naughty Innocuous Mystery

    I've never seen a Barbara Stanwyck film. Ever. Not even "Double Indemnity," but that one's coming sometime, so blow the story for me and you're off my friends list!! This one is very early in her career and I believe one of those vehicle...( read more)s that the studios made to showcase a particular actress to see if they have a chance at becoming a star. She gets her name in huge letters before the title, but poor Clark Gable gets 4th billing among all the other card-punchers. OK, there's Joan Blondell too.

    I watched this based on Leonard Maltin's recommendation, and I blurb: "Excellent, hard-bitten tale...Still potent today." That caveat because this was made in 1931. Leonard's biggest fault (besides hiring useless hacks to help review current movies) is his over-admiration of some pre-50s cinema. Hey, the guy wrote a book about it. While they may have packed them in 50 years ago, some films simply don't age well and he sometimes does not account for shifted sensibilities. Such is the case with "Night Nurse." You can see Stanwyck's star power in the making - I *will* have to watch more of hers - but the promised potent, hard-bitten scenes mostly amount to Gable (playing the heavy - hey I can speak Prohibition) squaring his shoulders while standing in a doorway. Not exactly edge-of-seat material, more in the glance-at-watch category.

    Beyond Stanwyck & Gable in early roles, the main entertainment value comes from Blondell as comic relief and the fact this was released pre-Motion Picture Code which strove to make movies wholesome. Therefore we get illegal hooch, drunken parties, and no fewer than 3 gratuitous scenes of the actresses in their underwear. While even Bridget Jones would balk at the bloomers they wore, to a '30s cinemagoer it must've been like watching an Andy Sedaris movie.
  • Sunshineyness
    September 24, 2009
    Sunshineyness
    What a neat little pre-coder. Great message, well shot, well acted.
  • jam233
    June 28, 2009
    jam233
    Barbara Stanwyck has never made a bad movie nor given anything less than a good performance. Terrific classic, well acted, good story and a great pace. Very entertaining.
  • Ghw12158
    August 19, 2008
    Ghw12158
    Babs & Blondell what a combo!
  • murphologist1
    May 1, 2008
    murphologist1
    Worth seeing just to see Clark Gable punch Barbara Stanwyck in her fat mouth.
  • jakkijelene
    March 8, 2008
    jakkijelene
    This was a good pre-code film starring Barbara Stanwyck. She becomes a nurse and starts her career by caring for two sick little girls but soon discovers foul play may be a factor. Although the general moral of the story is good, there are underlying morals that are a bit more ...( read more)sketchy. What's interesting is that this film was considered racy at the time, due to the girls constantly dressing and undressing (no nudity), but by todays standards it appears quite tame. On a side note, Clark Gable plays a small, but memorable character in what was one of his earliest roles.
  • joycefricken
    March 5, 2008
    joycefricken
    The exploits of a sensuous nurse (Barbara Stanwyck) stuck on the night shift in pre-code, prohibition America.. which is probably why it's such an interesting film.
  • Glinda
    January 6, 2008
    Glinda
    Essential Barbara. And it's fun to see Clark Gable play the bad guy.
  • bookgrrl
    March 18, 2007
    bookgrrl
    Pre-Code insanity...stanwyck...

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Night Nurse Trivia

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