War Nurse

Although its style is clearly 'old school' or pre- pre-code, this has an almost modern feel with respect to its cynical attitudes and brutal realistic content. Its evocative depiction of WW1 is genuinely harrowing.

If you're a shallow voyeur who watched this just to see Anita Page bouncing around in her undies you'll feel very guilty and a little soiled because this is proper film. It's a hard hitting condemnation of war. It's a life affirming story of how amazing the human spirit is.

Veteran director Edgar Selwyn wasn't one of those experimental filmmakers pushing boundaries in the late twenties but neither was he one to make those appalling stodgy static filmed stage play types of thing. By focusing on how it affects real people, Selwyn evokes the never ending relentless horror and despair of war by making it personal.

It's based on a notorious anonymously written autobiography of an actual war nurse which caused quite a scandal with its no holds barred revelations of what life was like for those young amazing heroines. Although this was made in 'the pre-code era' the saucy story was heavily censored and sanitised - in terms of any sexual shenanigans anyway. The true mental and physical brutality of conflict however was left undiluted.

Like all the best stories this tells its tale through the eyes and experiences of real people. The acting style is a bit more 1920s than 1930s but once you acclimatise, the characters do feel authentic, like real people. It's a story about how war doesn't just change people but society. These volunteer girls, hundreds and in the case of the Americans, thousands of miles from home, like the men there, realise that have to live as though each day might be their last. Consequences and convention have no role in a world without a future. The only way to survive was to pretend it's just a nightmare and live in a sphere of self deception.

Overall it's a clever and engaging fast-moving film. It's professionally made and a lot more entertaining than you might imagine... and if you're still wondering, yes Anita Page does bounce around in her undies!

Sound quality is a little iffy in this early talkie from MGM. Anita Paige and Robert Montgomery. Even Zasu Pitts and Hedda Hopper. Also some STRONG regional accents that really come out now and then. Nurses date the soldiers in between surgical procedures during the war. They have daily adventures, and spout clever aphorisms to each other. At one point, the pilots are shown landing with mountains in the background... probably Burbank or Orange county. Palm Springs landing strip wasn't built yet. Directed by Edgar Selwyn, whose early life was full of strife and adventure, if the bio on IMDb is accurate. Apparently, the "wyn" from his name is part of the "Goldwyn" studio name. On IMDb, it is said he was considering going for a ride on the titanic, but couldn't make the trip. Some fun life stories, with the war as a serious backdrop. Because its such an early talkie, they still use a title card at the very end with a tribute to the "War Nurses". Not bad. Fun to watch. Some serious moments of loss, but it does take place during wartime, so that is expected.

... as almost all films about WWI were by the year 1930, as nobody could seem to remember exactly what this war was about.

The film is about how the war brings together people from all walks of life - a society woman (Hedda Hopper credited only as "matron"), a homely schoolteacher interested in art not men (Helen Jerome Eddy as Kansas), an American girl in a French convent school forced to close because of the war (Anita Page as Joy, who thinks this is going to be far more glamorous than it is), etc. All of these come to France as war nurses for the Allies.

But after they've scrubbed enough latrines, run out of PPE, run out of morphine, dealt with enough death and men with their faces, arms, and legs blown off the nurses learn to emotionally distance themselves from the horror and sleep through the gunfire at night. As for the men, it makes them want to live for now because there may be no tomorrow. Apparently that explanation - given as part of the dialog between nurses - is supposed to be absolution for a French doctor accosting one of the nurses, and for all of the flyers/soldiers lying about marital intent or even current marital status.

Robert Montgomery plays a flier who relentlessly pursues Babs - one of the nurses and a plain spoken girl with a good head on her shoulders. She becomes good friends with Joy, who is going to need a friend before this film is over. Robert Ames plays a no good snake. My apology to snakes everywhere. Zasu Pitts is not playing her familiar dithering blithering persona, but is instead an assertive wise cracker that trades barbs with Marie Prevost's character.

The odd thing about this film? June Walker, mainly a stage actress, is playing the leading lady here and Robert Montgomery's love interest rather than the better known MGM star Anita Page. Walker had not made a movie since 1921. She did not make another until 1942, and yet her performance holds up.

I was a bit surprised by the premise of this film. It seems that not all the nurses used during WWI were actually trained nurses. In other words, while the Red Cross provided many well-trained nurses with surgical and nursing experience, many of the volunteers were just ladies who were willing to give it a try! This film is specifically about these ladies.

As far as the types of women you see in the film, they all are a bit different. Some are very professional and dedicated and some are more flighty and annoying. One of the worst of them is actually the leading lady, Anita Page, who plays a nurse who seems awfully interested in romance and who seems ready to crack up at a moment's notice! While annoying, however, this is probably pretty realistic- -and it was very tough work to say the least.

Overall, this is a pretty good little film. At times it's gritty and blunt about sex for 1930, though in some ways it is all a bit sanitized as you really see no blood and the horrors of war aren't nearly as horrific as you'll see in contemporary films like "All Quiet on the Western Front". Not a brilliant film but one that is worth seeing, well acted and well written.

Anita Page gets the chance to be someone other than the rich socialite or the poor girl from the lower east side. In WAR NURSE, she shines as the teenage social butterfly who signs on, one imagines on a whim, to be a nurse in WWI. She is shipped overseas with a group of other girls who are all anxious to be nurses. At first she is afraid and cries for the easy life she used to have, but quickly becomes a competent nurse. Hedda Hopper, in a role before she became a gossip queen, plays the matron of the nurses. Look for the marvelous wisecracking Marie Prevost, one of the 1920's favorite flappers, and Helen Jerome Eddy as two of the other nurses.

In this film, Anita loses her heart to an American soldier she meets, only to find herself bitterly disappointed later. Suave, sexy Robert Montgomery provides the love interest for a nurse named Babs. Look also for Edward Neugent, playing another of his many "best buddy" roles, as a friend of Montgomery. This movie looks like it's used stock WWI war footage to document the war, but that only adds to the realism. Things look dark, dirty and, well, like a war is going on! Contrast these scenes with one later in the picture of the wild party at the nightclub, and I imagine you have some idea of what things were like at some point during WWI.

Like WATERLOO BRIDGE (1930), this movie provides viewers of today with a look back at the WWI era--it's conventions, morals, worries, and fascinating stories. If you can find this movie, it's worth the time it takes to see it.