L'ombre du passé

... and that's odd because this is half of a Warner Archive precode collection double feature DVD. Still I think it is worth your while because of the unusual storyline.

A woman (Bebe Daniels as Sylvia Benton) is married to a man of means who is also a mean drunk (Gordon Westcott as Jim), let's him drive them home in that condition (bad idea), and tells him she plans to divorce him while he is at the wheel (worse idea). He laughs maniacally as she asks him to slow down, and he crashes their car with his reckless driving. The last thing we see of them together is Sylvia unhurt dragging Jim from the car.

Next scene is Sylvia applying for a job as an R.N., claiming she is single. She said she was an R.N. earlier in the film, but she could have been lying about that too, because apparently nursing in 1934 is all about washing dishes by hand, gossiping about the men in their lives, and smoking heavily - in the hospital! Other than taking temperatures I see very little medicine involved with these nurses, unless Sylvia being chased by a pair of doctors, John Halliday as Dr. Hedwig and Lyle Talbot as Dr. Connolly, counts.

So what happened to Sylvia's husband? Is he dead from the wreck? Is he alive, still a mean drunk, and trying to track her down? Something else? Honorable mention HAS to go to Sidney Toler and Irene Franklin as a feuding couple that rough each other up so badly that they have to be brought to the hospital (in the same ambulance), stay for several weeks to heal, and then walk out together arm in arm as though nothing ever happened. Apparently the bill did not bother them. But in the days when your nurses mainly wash dishes and smoke, I guess hospitals could keep costs down some.

Stick around for Toler and Franklin and also for the spectacle of somebody using the death of a cop to get in a woman's pants - I'll let you watch and see what I mean. And also ponder the question - Is it murder to tell somebody whose private life you know more about than they do that a theoretical person - who happens to be just like them - would be better off and be doing the world a favor if he just jumped out of a high story window...when a high story window is nearby, and then you just leave them to their thoughts.

Worth a look for the novelty of it all.

In her next to last film before departing for the United Kingdom with her husband Ben Lyon, Bebe Daniels stars in a medical melodrama entitled Registered Nurse. I'm not sure this story would ever get on such medical television shows as Ben Casey or Marcus Welby.

Bebe's a girl with a past, she impresses everybody at the hospital she goes to work at from head nurse Beulah Bondi, to head doctor John Halliday, to surgeon Lyle Talbot. In fact the last two have more than medicine on their minds. But she's carrying a secret, she's got a husband, Gordon Westcott, who's locked up in the loony bin.

Today's audiences wouldn't understand it, but back then the divorce laws were truly draconian. In New York State you could not get divorced on any ground other than adultery. Poor Bebe just can't get free of Westcott, so she suffers as any soap opera heroine does.

There's another even more tragic plot line involving nurse Minna Gombell and policeman Ed Gargan. Humor is supplied by Sidney Toler who is a wrestling promoter with a broken leg and Irene Franklin who is a bordello madam. Franklin has a great old time comparing her girls to the nurses. And Toler has a couple of his athletes visit him in the hospital and they provide some hilarity.

Try as the cast does, Registered Nurse will not be ever listed among the great medical dramas. Now this thing had great potential as a radio soap opera.

Registered Nurse (1934)

** (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining Pre-Code from Warner about various wild characters inside a hospital. The film centers around a nurse (Bebe Daniels) who is wanted by two different doctors (Lyle Talbot, John Halliday) but she is hiding a secret about a mysterious husband that no one knows about. These personal dramas have to be dealt with as well as countless patients. With some saucy dialogue and some mild sexual innuendo, fans of the Pre-Code era might want to check this one out but I'd say most will come away disappointed because the film has so many elements in place but in the end they really don't come together to make a complete winner. The biggest problem is the screenplay that really doesn't know if it wants to be a sassy comedy or a dark drama. We get light moments followed by dark moments and none of them ever mix and I'd also add that the entire love triangle comes off rather fake and forced. I think Daniels turns in a fine performance as she really digs into her role and manages to make a character we can feel for. Talbot and Halliday are both good as well and we also get to see Humphrey Bogart's infamous wife Mayo Methot. Sidney Toler gets the most outrageous moments in the film as a wrestling promoter who ends up with a broken leg after he beats up his wife. The entire beating of the wife sequence is played for laughs so that should tell you something.

Sylvia Benton (Bebe Daniels) is married to drunken Jim Benton. He crashes his car resulting in brain damage. She goes back to nursing and gains admiration for her work over the years. Surgeons Dr. Hedwig (John Halliday) and Dr. Connolly (Lyle Talbot) both fall for her. When Jim escapes the asylum, he stumbles into Sylvia's hospital.

The premise is different. It's a pre-Code film but the romance has limited heat. It's an old overwrought romance with little buy-in. The hospital dramas are mostly overwrought melodrama with limited excitement. It's equivalent to a weak medical TV show. There isn't much drama until the last act. In fact, it's a rather slow grind before that part. The last part does something dark and intriguing but it's too late to regain the dramatic drive.

Quite enjoyable until the contrivances add up to an annoying level. OK acting, but nothing but stereotypes inhabit this General Hospital melodrama. Bebe Daniels is indistinguishable from Kay Francis and other beautiful, benevolent and noble female leads of the 30s. Some good one-liners, but not meat on the bones. "Men in White", another hospital drama from the same period, holds up much better.