loloandpete

With a title like The White Angel, you kind of know what you're going to get, if you'll excuse the pun, a whitewash. Of course a person like Florence Nightingale should be celebrated for her achievements but this film presents her as a saint rather than a living, breathing and flawed human being. Again, no joke intended but the characters for her are depicted as heroic and those against her, villainous, so, rather black and white. A more serious biopic might have been entitled The Lady With the Lamp and indeed a passage of the film where various characters read out Longfellow's poem of the same name is one of the most effective and moving scenes of the film. German director, William Dieterle, known for many great movies such as the beloved 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and more significantly, for me, 1941's masterpiece, The Devil and Daniel Webster, is a sure hand on the tiller and moves things along with pace and interest but is fighting a battle with the script. The best you can say of it, is it is of it's time. The worst affected is the star, Kay Francis, a fine actress who delivers with conviction but is encumbered with po faced and twee lines that beggar belief. Her talent is evident in that she still manages to make her role engaging. Fortunately, she also has a sterling cast to play alongside her; on the 'good' side the redoutable Halliwell Hobbes brings charisma in spades as Lord Raglan and Ferdinand Munier is enjoyably whimsical as the camp cook, Soyer. On the distaff side, Donald Crisp is effectively cold as Dr Hunt, Montagu Love, suitably oily as Bullock and Nigel Bruce, my reason for watching, is hugely pleasurable to watch as the pompous and condescending Dr West, and unlike the other two antagonists, manages to be likeable into the bargain. All three represent the crushing patriarchy that our heroine needs to overcome both in England and the Crimea. Striking a false note is Billy Mauch as drummer boy, Billy, so very American and so very twee that his appearances jar and take you out of the story. Talking of twee, the appearance of Queen Victoria's arm and her arm only, takes the biscuit! But to conclude at an hour and a half with first rate acting and direction this is a good biopic and with a stronger script could have been a excellent one.