War Nurse

I watch a lot of obscure movies, films which 99.9% of people will never watch. It's like discovering a world that only I know about. Occasionally I will come across a hidden gem which I absolutely love usually because it meets my personal preferences. But then there are movies like War Nurse in which I'm in disbelief that a movie of such quality on many levels could fall tough the cracks of obscurity.

War Nurse follows a group of women who volunteer for nursing duties in France at the outbreak of the First World War. The film is a perfect companion piece to All Quiet on the Western Front, released the same year. Similar to how the young army recruits in All Quiet... have a distorted, glamorised view of what war will be like, so do the nurses at the beginning of War Nurse (some of them are barely into adulthood) expecting to be "holding hands all night with good looking sick officers" and to spend "Moonlight nights up on no man's land, with a general in each arm". Little do they expect the extremely strenuous work, horrendous conditions, the lack of supplies and the near insanity caused by the constant firing of shells.

One scene in which the nurses retreat to bed for the night only to be woken up shortly afterward by the arrival of injured troops during the middle of the night, I can feel just how tired and physically exhausted these people must be. War Nurse is full of powerful moments both big and subtle such as when a soldier played Robert Montgomery asks a nurse played by Anita Page out on a date, literally seconds after she told him one of his close comrades just died; death is that common of an occurrence

The copy of War Nurse I watched was not of the greatest of quality so I couldn't always distinguish the cast members apart. Yet I was still fully engaged and can say the production values are superb. I don't have any information on the filmmaking locations for War Nurse but the exteriors feature lush countryside backdrops to large-scale recreations of baron no man's land with shells constantly exploding.

Get this baby onto the Warner Achieve Collection!

A young WAR NURSE learns to serve the wounded servicemen, whatever the personal cost to herself.

This fine film from MGM illustrates the horrors of World War One by celebrating the American military nurses in France. The horrendous conditions they work under, the very real dangers they face, and the lives they sacrifice for their devotion to service, both gives emphasis to their tremendous dedication, and provides some fine entertainment for the viewer. While the focus remains on the hospital drama the film is at its best; it starts going soft when the romantic escapades of two of the nurses begin to absorb considerable screen time.

Anita Page gives a commendable performance as a convent schoolgirl who quickly loses her innocence to war's terrible reality, and her heart to airman Robert Ames, who also scores as her conflicted lover. June Walker, on the other hand, provides rather colorless appeal when compared to flashy flyer Robert Montgomery, who shows some of the star power that was so soon to make him one of the top draws at MGM.

It's great to see the marvelous ZaSu Pitts, playing a rather downbeat, plain-talking nurse, but the role does not give her enough to do. Actually taking the movie's top acting honors is supporting actress Helen Jerome Eddy, portraying a starchy Kansas schoolmarm who slowly reveals her beautiful heart after joining the medical services.

Hedda Hopper is a tower of strength in her rather small role as the nurses' matron. Marie Prevost is on hand as a brazen Brooklyn babe who also is one of the Ladies in White.

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!

This film tells the tale of a group of young "war nurses". The opening scenes show them drinking and thinking that being a war nurse will be relatively easy. This is especially apparent with the character played by Anita Page. Most of these girls are unprepared and have no idea of what they are about to go through. Soon enough, the harsh realities of war hits them in the face. War Nurse doesn't rank up there with The Big Parade or All Quiet on the Western Front but it does have several points in it's favor. The performances are all good. Anita Page is perfectly cast and she convincingly portrays the wide-eyed, innocent young girl. Helene Jerome Eddy, a popular silent player who also had a long career in talkies, is especially good, as is Marie Prevost. The war atmosphere is well presented. And these nurses are portrayed as valiant, selfless and always ready to do their share. Not a major motion picture but still a pretty good one.

... 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.