Angel of Mercy

It's the story of Clara Barton (as portrayed silently by Sara Haden) and how she came to found the American Red Cross during the Civil War. The short was reissued three years later with some extra framing material under the title of 'Flag of Mercy.' With the United State finally in the Second World War, women were needed in the nursing corps of the armed forces..... and in other places too. My mother was a WAVE. She was assigned to .... well, Indianapolis, in case Canada decided to invade while we were distracted. Or something.

John Nesbitt's Passing Parade mostly consisted of John going on about some subject that was little considered but important: hard wheat, or vaccination, or the varieties of cars the family had owned over forty years. The performers showed what he was talking about, a style of film-making called 'illustrated text'. It had been out of style since about 1915, but it's highly effective in these shorts.

Recently, "Angel of Mercy" was shown on TCM along with "The White Angel"...a smart decision by the Turner Classic Movie folks. This is because both films are similar..."Angel of Mercy" is about the founder of American nursing and the Red Cross, Clara Barton. And, "The White Angel" is about the founder of nursing (with the Britain during the Crimean War), Florence Nightingale.

This short film begins with the American Civil War. As the film puts it, 'an old spinster' (Sara Haden) goes to visit her injured brother...and he dies because of the poor care the soldiers received on the battlefield. She thinks it's a waste and proposed they train nurses to work at the front lines...and it did end up being a great success.

Like all of the John Nesbitt Passing Parade shorts, he narrates and the actors don't have many speaking roles. I think this is actually a weakness of these pictures and I am sure that the films did little to help the actors in them. In this case, Anne Rutherford, who was a hot commodity at the time, is pretty much a nobody in the film...even though she played Scarlett's sister that same year in "Gone With the Wind" as well as starring in most of the Andy Hardy films. The same can be said for Ms. Haden, as she was talented and could have been better given a chance to speak.

Despite this shortcoming, the film is well made and interesting...and, most importantly, historically important. Giving Clara Barton her due is more than enough reason to watch this one. It's just too bad they didn't make it a full-length picture, as her story is rather compelling.

It's a ten minute biopic of Clara Barton who founded the American Red Cross. During the Civil War, Clara decides to leave the comforts of home for the blood-soaked war frontlines. At first, she is ostracized by the social class and dismissed by the military. Women have no place in a war. They are too delicate. She charges ahead anyways. When the International Red Cross is founded, the US is the last country not signed on. Clara had hopes for newly elected president James Garfield. He was a general during the war and had worked with her. Her hopes are dashed when he gets assassinated.

I'm sure that this subject could be a compelling full length movie. It's old fashion with an old fashion narration. It's melodramatic but sometimes, it's worth the treatment. All in all, it's informative and somewhat touching.

Angel of Mercy (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Part of MGM's Passing Parade series with John Nesbitt, this film takes a look at Clara Barton (Sara Haden) who would become known for starting the Red Cross. The film starts off talking about how it's a "man's world" and how women don't belong in wars. This leads up to the Civil War where many men are killed because there wasn't anyone there to take care of them. This leads Haden to try and help and although it does take years, the Red Cross becomes a symbol known around the world. This is another winning entry in the series, which always manages to tell interesting stories about famous things that some people might not know about. I personally didn't know how the Red Cross was founded so this led to me finding this short extremely entertaining from start to finish. Seeing the U.S. want to stay out of the program for so long was a real head-scratcher but the film remains entertaining.