Four Girls in White

In that golden year of 1939, the same year that she played Careen, Scarlett O'Hara's youngest sister in GWTW Ann Rutherford also appeared in this earnest programmer. She's one of the title girls although not the most heavily featured, that would be the forgotten Florence Rice, but she's pert and strictly secondary which would explain how she could appear in EIGHT! films that year.

As for the rest of the film it's second feature, bottom of the bill stuff all the way. The lives and challenges of young nurses has been examined many times and nothing new is added here. Everyone performs professionally but without distinction, the unique Una Merkel livens things up whenever she pops in but she is also mostly on the sidelines. Everybody gets to prove their mettle by the end no matter how far they've strayed during the overheated melodramatics.

Watching Four Girls In White and knowing what I know about how these decisions were made back in the day, I got the feeling that this was a film probably made because Louis B. Mayer did not want to keep the Dr. Kildare sets idle too long. So this predictable, but still decent medical melodrama was made concerning for nurses doing their training at Rutland Hospital.

Our four protagonists are sisters Florence Rice and Ann Rutherford, young mother Mary Howard, and for comic relief Una Merkel. The four start their training at the same time and become roommates. The four are very different personalities ranging from the serious minded Mary Howard to Florence Rice whose real aim is to land a rich doctor.

The doctors there are also pretty different and they're giving Rice the once over. Alan Marshal who is a dedicated ER man likes what he sees, but is repelled by her attitude. Never mind though, Rice sets her cap for rich doctor Kent Taylor who would rather be mixing business with pleasure. His idea is to take the family yacht to the South Seas and combine research into tropical diseases with a little cruise.

Rounding out the cast are supervisors Sara Haden and Jessie Ralph and hospital orderly Buddy Ebsen also more comic relief.

There are laughs and heartaches and tragedy in this film about the nurses from Rutland. Though this film may very well have been an afterthought from the studio bosses and it doesn't contain any A list cast members, it's still a decent though predictable medical story.

And I do emphasize cheese! In spite of that, I would not say to stay away.

At any rate, the "four girls in white" who sign up for nursing school are Norma Page (Florence Rice), her kid sister Pat (Ann Rutherford), single mom Mary Forbes (Mary Howard), and Gertie (Una Merkel) - Una always provides the comic relief, and she is a bright spot in the picture.

Although the title talks about four girls, this is primarily Norma's journey, as she enters nursing school to land a doctor for a husband. It isn't long until she sets her sights on brilliant physician Stephen Melford (Alan Marshall). However, her constantly nagging him about going into private practice where he could make a mint drives a wedge between them. Then she turns to rich playboy Bob Maitland , who is a patient in the hospital. Complications ensue as Norma slowly learns the value of self sacrifice and the folly of selfishness, which in her case, has at least one tragic consequence.

The bad? Nursing in 1939 looks remarkably like housekeeping - doing laundry, feeding patients, washing dishes, taking temperatures...oh, and if something interesting happens, call a doctor, who is ALWAYS a MAN. And the pay is appropriately low because in 1939 all nurses (at least in this movie) are women. Being a RN today looks nothing like this, as RNs are tasked with work far more complex. To give the film credit, this probably IS what nursing looked like in 1939, but that doesn't mean I have to like it!

The ugly? Before Louis B. Mayer finally ruined Buddy Ebsen's career, he gave him several B- roles at MGM, in this case that of disorderly orderly "Express". He is just not funny and why does poor Una Merkel have to always fall for the career runt of the litter? She's so cute and perky! Also, one of Norma's first unselfish deeds on her road to righting her moral compass is to... fix her naive inexperienced baby sister up with that wolf Maitland she was trying to matrimonially nab?!?? Yikes! How long before baby sister is a sadder but wiser girl, wedding ring or not? Finally, this film is obviously trying to tap the successful Kildare series of the same era, but Alan Marshall as part Errol Flynn and part Kildare just doesn't cut it, and I guess Miss Tobias as the head nurse who is battle axe on the outside, heart of gold on the inside, is supposed to be filling Lionel Barrymore's shoes, but she just doesn't do it for me either.

The good? The film does have some poignant melodrama and an irreversible tragic turn I just was not expecting from an MGM B of the era. Plus there is a dynamite action filled finale. I'd say on the whole it is a take it or leave it proposition.

The title to this film is a misnomer. While it's called "Four Girls in White", the film really focuses mostly on one of them, Norma Page (Florence Rice). It shows her entrance into a nursing training program as well as their progress...as well as the high attrition rate. However, partway through the film Page Page gets herself into trouble and her completion of the program seems in doubt. Can she possibly show everyone that she's a selfless team player or is she destined to be a washout?

This is a very nice film starring many of MGM's lesser-known actors and actresses. However, it looks nicer than the typical B and is entertaining. What also is a surprise is the big climax scene--the dam break scene is incredibly well done and looks far nicer than a B should look. Worth seeing.

Florence Rice, Ann Rutherford, Alan Marshal, and Kent Taylor star in "Four Girls in White," an MGM B movie from 1939.

MGM's B movies were always more like A-, as they took great care with these films, used to groom future stars.

This movie follows nursing students through their years of training, particularly Norma and Patricia Page (Rice and Rutherford). Other students include Una Merkel and Mary Howard. Howard's character has a child she had to leave behind in order to become a nurse and make a better life for both of them.

Norma has her eyes on a doctor (Marshal) who, if he would go into private practice, could make a whopping $50,000 a year, which today would be over $800,000.

After they break up, she sets her cap (as my mother would say) for the grandson of the hospital's founder (Kent Taylor). When he invites her and her sister to go cruising in his yacht on their vacation, Norma is determined to go at any price.

Mildly entertaining though a little confusing for newer fans, as Alan Marshal and Kent Taylor were both in the Clark Gable mold and kind of looked alike.

The women have the stronger roles, and they're all good, including Jessie Ralph and Sara Haden. Buddy Ebsen is funny in the comedy relief part.

Florence Rice was a young beauty, but MGM at some point must have decided she didn't have much spark and didn't give her the opportunities. She did some radio and TV before entering into a happy marriage and retiring.

Dr. Kildare fans will recognize the sets.