Four Girls in White

Somewhat over-wrought melodrama about the trials and tribulations of working in a big-city hospital in the late 1930's. There is a great deal of emphasis on the selflessness of these caregivers, including a doctor who is tempted by the big money of private private practice but stays true to his mission. The hospital is amazingly orderly, quiet, and clean. Would have been good for recruitment.

The title refers to Norma (Florence Rice), her sister Pat (Ann Rutherford), the super dedicated Mary (Mary Howard), and the irreverent Gertie (Una Merkel). Merkel and Buddy Ebson provide much needed comic relief. Rutherford is quite good as the wholesome and perky little sister but Merkel is the reason to see this film. Her talent for comedy is amazing and after seeing her in "Four Girls in White" you will be on the lookout for more of her films.

The climatic train wreck-dam bursting sequence provides a glimpse into the staging of a low budget disaster back in the old days. The camera stays tight on the action, making very little seem like a really big deal.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

It's amazing that even when MGM made programmers they never spared the Metro gloss for photography, sets, etc., even when there were no stars on the bill but up and coming young players. For this one, it looks as though MGM used their Blair Hospital sets from Dr. Kildare.

ANN RUTHERFORD and top-billed FLORENCE RICE are sisters who go through an extensive nursing program where the staff includes smartly dressed male interns like PHILIP TERRY and TOM NEAL with ALAN MARSHALL as a surgeon. And for comic relief there's BUDDY EBSEN, JESSIE RALPH and UNA MERKEL.

The story charts an amusing course for four girls in white as they become nurses after some rigorous training. Sparks between Rice and Marshall are evident from their first meeting and we know a romance is in the works. Rice is spunkier than usual for someone usually cast in demure roles and Marshall makes an attractive leading man--you have to wonder why MGM never groomed him for big time stardom. As for Rice, she looks like a young Madeleine Carroll in her close-ups.

It's a lighter look at nurses on and off duty with occasional romantic interludes. Rice's romance with spoiled rich man KENT TAYLOR takes place aboard his fancy yacht. The plot at this point turns to romantic rivalry between sisters over a man and continues to accent trivial fluff despite a dramatic incident at the hospital involving a violent patient.

You can almost predict a happy ending in sight, but not before a very dramatic train wreck amid a bridge collapse complete with floods that engulf the interior of a train. For this sequence alone, with Rice redeeming herself in Marshall's eyes after a stormy argument, the film emerges as a better than average programmer after a heavy dose of syrupy material.

Summing up: Trivial B-film fluff given the glossy treatment by MGM. All the pretty nurses look as though they just came from the MGM beauty parlor but the final emergency call involving the bridge collapse is handled with gripping realism.

This is a typical medical melodrama -- minus Dr. Kildaire. But Simon does an unusually good job keeping it moving. And the cast is superb. (It even includes Tom Neal -- as a doctor, no less.) Florence Rice is the star. She's made up more glamorously than usual. She was an excellent actress who never really made it. Here she's very good as a girl who becomes a nurse in order to marry rich. She betrays a few people along the way, inadvertently, but redeems herself.

Also good is Ann Rutherford as her sister. She's in the same nursing class. Mary Howard is touching as another of their classmates.

The men take the back seat. Alan Marshall is good as the heartthrob on the staff. So is Kent Taylor as a playboy patient Rice sets her sights on.

For a period, it becomes a disaster movie. As such, it's very effective -- though it's best in its romantic parts.

For the most part, it's an episode of General Hospital….The quadrangle of nurses (Thus the title Four Girls in White) is played by Florence Rice, Anne Rutherford, Una Merkel, and Mary Howard. The doctors and nurses walk around, mostly blandly reciting their lines. The one bright spark here is Jessie Ralph, who was the nagging foil to W.C. Fields in some of his movies. (If you can catch her in Walking on Air, or They met in Bombay, she is just GREAT in those… one of my favorite actresses!) There's a tremendous emergency scene near the end, and the special effects aren't bad for an MGM shortie from 1939. Someone who was in hot water earlier on, may get the chance at redemption during the crisis. In one scene, the director Sylvan Simon allows the action to happen without talking, which added to the suspense; talk there would have taken away from the scene. Also keep an eye out for a 30-ish year old Buddy Ebsen in one of his earlier roles… it must be Buddy Ebsen day, since Turner Classic channel also just showed "Yellow Jack" earlier today. Not a bad film, but needed a better script or something.

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.