War Nurse

original title:
War Nurse
country / year of production:
USA / 1930
original length:
79 min. , black/white
premiere:
genre:
melodrama
based on:
director:
Edgar Selwyn
film script:
Joseph Farnham , Becky Gardiner , Rebecca West
producer:
cinematographer:
Charles Rosher
editor:
William LeVanway
composer:
cast (role):
Robert Montgomery (Wally) , Anita Page (Joy) , June Walker (Babs) , Robert Ames (Robin) , Zasu Pitts (Cushie) , Robert Montgomery , Anita Page , June Walker , Robert Ames , Zasu Pitts
more:
plot synopsis:
During the First World War a group of young American women volunteer to serve as nurses. Once they arrive in France they are trown into the gory routine of caring for the maimed young men. In the midst of this havoc one of the girls, Joy, has an affair with Robin, a married soldier. While pregnant with his child, she witnesses his death from battle wounds. During a shelling she, too, is critically hurt. Babs, another nurse, brings her baby to her just before she dies.
keywords:
field hospital , wound, injury
war:
First World War (1914-1918)
literature:
remarks:
War Nurse failed to make back its $600,000 budget, whereupon June Walker, who wasn't too keen on movies anyway, returned to the stage.

War Nurse was based on the anonymous memoirs of an American nurse who served with the French Army during WWI. Since the nurse's recollections included several sexual episodes, the book gained a degree of notoriety, and it was assumed that the material was too "hot" to be adapted to film. But MGM scriveners Becky Gardiner and Joe Farnham managed to retain the spirit of the original novel while still remaining safely within the boundaries of Hollywood censorship.
availability: